JHU SGAThe 114th Session
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Senate General Body Meeting #8 — Minutes (10/06/26)

Minutes / Senate · minutes · 114th session · dated October 6, 2026 · updated October 13, 2026

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114th Johns Hopkins Student Government Association

Senate Meeting #7

October 6, 2026 / 07:00 PM / BSC 404

MINUTES

  1. 1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Absentees:
      1. Excused:
      2. Unexcused:i
      3. Partial Excused:
      4. Partial Unexcused:
      5. Present

  2. 2. Convening Business (30 min)

    1. Judiciary confirmation
      1. Johnny Aguilar
      2. Jacqueline Kim
      3. In favor of appointing vote: unanimous vote

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

    1. Cole: motion to approve agenda

  4. 4. Public Input (3 min)

    1. Sean: syllabus project has structure implemented, 6 students in group chat volunteering to ask professors
    2. Natalie Bernstein: bootacular Baltimore trick-or-treating with CARE, connect students with each other and Baltimore

  5. 5. Reports (5 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports:
      1. Student Body President: Jason Yu
        1. Talent show this saturday 7-9PM, located in shriver hall
      2. Student Body Vice President: Sumire Sumi
        1. If you have any events and want to advertise, please put them in groupme
        2. Trying some changes in bylaws today
        3. Good meeting with iranian student association regarding budgeting
          1. new/reviving clubs don’t know how to budget, please reach out so meeting can be organized with Sumi and Amy
      3. Secretary: Honora Muratori
        1. Shoutout CEC after call to action survey turnaround,
        2. IA attendance sheet will be updated to make easier
        3. Event request: will make spreadsheet for organization
      4. Treasurer: Amy Xu
        1. If you know of any RSO’s having trouble with Hopkins Groups or using funding, send people their way, they can get things with communication
        2. 332k/512k spent, approximately ⅔ of budget
      5. Chair of Programming: Grace Guan
        1. Bill coming up today about SGA retreat
      6. Director of Communications: Sienna Kim
        1. SGA instagram: post if SGA or SGA funded, story post if not SGA affiliated
      7. President of the Senate: Jazzlyn Fernandez
        1. Communication with construction and OIS to come to GBM - trying to decide which day to come to
        2. Highlight some senators: Veda! Kayla’s Hispanic heritage month event
      8. Advisor Report:
        1. SGA Advisor: Charles Norman
        2. SGa Advisor: Tekeya Peterson
          1. Met with Charles
          2. Senate social: 12pm-1pm, 10/21 and 10/27
            1. Almost like an networking event and chance to meet with colleagues
      9. Senator Reports Initiatives Updates:
        1. i.Siddharth Dhadi - Absent
        2. ii.Peter Tarpley
    • Student Engagement Budget Presentation (October 13).pptx
    • Will do presentation later
      • Slightly overspending at this point
      • Weekly spending target: $4500
      • fast forward finance review: budget must be completed (tabled if not complete)
      • Grace: programming discretionary fund - $6000
        • Finance committee recommends concentrating funds for retreats for spring semester
        • Vote:
          • Demarri: votes to approve, passes
    • NCTA: thanks to kevin and sophia for figuring out tabling
      1. iii.Paul Woo
      1. Multi-factor authentication: alternative ways (trying to get in touch with IT to set up passkeys for people)
      2. Demarri: alternative website trying to go up

  6. 6. Non-Legislative Business (30 min)

    1. Senator of the Month
      1. Jackson: nominates Sophia, accepts
      2. Sophia: nominates Jackson, does not accept
      3. Sumi: nominates Nifemi, accepts
      4. Veda: nominates Aishani, accepts
      5. Demarri: nominates Jazz, does not accept
      6. Amy: nominates Arjun
      7. Mahima: nominates Kayla
      8. Vote: Sophia (17/36 votes) wins, Arjun (1/36), Nifemi (4/36), Aishani (4/36), Kayla (10/36)
    2. Approval of programming chair discretionary fund

  7. 7. First Reading (20 min)

