Sep 16, 2024 Exec x Advisor Meeting

SGA Executive Board Advisor Meeting 9/16, 2024 / 8 am EDT / Teams Virtual Meeting

Present: Stone, Amy, Tim, Buse, Nasreen, Jackson, Brandon, Charles Absent: Agenda

Meeting Structure Discussion
Report from Brandon about Finance
Update from Tim about Alumni Associations Meeting + more events
Exec Internal Feedback Form
Meeting with President Daniels – Charles
Jackson’s CSC update

Minutes

Meeting Structure Discussion
1. The Executive Board discussed the meeting structures that will be followed for the upcoming GBMs. Stone thinks that to begin the meeting, Brandon can give us an update regarding the budget, so we know how much funding we have left. Then, we will go through the rest of the agenda items. After that, he’s hoping to have 10 to 15 minutes where we can discuss our current initiatives and interests.
2. Charles thinks that this plan sounds good.
Report from Brandon about Finance
1. Brandon explained how much fund we have left in our discretionary budget. He’s waiting on the food orders for the retreat. As of now, we have 19,006 USD left. Phi Delt Crab Fest was the biggest expense so far.
Update from Tim about Alumni Associations Meeting + more events
1. Brandon and Tim had a meeting with the Alumni Associations on Friday. They want us to share some of their programming events. Tim talked to Vishnu about the Hershey Park trip they are planning out for sophomores. He will get the word out about this trip by sending out an email. He also said that he will talk about it with the Sophomore Class Council. Alumni Associations' event for freshmen has already taken place, where they organized a Carnival for New Student Orientation. Their “Happy Hour and Bird in Hand for Juniors” and “Senior Celebration for Seniors” events are coming up. They are trying to have an SGA Alumni event.
2. Tim said that a purchase list has been finalized for JayGames. Brandon will make a purchase request. Date is still not finalized but should be ascertained soon. Transportation for the retreat will be confirmed soon. For the September Tabling, we’re waiting for the purchases to be made. Oluwakemi will try to get her parking survey done until then. We will also put up Nayshawn's dining survey and the recently sent-out MSE Construction Survey. We will encourage people to fill out those surveys during our tabling.
3. Stone asked the date of September Tabling, to which Tim responded that it will take place next wednesday. A sign up sheet will be sent out. He asked everyone to remind people to sign up.
4. Stone asked about the Alumni Association’s funding policy, wondering if they would be able to fund our events if we put their logo. Brandon said that there’s a grant they provide. They said that they can do a cosponsorship, which they will let us know about.
5. Jackson found a website that gives information about their funding policy. This website informs that grant applicants may not request more than $1,500.
Exec Internal Feedback Form
1. Stone suggested this idea because it is in practice in his BME Design Team. He asked every executive board member to create an anonymous form, which asks the respondents what they think about their performance so far. To make sure it’s not obvious who sent the response, everyone will put their answers in Google Translate first, translate it to a random language, then it will be retranslated to English.
2. Nasreen asked if this is for the senate. Tim said that it’s only for the executive branch.
3. Stone said that we could actually do this for the senate, too. However, Amy and Tim believe that we should start with the Exec.
4. Stone asked Charles to also make a form.
5. Buse said that she is more in favor of the idea of having one for the senate where they can give anonymous feedback to the executive board. Stone said that not everyone can be good with communicating these types of concerns, so he thinks the form is vital for the executive branch.
Meeting with President Daniels – Charles
1. Charles will bring this up soon as President Daniels will probably want to have a meeting with us soon considering we couldn’t have one last semester. Charles asked us to determine a plan and stick to it. If Daniels asks us something, we can try to be concise, so that the whole meeting doesn’t circle around it. Charles will talk to Brittani next Wednesday and bring it up so that we can get information soon.
2. According to Jackson, something we didn’t do last time yet could be useful is to give Daniels a brief and also touch on what we expect from the President’s Office, whether it is an approval for something or scheduling a meeting.
3. According to Amy, in the case that we bring up an initiative in this meeting and it gets rejected because there isn’t enough demand for it, we can use the data we have.
4. Jackson said that the data we collected can help us prove what is relevant.
Jackson’s CSC update
1. Jackson touched on two action items Civic Engagement wants the executive branch to comment on.
2. In their recent meeting with Center for Social Concern, it was mentioned that the University only sponsored 30 students’ transportation from Homewood to DC to the “Bridging the Political Divide: Two Dads Defending Democracy Tour” event, despite the desire for more student transportation from the CSC. They want to talk to the Student Affairs leadership on how these sponsorships are decided on. He is also considering following up with Dean Calenza as he mentioned KSAS might sponsor student transportation. Jackson believes that, since this is a recurring theme, it’s good for us to talk about this. In line with concerns SGA registered last year to the Deans and Board of Trustees about transportation between campuses, the committee believes that it would be beneficial to talk to Student Affairs leadership about how they are working to support student transportation to DC and how decisions are made around funding that transport, in addition to how departments and organizations can request University support for student travel.
3. Stone asked if Jackson has the registration data, yet he doesn’t.
4. Stone further asked to clarify: Does this problem stem from the transportation department or other departments. Jackson believes that transportation is definitely involved, yet from the way it was worded to them, it’s because they don’t have money. He thinks we need to talk to Student Affairs. He also highlighted that some events have a lot of funding for transportation while some don’t. He thinks it’s essential for us to talk to Student Affairs, but should also involve vice deans.
5. Stone reminded the executive branch that SGA prepared a transportation survey drafted out last year, but it was never sent out. He suggested that we could loop this into the bigger issue of transportation, then show it to the higher ups.
6. Brandon asked if we’ll combine Oluwakemi’s parking initiative and transportation survey. Stone doesn’t want to force her to do that but believes that it could be considered.
7. Jackson believes that combining them could also encourage more students to fill out the survey.
8. Tim believes that tabling and raffles can be used to encourage students to fill out our forms.
9. Jackson said that his second update is that Civic Engagement would like to talk to JHU Government, Community, and Economic Partnerships about planning a 2025 SGA Capital Day at the Maryland State Legislature in Annapolis; as well as talk to them about what limitations exist for student advocacy based on JHU’s status as a nonprofit.
10. Stone asked if we need to provide any funding for this.
11. Jackson said that we’ll see how the discussion goes. We aim to have some financial support from the University. More information about university’s guidelines on advocacy could be beneficial to obtain as there are limitations on who can attend these events from the university, because of political affiliations.
12. Stone thinks this is a great idea. We will wait for LEED’s response regarding this.
13. Jackson said that he knew that last year when we reached out to the Provost’s office, they couldn’t make it, but the Provost expressed interest in coming to the SGA meeting this fall. We can reach out to them and invite them.
14. Charles asked us to draft an email, send it to him and Brittani, then send it out. He’s not sure if they will be able to come this semester anymore as this should have been sent out a month ago.