JHU SGAThe 114th Session
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Senate Meeting #11 - 10/24/23

Minutes / Senate · 111th session · dated October 24, 2023 · updated October 24, 2023

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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.

‘111th JHU Student Government

Senate Meeting #11

October 24, 2023 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

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

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

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

  4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. Reports (17 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

      1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
      5. Chair of Programming - Chair Shalala Leny
      6. Director of Communications - Director Milton Diaz
      7. President of the Senate - President Dalhart Dobbs
      8. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
      9. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. Admissions Presentation - Dean Chow and Vice Provost Phillips
    2. Caucus Introductions - Caucus Chairs/Vice-Chairs
    3. Hopkins Student Center Delay to Summer 2025 — Vice President Jackson Morris
    4. Closed Session - President Dalhart Dobbs

  7. First Reading

  8. Second Reading

  9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

    1. Registration Announcement - President Dalhart Dobbs
    2. Vice President Pro-Tempore Election Announcement - President Dalhart Dobbs
    3. Attendance Check-Out - President Dalhart Dobbs

  10. 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 10:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate.

MINUTES

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

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

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

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

  4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. Reports (17 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

      1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
        1. Projected to set up meetings with Daniels with Jackson - delayed
        2. Meeting with Daniels and Provosts about public safety tomorrow (10/25)
        3. Meeting with Maureen Marsh next Tuesday about BoT resolutions
        4. Meeting with new Provost with Jackson
        5. In the process of scheduling meetings with facilities and real estate about Student Center and MSE
        6. Working with SGA and leadership
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
        1. Meeting with CDI right now
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
        1. No special updates
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
        1. $11000 left in SGA discretionary funds
        2. People are doing event requests incorrectly - will reach out with student organizations
        3. If student organizations are interested
      5. Chair of Programming - Chair Shalala Leny
        1. Planning for events throughout the semester
      6. Director of Communications - Director Milton Diaz
        1. Looking for new Caucus members
      7. President of the Senate - President Dalhart Dobbs
        1. Planning with senior administration meetings
        2. Working on side projects
          1. Such as resolutions about the Middle East
      8. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
        1. No special updates
      9. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman
        1. No special updates

