SGA begins planning for upcoming year
By KATHERINE SIMEON · The Johns Hopkins News-Letter · September 9, 2010
As the new school year unfolds, the Student Government Association’s (SGA) agenda is filled with many proposals for projects that they aim to accomplish this school year. In the midst of freshmen elections, one fast-approaching event the SGA works hard to prepare for is Greek Weekend.
Greek Weekend, an annual event at Johns Hopkins where sororities and fraternities compete for bragging rights while fundraising for charity, will take place from Oct. 20-23. Greek Life and the SGA has been working hard to plan this year’s events which include Penny Wars, Pub Night, the Sorority Powder Puff Game, and the Fraternity Soapbox Derby Race.
The SGA is planning an on-campus party on the last day of Greek Weekend, complete with entertainment that includes a variety of different performers, a large stage, and a DJ tent. There will also be a Beer Garden on the Latrobe Patio. The cost of this event, $2,000, will be split with Greek Life.
Senior Class President Josh Ayal brought up plans to have an event commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Miriam Frankl, who passed away a hit-and-run accident last year. However, the logistics of this event have been put on hold to make sure no other events overlap with it.
“It’s important that we commemorate this event, but we want to make sure it does not interfere with any events that the sororities are hosting, [especially] Alpha Phi, Miriam’s sorority,” SGA President Mark Dirzulaitis said.
The SGA is also eager to start working on creating an off-campus housing database for students. Kirk Sabnani, a junior senator serving on the Campus Affairs Committee, will be overseeing this project and picking up to three Computer Science majors who will help build the database.
Sabnani says that the project is “still at beginning stages” but if the SGA obtains the right resources soon enough, it will be done by the end of this semester. The people working on this project will receive a stipend for their services; however, the exact amount has yet to be decided.
“It’s a great idea, but [it] depends on the money,” says Finance Committee Member Karen Poreh. Sabnani will submit a proposal to the Finance Committee for approval. The SGA hopes to release applications for this project as soon as possible.
Other topics discussed were proposals for a new module to replace ISIS, the upcoming Freshmen SGA elections, yoga on the quad on Oct. 1, and preliminary talks about obtaining more funding for student activities.