    1. Establishing a Transfer Student Caucus - Vice President of the Senate Shreemann Patel
      1. Lauryn would be inaugural Transfer Caucus senator
        1. Familiar with senate procedures
        2. Transfer students go through many difficulties
          1. Imposter syndrome (big change from previous environment)
          2. Only 69 transfer students this year
          3. Financial aid is important factor for transfers
          4. Housing issues: transfers don’t know what year they’re starting school, currently separated for other transfers
          5. Establishing friend groups
      2. Jackson: Motion to move to consideration for IA
        1. Moved to IA
    2. Bylaws Amendment: Choosing the CSAC Representative - Senator Paul Woo
      1. CSAC: focus group that meets with Dr. Hernandez
      2. SGA doesn’t currently have process for selecting representative
      3. Currently CSAC goes without representation in Homewood undergrads
      4. Motion for 10 min moderated caucus, passed
        1. Cole: 1st option and 4th option seem similar, what is the key difference: Charles prefers someone from senate to be representative, 4th option says it doesn’t matter
        2. Veda: Veda is already appointed, representing SGA, we should wait until next term,
        3. Jackson: reason we brought this is so entirely of exec and senate can form an opinion. CSAC used to have more power and influence, watered down immensely in recent years. Should have a process so we can have a formal process for CSAC
        4. Nora: agrees with Veda, could maybe have vote to vote in Veda. strongly in favor of this position being for the senate since exec already has chance to talk to admin
        5. Demarri: opposes Nora, senators most likely don’t know what CSAC is compared to exec, would have more natural aptitude for it
        6. Jazz: extremely confident in Veda for be CSAC representative for current year, bill should be guidelines for following years
        7. Shreemann: agree with Jazz, should be someone aware of everything going on in senate - maybe a committee chair?
        8. Kai: agrees, notes that website as a form for CSAC rep, does this mean we actually have power to appoint people? -> Veda can just apply
        9. Sean: should be exec
        10. Jackson: hope is that in future we have something similar to other exec structures
      5. Cole: motion to refer to IA, referred
    3. Fall Retreat Funding Bill - Chair of Programming Grace Guan
      1. Can be part of discretionary fund
      2. Demarri: motion to tabled indefinitely, passed
    4. SAAC Funding Bill - Senator Sophia Baleeiro
      1. Working to gain more exposure/outreach for student athletes
      2. 2 athletes from every team form exec board of SAAC
      3. Point of information: kai - can it go thru finance committee independantly, no since it’s still in first reading
        1. RC: Motion to refer to finance committee, passes

  8. 8. Second Reading (10 min)

    1. a. Survey Tabling Bill - Student Services Chair Veda Kommineni
      1. passed finance committee with negative recommendations
      2. Open-ended form because wants to be used for several years
      3. Motion for 5 MINUTE MODERATED caucus
        1. Kevin: much easier fo students to scan QR code and keep it in their tabs and walk away, passing around physical means of feedback forms would be more efficient and increase feedback - reason for online form is so students know there is a centralized form where they can always leave feedback for SGA
        2. Shreemann: takes longer to write on notecard and people’s handwriting is bad, could ask for submit confirmation screen
        3. Nora: agree with shreemann, maybe put word minimum on the form
        4. Jackson: responses were varied for NCTA survey, from short responses to detailed passages, maybe add a couple other questions
        5. Sean: very doable with index cards, still support this bill
      4. Cole: motion to extend by 5 minutes
        1. Royce: maybe better to numerate the answer choices, would maybe extend time but would ensure more genuine answers
        2. Noah: make sure the advertise the point well
        3. Rain: people might take screenshots and share with people
        4. Amy: can experiment by having two lines and seeing whether the index cards or form yields better response?
        5. Demarri: how do people access it? - would be up on a banner at all tabling events
          1. Veda: will be on banner, banner will be at all tabling events, will also be on social media/website?
        6. Cole: a long survey might be more than what people want to do for a cookie, less is more in this sense. Maybe 1 or 2 more things on the google form
        7. Sumi: making form not anonymous to prevent hurtful comments
        8. Natalie: maybe have raffle attached
      5. Point of information from aishani: minimum character count
      6. peteR: point of info, can correct $450 to $550
      7. Cole: motion to pass, demarri opposes
        1. 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.