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. Admissions Presentation - Dean Chow and Vice Provost Phillips
      1. Motion for 10 min Q&A, 2 speaking time
      2. Stone: Could you update us about the changes in admissions due to the recent Supreme Court case?
        1. Vice Provost Phillips: “Affirmative Action” was not in the case anywhere, but rather the evaluation process does not consider race anymore. Used to be part of the “holistic” process. Emphasis on the life experiences that contribute to where the students are now. Race is a constraint in the evaluation process. We can still do “race” related criteria and target those areas to bolster diversity. Working with other partnerships of students from diverse backgrounds, such as QuestBridge. There are “tangential benefits,” such as fly-in programs and financial aid, which cannot be based on race so that students can understand different parts of the college. We will mainly broaden the definition. Race cannot be used in an application process but while it is filled out, it is masked in the review process. But still be seen in the writings and supplementals, etc. Constrained how to build a diverse class.
      3. Dalhart: How can SGA help contribute to the admissions process so that students can understand the Hopkins atmosphere? Could we forge a partnership with admissions beyond the Blue Key Society, such as welcome boxes and speakers?
        1. Dean Chow: Understand how these can factor in whether students decide on coming to Hopkins. We are open about conversations in which students can engage. Most of our programming relies on student participation via the Blue Key Society. We would be interested in broadening the work that we do.
      4. Jackson: HOw can admissions increase the number of students via underrepresented backgrounds?
        1. Our staff travel throughout the country to recruit students. We have prepared for this case for a long time, such as reaching in unconventional ways. We are working with school systems and community-based organizations to diversify the student backgrounds and create content and information that is different in the past few years to students and educators. There are schools in which there are college admissions courses while there are others that have college not as the traditional route. We are building the virtual admissions reach, such as places where we have not visited or students cannot visit. We have evaluated and created new ways to reach out to students.
        2. We have been working to diversify the undergrad student body
      5. Shalala: What does diversity mean to you and in majors?
        1. Diversity includes cultural, socioeconomic, geographical location, etc. that will bring different perspectives on campus to bolster different learning experiences. We also consider intended majors as a factor, *many people in SGA have kept their intended majors* but give students the flexibility.
      6. Danial: How do you ensure diversity in the international student body, especially when students who do not have access to visas and SATs access etc. rather than just American schools that seem to be the primary source of international students?
        1. Dean Chow: We do not have the same resources for international students as we do for domestic pools.
        2. Dean Chow: We have become test optional, which gives opportunities for students to not need to use test scores. We also have worked with organizations that connect students with the American colleges admissions process
      7. Jackson: What are ways such that SGA people who have ideas to help?
        1. Dalhart: Connect with me!
      8. Amy: What has Hopkins done to help increase yield rate to help build an ideal, diverse group of students?
        1. Vice Provost Phillips: Admissions students days to help students commit and reduce the notions about Hopkins. Yield at Hopkins has increased from 30% to 54% rate, which has shown significant increase. “Higher” quality students create more challenges for us to attract these students
      9. Brandon: Has students helped to reach out to high school students in addition to admissions officers?
        1. Dean Chow: We used to do this a lot before the pandemic and relaunching this Spring, including the hometown visit programs originally targeted Blue Key students. These require extensive training due to specific questions. These can help target and broad the reach of underrepresented geographically groups especially
      10. Divine: How has admissions helped ensure retention of students of underrepresented backgrounds?
        1. Vice Provost Phillips: Mainly related to student affairs—who contribute to building an inclusive campus. We used surveys and data to see how students are doing to address the issues, which is critically important to us. This also includes Financial Aid, especially with the help of Bloomberg’s gift, to increase the outreach and work with administration (check-in with families, registrar). This is definitely something important for us to consider.
      11. Angela: How can alumni be involved in this admissions process?
        1. Dean Chow: We have the Hopkins Alumni Student Council, a form and application and nomination by alumni and staff. They can help host and attend events in their location
        2. Vice Provost Phillips: Especially with the price of the current higher education, this allows us to paint a picture of how life after college and how Hopkins launch alumni life
      12. Mufasa: Now that Hopkins does not consider legacy, how does admissions address applicants from donors and professors etc.?
        1. Students from these backgrounds are not being considered. Even when you look at the student body now, legacy or any connection with Hopkins beforehand are not being considered
    2. Caucus Introductions - Caucus Chairs/Vice-Chairs
    3. Hopkins Student Center Delay to Summer 2025— Vice President Jackson Morris
      1. Meeting with CDI - Student Center delayed to Summer 2025. Need to work with administration for study spaces and large spaces for an entire calendar year with the MSE closing down too. We should also consider a significant tuition reduction
      2. Dalhart: Met with Brittney Brown, but they are currently meeting and deciding on what to do with new proposals for study spaces and meeting spaces. We will have them come to a GBM later in the time
      3. Tim: Regarding these meetings, are they only exclusive to the exec board?
        1. Dalhart: They are currently meeting to the Cabinet in which the r
      4. Stone: Have we met with the admin to talk about constructions in stages?
        1. Dalhart: Don’t think this is our suggestion to make in this multi-million dollar project
        2. Jackson: This is something that we, as student representatives, can ask for
        3. Stone: Another suggestion is pushing MSE renovations later until the student center is built. Asking for a tuition reduction is also a big suggestion similar in magnitude as the
        4. Nasreen: Met with the Dean of the Libraries, we don’t want to the student center to a primary study spot and leave that precedence
      5. Danial: Have they considered using the much-hated annex?
        1. Jackson: Yes, they are considering it, but we can always push f0r something better for students
      6. Motion for 10 min moderated caucus
      7. Tim: They seem to have no concrete solutions, so is there any way for us to meet with them sooner or getting more people involved?
        1. Dalhart: We were all alerted recently. Dean Brown has not meet with any of the construction admin and want to meet with us afterwards to discuss solutions
        2. Jackson: Like what we were saying, if people want meet with admin, we should meet with Dean McClean, Long, Vice Provost Phillips, etc.
        3. Dalhart: Note: we have asked for a tuition reduction before
      8. Mufasa: We should not ask for stages of construction. Hopkins has built nearby buildings for years, we shouldn’t be in the constant rebuilding stages. They have been reorganizing the books in MSE since four years ago. The should also see if we can use the Study (hotel) if we can use that
      9. Tarini: Are we allowed to use rooms that are being unused such as in Gilman?
        1. Dalhart: Dean Brown have expressed ideas in that
        2. Tim: There is a new service next semester in which we can reserve more spaces throughout campus, according to KSAS administration
        3. Dalhart: We can use new systems like those implemented in 555 Penn
      10. Adi: We should find more viable ways to speed up the process and find more long term solutions
      11. Jenny: The reason we needed to delay this construction, such as fire codes etc. These may have not been realistic solutions since they probably learned about the delayed construction and have considered this for a rather long time
      12. Shalala: How long will MSE construction be?
        1. Jackson: 2 ½ years :)
      13. Danial: maybe find more places off campus and build shuttle lines
      14. Kemi: Maybe also look at the Hopkins Club
    4. Closed Session - President Dalhart Dobbs
      1. Motion to go to closed session

  7. First Reading

  8. Second Reading

  9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

    1. Registration Announcement - President Dalhart Dobbs
      1. Do not schedule a class on Tuesdays 7-9pm
    2. Vice President Pro-Tempore Election Announcement - President Dalhart Dobbs
      1. Election is next week! If you are interested, nominate yourself and write your mini
    3. Attendance Check-Out - President Dalhart Dobbs
    4. 47 vegan recipes with Dining (Stone)
      1. If you know anyone who is vegan, please let Stone know so that they can recipe test
    5. We are not doing paintball event since we don’t have enough group funds due to Hopkins Groups mislabeling (Shalala)
      1. Otherwise if SGA is still interested, maybe pay for yourself
    6. Haunted House is on Hopkins Groups (Freshman Programming Council)
    7. Still looking for people for Charm City Science League (Tarini)
    8. FSL event at DREAM lounge this Friday (Dalhart)

  10. Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)