JHU SGAThe 114th Session
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Sep 9, 2024 Exec x Advisor Meeting

Minutes / Executive · 112th session · created September 8, 2024 · updated September 9, 2024

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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.

SGA Executive Board Advisor Meeting 9/9, 2024 / 8 am EDT / Zoom

Present: Stone Meng, Amy Li, Buse Koldas, Brandon Benjamin, Tim Huang, Nasreen Naqvi, Charles Norman, Jessica Snell Absent: Agenda

  1. Freshmen Campaigning – incorrect email information
  2. Campus Construction Email to admins
  3. Expectations: Advisors & SGA Exec
  4. Finance Allocation update from Brandon Benjamin
  5. Impeachment trials this week
  6. JayGames/Fall Retreat Updates from Tim

Minutes

  1. Freshmen Campaigning – incorrect email information
    1. Amy Li and Stone Meng pointed out an issue with the CSE email that was sent out to freshmen to give information about the Freshman Council Elections. In the email, they mentioned that they would be electing one president and six senators, while it should have been one president, four senators, and three programming members. The timeline given in the email was also incorrect as it says that elections are in October. The executive branch questioned if this would cause any Issues for the SGA as around this time last year, all freshmen representatives were elected.
    2. Tim Huang said that the newly elected freshmen will not be able to come to the retreat. He suggested the executive board members to meet with them and welcome them.
    3. Charles Norman said that Jessica Snell is working on fixing this.
    4. Li asked if there were any communications between the advisors and CSE. Norman said that they didn’t send the timeline. He wasn’t here for a week because he was diagnosed with COVID, so he wasn’t able to follow up with it.
    5. Huang said that no one knows who sent this email or where CSE got the timeline information.
    6. Meng asked if Norman and Snell are the advisors of CSE. Norman said only Snell is.
    7. Snell informed the executive branch that she asked Luc Mazzanobile to review the email after Meng asked her about it. She added that the timeline came from a meeting she was in with CSE. Meng pointed out that Alisa Fedotova is the chair of the CSE, so he asked her to be included in these meetings so that she can follow up with them.
  2. Campus Construction Email to admins
    1. Meng said that they got 600 responses for the survey that was sent out asking for feedback regarding the ongoing campus construction projects. Volunteering people from SGA wrote an email. More outlets, more quiet study places and more lighting were the requests that came up in the survey. Meng sent the email that SGA plans to send to the admins to Norman.
  3. Expectations: Advisors & SGA Exec
    1. Meng understands that advisors expect the executive branch to get approval before they send out an email. However, he asked the advisors to keep the executive branch informed about when they are planning to get back to them, by setting personal deadlines and staying communicative. Norman said that this might not work with Brittani Brown. He said that we can expect him to respond within two business days, but he informed us that this might not be the case with Brown. Norman will still do his best to expedite the approval processes.
    2. Meng asked if all SGA emails are approved by Brown, to which Norman clarified that emails regarding internal business do not go to her approval.
    3. Huang asked how we could enforce this policy to the people at the senate.
    4. Norman said that he had some SGA members complain to him about tardiness when it comes to approval. Norman said that whatever is sent out will come back to him and Brittani, so all members should get approval for the emails.
    5. Meng wants to make sure SGA is progress focused, so he asked the advisors to let the executive branch know if they are not able to finish a task before the deadline.
    6. Norman asked the executive board to communicate with the advisors as they can’t support us otherwise.
  4. Finance Allocation update from Brandon Benjamin
    1. Norman said that the SGA and Shanelle Grier should be working together in organizing these RSO trainings as we are the ones funding them, so that we can ensure a better experience for the representatives.
    2. Huang thinks that the biggest issues were the lack of engagement during the conflict part and lunch. According to him, dining halls weren’t prepared, there were long lines, and a lot of people (including him) didn't get to eat food. He added that there was almost no food at Nolan’s and selections were limited, so many students were left hungry.
    3. Li asked if catering would have made it better if it was set up in a pick up and go fashion. Norman said he will consider it next year.
    4. After Huang sends the survey for the RSO training feedback, we will talk about this again. Meng asked for updates from Benjamin, which raised the question of SGA’s budget for this year as it hasn’t been announced to us yet.
    5. Norman said that our budget should have been uploaded last week. He checked again and confirmed Crystal Hooper probably doesn’t have the numbers. But he thinks Brown already approved everything.
    6. Meng wants to make this a priority as a lot of RSOs have been upset about it.
    7. Li asked why JHU HOP got their allocations earlier. Norman said they actually didn’t. He further explained that they knew SGA would have the money so they just allocated them a budget. He explained that this was what they had done last year.
  5. Impeachment trials this week
    1. Some senators currently have two unexcused absences. Li and Naqvi will handle the impeachment trials. Li will send the emails before 7 PM today so they are notified 24 hours prior. Some of them have those excuses because they didn’t fill out the Fall Retreat. Li asked if these impeachment trials could be done more efficiently.
    2. Naqvi said that she is still struggling with the committee assignments as a lot of people are insistent with their choices. She believes that some people might argue against their absences because they didn’t know their schedules at that point.
    3. Li thinks that we have to do the trials this week.
    4. Buse Koldas will ask every chair to submit their attendance sheets today, so that all the records are in.
    5. Huang said that some people messaged him saying they forgot to fill out the form but he will still count theirs as an unexcused absence as he reminded them five times.
  6. JayGames/Fall Retreat Updates from Tim
    1. Huang said that JayGames will happen with The HOP, yet not in a Squid Games theme. He said that they will meet after this meeting. Norman said that they will meet with Brown soon regarding the upcoming programming events.
    2. Fall Retreat participants are also in. Some SGA members are not available for that day, so they will be given makeup. 19 people will go to Weber’s Farm, which means it will be cheaper. Catering will be discussed with Norman.