JHU SGAThe 114th Session
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Senate General Body Meeting #21 — Minutes (02/24/26)

Minutes / Senate · minutes · 113th session · dated February 24, 2026 · updated March 1, 2026

Filed in Drive as “MINUTES of Senate GBM #21”

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This document is from a previous session and is kept for the record. It may have been amended or replaced since.

113th Johns Hopkins Student Government Association

Senate Meeting #21

February 24th, 2026 / 07:00 PM / BSC 404

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MINUTES

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Absentees:
      1. Excused:
      2. Unexcused:
    2. Present

  2. Convening Business (30 min)

  3. Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)

  4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. Reports (5 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)
      1. Student Body President - Vishnu Dontu
      2. Student Body Vice President - Omotara Tiamiyu
  6. Tara reported on their meeting with SNF Agora, along with multiple senators. They talked about including 2 mandatory seats for SGA members in the SNF agora for student advisory. She does not know the timeline for this matter.
    1. Secretary - Sumire Sumi
      1. Treasurer - Imad Ahmed
  7. Amy reported updates on finance committee.
    1. Chair of Programming - Tyler Turner
  8. Jay fillet at 6pm in BSC, only undergrads, 2nd floor, sandwiches, mac and cheese, cookies. Freshman formal this friday in the glass pavilion. March 8th sophomore garden party, 7-10pm. Incentive points will be awarded to those who help set up.
    1. President of the Senate - Srigouri Oruganty
    2. Advisor Report (2 min)
  9. Non-Legislative Business (30 min)
    1. Confirmation of CSE members
  10. Felix noted that current CSE members do not have interest in being reconfirmed.
  11. Jessica and Felix reported there is one person eligible.
  12. Kevin asked why other applicants were ineligible.
  13. Jessica responded the applicant was a peabody student. They must be WSE or KSAS.
    1. Referendum Discussion - Chair Jaden
  14. Simply asking for students’ opinions on things. Should RSO officers be included in SGA? Any other questions for the student body?
  15. Jason asked how the referendum would work
  16. Jaden indicated that SGA is not bound to the result of the referendum. Due to the election, we would not be able to amend the bylaw.
  17. Sean approves this move. He likes the idea of SGA gathering more info on the student body’s opinions.
  18. Jazz asked if we are still in election season. Will the questions in the survey be similar to those in 2019?
  19. Jessica noted that we are technically not in the election season.
  20. Jaden noted that the purpose is to revive the referendum system and collect students’ input into the upcoming election.
  21. Motion to extend the caucus by 5 minutes
  22. Kai asked if he could put the 2019 referendum in the GBM doc so everyone knows what it looks like.
  23. Jaden noted that the referendum happens simultaneously with the election. Referendum will be attached to the election survey.
  24. Shreeman wants to ask some internal questions that reflect on how the SGA is doing in the eyes of the student body.
  25. Jaden thinks that is a bad look for SGA
  26. Veda asked what the point of this was if the result is nonbinding. It would be more impactful if some of them were binding, such as if the results are 75% or greater, it should be binding.
  27. Jaden answered by saying it is socially binding. Jaden agrees with Veda’s second statement.
  28. Omotara suggested amending the bylaws to reference for the future agenda and also to work on them over the summer. She expressed concerns that, given the low turnout of student voting counts, attaching a referendum to the election survey would not be preferable and not representative of the student body.
  29. Jaden feels like it is a better idea to have the survey inside the election form, for more engagement from the student body.

  30. First Reading (20 min)

    1. Course Transparency Funding Bill Grade Transparency Act Presentation.pptx- Senator Seán
  31. What courses are giving people below a B and making it transparent to the student body? The student body seems to be in vast approval of this bill. Some legal questions have been proposed, but it is okay to pass this bill right now and then wait for legal approval.
  32. Motion for 10 minutes moderated caucus was passed.
  33. Paul asked if the system would be audited.
  34. Sean noted that getting their code revised by IT is doable.
  35. Jaden asked instead of gathering data from transcripts, why can't they just submit their grades, even if there might be some falsified grades.
  36. Sean responded that the collection of data is very simple: asking whether students received B or below B.
  37. Kevin asked what the timeline is for this bill.
  38. Sean responded that the legal team will review this bill if it can be passed today.
  39. Sid asked what this bill would add since students already fill out forms at the end of semesters regarding class satisfaction and information about the class.
  40. Sean responded that having this bill shows which classes have the majority of students fail and use this data to standardize the grading system.
  41. Omotara questions how this will affect student well-being. How do we ensure that this data is true?
  42. Sean stated that this will be a 1 semester Pilot initiative, if there are problems it can be taken down.
  43. Jazz wondered if it would bring down mental health.
  44. Sean mentioned some other institutions that do this officially.
  45. Motion to extend moderated caucus by 5 minutes
  46. Jason asked about the privacy of this bill. He doesn't think it is ethical for a select group of students to have that much private information on other students.
  47. Sean explains that this is quite secure and the only data that would be sent out to Sean or SGA would be the B+ or lower. Your transcript would be stored on your personal computer. The SGA would not have access to your transcript
  48. Nay:
  49. Motion to postpone indefinitely. Motion failed.
  50. Motions to refer this to the finance committee tomorrow.
  51. Nay: Sean, sid | Abstention: Peter
    1. Bylaws Amendment - Chair Jaden
  52. Jaden explained the necessity of Bylaws amendment to clear up the bill.
  53. Point of information: Shreeman clarified that cutting some components means not obligating rather than getting rid of them.
  54. Motion to refer to IA
  55. Nay: Sid
  56. Bill is going to IA
    1. JHU Student Services Funding Bill Spring 2026 - Chair Jason
  57. Jason wants to enhance student engagement by doing student interviews and simply just interact with the student body more. Increase hype around SGA.
  58. SS is looking for collaborating with other departments.
  59. Point of information: Tara asked if he discussed this with CSE chair Kirsten.
  60. Motion for a 5-minute moderated caucus
  61. Motion has failed
  62. Motion to move to finance committee
  63. Bill goes to finance
    1. JHU Umbrella Tabling Funding Bill Spring 2026 - Chair Jason
  64. Jason proposes using umbrellas to bring students to answer the wifi questionnaire, due to an increase in rain. Using a practical item instead of just miscellaneous items.
  65. Tara asked if this bill is separate from a previous umbrella bill. Previous umbrella bill was rejected by finance.
  66. Motion to pass to finance
  67. Motion moved to finance

  68. Second Reading (10 min)

    1. Academic Affairs Spring Tabling - Chair Kevin
  69. Only going to give away bear plushies, some other minor chances to amount and price. Has been very successful so far
  70. Motion to pass bill.
  71. The bill has been passed.
    1. JHU Student Services February Tabling Funding Bill Spring 2026 - Chair Jason
  72. Motion to pass bill.
  73. Bill has been passed

Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)

Time-length and adjournment estimates are provided for the benefit of guests at Senate meetings. However, SGA meetings are always slated to extend until 9:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate.