Senate General Body Meeting #10 — Minutes (10/21/24)

112th Johns Hopkins Student Government Association Senate Meeting #10 Oct 16, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17 MINUTES

11. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

a. Excused Absentees: Yonatanne Desta, Zoe Gaillard, Deryck Yin, Molly Kuzma, Tanisha Taneja, Jordyn Craig-Schwartz, Lucy Landry, Yashas Mallikarjun, Jennifer Tang Cabrera b. Unexcused Absentees:

12. Convening Business (40 min)

a. Dining Update - President Stone Meng i. President Stone Meng’s friend Christopher Amanat reached out to him saying he heard a lot of concerns about Nolan’s. They interviewed the Nolan’s personnel and listened to their concerns.

1. Employees reported significant understaffing,

especially in dish washing and particularly between 6 AM and 2:30 PM. Two members of the staff have to do it for 8 hours and they barely have time to take a break and rest. The conveyor belt doesn’t work, so they get forced to reach for those dishes themselves, creating more challenges and exhaustion. Most of the time, people don’t clean the plates, so they take up extra time to do that.

2. Workers are often required to cover multiple

stations simultaneously, such as the salad bar, grill, and DRA, with only three staff members typically available to manage all operations. There are three people that specialize in these stations. Mostly one person is there and they find themselves overwhelmed as they have to manage up to five stations (e.g., waffle, omelette, bagel, deli, fruit, salad).

3. They reported that the juice served at Nolan’s is

made by mixing tap water with concentrate. The DRAs are responsible from cleaning and maintaining dining areas and refill the beverage stations, so they have been asking for a better way to refill the dispensers and filter the water. They have to lug the water around in large plastic tubs, which are not convenient.

4. Workers mentioned that there has been an ongoing

mice infestation in the kitchen area.

5. They highlighted their concerns about the

temporary workers that have been hired, stating that this violates their contract terms (that existing workers should be prioritized for shift assignments). They also stated that temporary workers often lack adequate training and their background checks are not conducted.

6. Managers allow the staff to come only an hour prior.

Since this is not enough time to make the necessary preparations, it makes the staff look bad from the student’s side. ii. They drafted an email to the administration. Since this is out of our expertise and rather an Hopkins management issue, at its current stage, we can’t do anything to fix it. However, we can advocate to the administration. If every student writes to Hopkins Dining, we can address this. Amanat and Meng asked everyone to voice this concern. Secretary Buse Koldas will communicate with The News-Letter and propose this as an article idea.

13. Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)
14. Public Input (3 min)
15. Reports (5 min)

a. Cabinet Reports (4 min) i. Meng informed the senate that Director of the Hopkins Semester DC Lauren Reynolds will be coming to the meeting to talk about the program. ii. President of the Senate Nasreen Naqvi said that an email has been sent out to fill the vacancies: Programming Members, Junior and Senior Class Senators, Disability Caucus Senator, Activism and Advocacy Caucus Senator and Assistant Secretaries. iii. Treasurer Brandon Benjamin informed the senate that we have around 16 thousand USD in our discretionary budget. iv. Other executive board members had no significant updates. b. Advisor Report (2 min) i. Advisor Jessica Snell had no significant updates.

16. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

g. Guest Speaker - Dr. Reynolds i. Reynolds runs the Hopkins Semester in DC Exchange program. She was a member of the Graduate Representative Organization when she was in college, so she’s happy to be here with us. With this program, you spend a semester around a specific theme and the theme changes every semester. The ideas mainly come from the faculty here and they get the chance to build the pieces around it by creating internship opportunities, research projects and a couple of classes. ii. She believes that the number one regret students have after graduating from college is not studying abroad. She’s aware that it is tricky to convince people to come and study in DC as we all have commitments here. iii. She explained that she is having a little bit of trouble getting it out to the students and she asked the SGA’s opinion on how they can reach to more students. Applications are due tonight and it will probably be extended. This semester’s theme will be Migration and Refugees, which is a crucial topic no matter who is elected in these elections. They might even get a grant that will improve the program further. iv. Sophomore Class Senator Omotara Tiamiyu expressed that it sounds interesting. She was wondering if students need to have a specific major to participate in the program. v. Reynolds explained that they have interdisciplinary programs, so this creates a little bit of trouble with STEM students to get their credits work right. Theyy prefer interdisciplinary thinkers. Whiting students are eligible as long as they have a Krieger minor. The program guarantees mentoring support and research. Reynolds highlighted the significance of this as it might be hard for some students to find research in humanities. She expressed that participating in this program in your senior year would allow networking and job interviews. She emphasized the importance of making use of the D.C. building as a Hopkins student, expressing that our cards scan in that building, too. vi. Sophomore Class Senator Tarini Basireddy asked to clarify if this is for Krieger or Whiting students. vii. Reynolds said open to Whiting as long as they have a Krieger major or minor. viii. Women and Gender Minority Senator Karen Vasquez Luna asked if financial aid is transferred. ix. Reynolds said that everything is transferred. For sophomores, all it takes for her is to inform housing that the student will be spending the semester in D.C. It might be trickier for juniors and seniors but she emphasized their connections as they have students coming in and out of D.C., so she’s trying to work on that. Although one student kept his lease here, she believes that this is horribly expensive. According to Reynolds, there are a lot of ways to make it work, so she prefers to sit down with each student and discuss how to make the experience better. x. WSE Senator Ivan Alexander Kroumov asked what they are doing for their marketing. xi. Reynolds mentioned their social media accounts (@jhu.hsdc on Instagram). They have been utilizing mailing lists from departments and television screens around campus. She is the advisor of the MUN club, so she’s been trying to get the word out through her students. She mentioned that they have a pre-law advisor at the D.C. campus, so she can connect people with them. She mentioned a student who is interning for Fox News and White House, while participating in the Get Out the Vote efforts. xii. Vice President Amy Li asked if it is possible for students to take Homewood and D.C. campus classes simultaneously. xiii. Reynolds said that this is possible if and only if it’s an online class. However, she’s willing to work with the students on that. xiv. Li was also curious about how topics are determined every semester. xv. Reynolds further clarified that the faculty from this campus and any joint faculty determines them. They come together and propose a theme, but if a student has an idea, they also listen to those. xvi. WSE Senator Moses Frumkin read the following paragraphs from François Furstenberg’s The News-Letter article, titled “Is Johns Hopkins abandoning its founding mission?”:

1. You might wonder, as I have, who will pay to

maintain the ostentatious facility, cover the salaries of the dozens of SNF Agora faculty appointments and support the Institute’s administrative staff and programming? The answer, I’m afraid, is that most of those costs fall to the School of Arts and Sciences, imposing severe constraints on its budget.

2. But SNF Agora is only the beginning. Last year, the

University opened its majestic building in Washington, D.C., named for Michael Bloomberg, who funded the $650 million cost. Now that Hopkins owns the building, which nearly bankrupted its previous owner, the central administration is desperately encouraging faculty in Baltimore to use it. The Provost’s office has even committed $15 million in annual funding to “support universitywide endeavors anchored at 555 Pennsylvania Ave.”

3. Our dean has no choice but to play along. Now, the

School of Arts and Sciences is incurring ever-growing costs to support conferences in Washington, administrative and pedagogical expenses for the “DC Semester” and no doubt a number of other expenditures so the president can brag about how the university is using its flashy new outpost, which, alas, doesn’t respond to a single KSAS strategic initiative. xvii. Frumkin asked what Reynolds thinks about this as, according to his observations, there are several KSAS departments who would benefit greatly from a greater budget. xviii. Reynolds does not agree with the way her program is dismissed in this article, although she recognizes that it might be a valid question to have. She expressed that KSAS is not the only funder of the program and that she believes that the program gives a lot back to the students by helping them use their humanities skills. She expressed that they have also been applying for grants, which is independent from the KSAS budget. She suggested to talk to the administrators about this if there are more questions about it. xix. Motion for a two minute recess was passed. h. Admissions Discussion- President of Senate Nasreen Naqvi i. The Black Students Union (BSU) came to the meeting to present. They’ve read out the email they sent to the SGA. ii. They introduced themselves. The representatives who presented in this meeting were the BSU President Gnagna Sy, BSU Vice President Ty’Shera Mintz and the OLÉ Latine Student Group Vice-President Anna María Zahrah. iii. They read the email, which can be found below:

1. Dear Members of the 2024-2025 112th Student

Government Association Executive Board,

2. We, the undersigned student organizations that

predominantly serve the Latine and Black communities at Johns Hopkins University, are writing to express our disappointment in the SGA’s initiative and sentiment towards the significant drop in Latine (48.6%) and Black (58.7%) student enrollment for the Class of 2028. This decline reflects a failure of leadership and strategy following the SCOTUS decision to ban Affirmative Action, and we urge the SGA to take immediate and decisive action to address this issue.

3. As the Primary Representative Body of Hopkins

Undergraduates, the SGA is tasked with recognizing the concerns of ALL undergraduate students especially with such significant implications for what the future of this university may face in sight of further decrease in diversity.

4. The decline witnessed at JHU outweighs that of our

peer institutions and yet administration has yet to demonstrate urgency in revealing actionable plans in response to these disturbing numbers especially in the midst of application season. We believe that the SGA, as a representative body, has become complicit in this and fallen short in advocating and providing public acknowledgement and sentiment for the student communities most affected by this. To that end, we are making the following demands:

5. SGA Statement and Public Apology: We ask the

SGA to issue a public statement supporting Latine and Black students, calling for accountability from the administration for its lack of urgency and action in addressing the significant decline in admissions for these groups. Additionally, we request a public apology from the SGA Executive Board for not taking this matter seriously from the outset and for failing to advocate quickly and forcefully on behalf of these marginalized groups and the student body at large. It is crucial that the SGA acknowledges its responsibility to use its full power to ensure that these demands are met and that progress is made swiftly.

6. Public Apology and Acknowledgement of Failure of

Responsibility: Furthermore, we call on the university administration, including President Ron Daniels, Provost Ray Jayawardhana, and the Office of Admissions, to issue a public apology for downplaying the severity of this situation in their recent email. Their broad language failed to fully acknowledge the university’s responsibility for this drastic decline, especially in comparison to peer institutions that faced the same challenges but achieved better outcomes. By not taking decisive action and offering clear accountability, they have undermined the trust and confidence of the Latine and Black communities at Hopkins. We expect them to take responsibility for these failures and provide a transparent and comprehensive explanation of how they plan to address this issue moving forward.

7. Pressure and Responsibility: We urge the SGA to

use every avenue and exert the full extent of its power to demand that the administration take responsibility for this dramatic drop in Latine and Black student enrollment. This issue cannot be resolved with vague promises or superficial efforts; it requires a strategic, well-defined plan that includes clear, measurable goals and timelines for progress. Specifically, we ask the SGA to demand the following from the administration:

8. Comprehensive Action Plan: The administration

must publicly outline the specific steps it will take to reverse this trend and prevent further declines in Latine and Black student enrollment. This plan should include strategies that have proven successful at other institutions, such as targeted outreach to first-generation and low-income students, enhanced recruitment efforts in urban and underserved communities, and the use of holistic, race-neutral admissions criteria that value diverse student experiences.

9. Set Timeline: We ask that the SGA demand a

concrete timeline from the administration, detailing when each of these steps will be implemented. The timeline must include short-term actions (within the next semester) as well as long-term strategies that can be evaluated over the course of the next and future admissions cycles. We want to ensure that progress is not pushed into indefinite future plans but is actively being addressed in the immediate term.

10. Numerical Goals: To ensure transparency and

accountability, we ask the SGA to push for the administration to set distinct numerical goals for increasing Latine and Black student enrollment in future classes. This includes both the Class of 2029 and beyond, with annual benchmarks for improvement. The administration must make public its commitment to restoring and surpassing the previous representation levels of these groups.

11. Regular Progress Updates: We request that the

SGA hold the administration accountable for providing regular progress updates to the student body. These updates should track the success of recruitment efforts and outline any adjustments or new initiatives that may be necessary if the initial steps fall short. A public, quarterly report would allow for transparency and ensure that both the SGA and the larger student community can monitor the administration’s commitment to these efforts. 12.Town Hall with Admissions and Financial Aid: We request that the SGA facilitate and advocate for a town hall with senior representatives from both the Admissions and Financial Aid offices by the end of the semester. Specifically, we ask that this town hall include the Provost and Vice Provost for Admissions, and the Provost and Vice Provost for Financial Aid to ensure that those with the most decision-making power are present and can directly address student concerns. This town hall should provide a platform for students to voice their frustrations and ask questions about the strategies and actions the university will take to rectify the significant drop in Latine and Black student enrollment. 13.It is critical that this event be open and transparent, allowing for a candid dialogue between students and key university officials. Additionally, we request that a comprehensive plan be presented at this town hall, outlining how Admissions and Financial Aid intend to approach the issue moving forward, including any changes to recruitment strategies, financial aid distribution, and support for underrepresented groups. This must be a priority, and we expect the SGA to ensure that this conversation happens before the end of the semester, with sufficient publicity to ensure broad student participation. 14.Survey to Collect Student Sentiments: As a leading research institution, Johns Hopkins should be leveraging data-driven strategies like student surveys more frequently and with greater urgency to address critical issues on campus. In light of the significant demographic decline in Latine and Black student enrollment, we request that the SGA promptly administer a comprehensive survey to gather data on how this decline is affecting the student body, particularly those from underrepresented communities. 15.This survey should aim to capture both qualitative and quantitative feedback on students' perceptions of the admissions decline, their sense of belonging, and the overall representation of diversity on campus. Given Hopkins' research expertise, it is crucial that the survey be thoughtfully designed to yield actionable insights, allowing the administration and the SGA to understand the broader implications of this enrollment drop and respond appropriately. 16.We urge the SGA to expedite the process of launching this survey, ensuring it is distributed in a timely manner so that the data can be analyzed and shared before the end of the semester. The results should be used not only to guide immediate changes but also to inform longer-term strategies aimed at rebuilding trust and fostering a more inclusive campus environment. As an institution that prides itself on research excellence, it is imperative that we use these tools to swiftly identify and address the concerns of our student body, with full transparency in both the process and the outcomes. 17.The time for action is now. The university’s leadership has failed to uphold its commitment to diversity, and the SGA must take an active role in holding them accountable. This situation demands an immediate and coordinated response, and we look to the SGA to lead in advocating for the interests of the student body.

18. We look forward to your response and hope to

see the SGA take swift, concrete actions to address these concerns. iv. Motion for a 5 minute Q&A with one minute speaking time passed. Hispanic/Latinx Caucus Chair Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo yielded her time. v. Sophomore Class Senator Jazzlyn Fernandez thanked them for coming here, emphasizing her understanding of the situation, explaining that as an underrepresented minority and FLI student, she also felt affected by the situation. She believes that SGA’s intention was not to ignore the situation, and reassured them that they are now quite passionate about resolving this issue. vi. Sanchez expressed that she has been working on this initiative for a while and that she sent the letter she prepared to the Executive Board during her point of information. She is frustrated that the efforts were started two weeks ago, yet there was no progress made and she felt dismissed by the executive branch. vii. Sy stated that they are disappointed in the lack of public acknowledgement from the executive board’s side. viii. Mintz expressed that initiatives that are being taken behind closed doors can not be counted as progress. She believes that there should have been an announcement at least. ix. Religious and Spiritual Life Senator Zachary Bahar asked what they would propose the university or the SGA to do without violating the rules that have been instigated regarding affirmative action. x. Sy suggested starting with a town hall. xi. Black Caucus Chair Nayshawn Ferebee tried to address this situation two weeks ago, yet he was told that a statement wouldn’t have been the best time to send this out because the MSE construction resolution was sent out. He thinks that we can deal with these two at the same time. Although the senate didn’t know these efforts, they have been working on this for the past few weeks. xii. Special Interest and Hobby Senator Adithyan Neelamana asked to extend the Q&A session by 7 minutes. xiii. Meng addressed the state, echoing what Fernandez said previously and solidified SGA’s stance. He appreciates that they came here and punctuated that there’s no friction from the SGA to oppose it as we are doing our best to resolve this. He expressed that Naqvi brought up the town hall idea during the President Daniels meeting and that there’s no opposition from the executive board about this. His personal opinion was that a resolution was not the best way to move forward with it, so he suggested talking to the senate and deciding on what kind of a step to take. He asked the members to not twist the executive board’s words. According to Meng, a resolution is not the best option but a statement can definitely be drafted. xiv. Junior Class President Oluwakemi Abiodun asked what the difference is between a resolution and a statement. xv. Naqvi explained that, to her understanding, a resolution is sent to everybody while a statement is published. She emphasized that President Daniels was not able to look at the admissions data until the end of that cycle, so she agreed that we haven’t heard anything back about the town hall and that we should push forward for it. xvi. Sy wishes that SGA initiated these communications priorly. xvii. Naqvi believes that this was due to a big chain of miscommunication. xviii. There was another motion to extend the Q&A session. xix. Naqvi expressed that we always intend to do our best to represent the best interest of the students. She promised to get this done before the end of October. Sentiments are being heard and we won’t push this under the rock. How can we make sure that students are being heard and seen? This will be a question that hopefully will be answered by future efforts. xx. Sy is glad that we’ve been able to come here and talk about this with the senate. She thinks that we should solidify this within groups. Since the representation of minority groups is declining, the number of people representing them are also decreasing. She wants the SGA to understand where they are coming from. They hope to partner with the SGA and be as involved as possible. xxi. Naqvi suggested organizing a tabling together and advertising the survey. xxii. KSAS Senator Daarian Rouhani thanked them for coming. As a Mexican, he said that the situation also affected him. He expressed that being complicit is the last thing we are. xxiii. Since Rouhani was not sure whether the resolution was sent by the BSU or SGA senators, Naqvi clarified that Ferebee and Sanchez have been working internally and that BSU didn’t hear anything from us. xxiv. Rouhani further expressed that accusations only create a division and that the wording of the email was aggressive. According to him, this is not the best way to move forward with it and the solution is going forward. He believes that organizing a town hall is a good idea. However, he believes that a formal apology is not the right move and would only create a divide. xxv. Sy disagreed that apologizing would create a divide. xxvi. Tiamiyu understands the frustration and that the timing of the MSE renovation is a statement. She believes that it has been difficult to come up with resolutions due to the background of this problem. According to her, the email might have come forward aggressively, but SGA should understand that BSU didn’t hear anything from our side. There was a lot that must have been communicated and we should be more transparent. On the topic of mail, which covered a lot of points, a formal apology is something we should reconsider, yet must just be in the form of a statement. She suggested meeting with the executive branch about this and finding ways to get involved with the administration to advance forward. She understands that this has been a very pressing issue and wishes that we said something earlier. It is only right for us to move forward and be more collaborative and transparent. xxvii. Sy expressed that they don’t want to push the SGA away but that they need to hold us accountable. Apology might not be needed, but action is. xxviii. Fernandez expressed that we don’t have direct control over what the admin does. She recommends that next step should be for SGA to have FLI and other groups together and have a conversation with them to be united in a statement and decision, then present to the admin on the same front of what should be done. xxix. Sanchez thinks that SGA owes the student body an apology, taking ownership for a responsibility that even herself didn’t fulfill on time. According to her, students don’t come to us because they don’t trust us. She hopes to have the apology sent out by tonight. xxx. Basireddy believes that it is important to collaborate on creating the survey and advertising it to the fullest. xxxi. Mintz is not too concerned about the data collection part as she believes we will get plenty of responses. xxxii. Fernandez suggested creating a channel together. Ferebee agreed to create a GroupMe group chat and add the names that signed the email. xxxiii. Koldas started off by saying that the reason why a resolution is not the best move here is because this situation is caused by a Supreme Court decision, impacting all universities. However, she believes that a statement is a must. She highlighted that this is also sourced from communication issues with the admin. At this point, the admin fails to inform us when they will close a pathway due to the construction, so it is not surprising that they failed to acknowledge this situation properly. She thinks that there are no excuses and that we should keep pushing forward our work. xxxiv. WSE Senator Omar Gharib believes that a town hall is a good idea. According to him, having apologies and spreading the word out is important, but we should also find solutions without breaking the law by looking at comparable institutions. xxxv. Sanchez said that those steps are in the email. xxxvi. Gharib thinks that a lot of them are apology based. xxxvii. Sy wishes to move forward and to not get too distracted with the apology part. xxxviii. Naqvi asked the senators to not take the apology part too literally. She expressed that all BSU wants is to have this issue recognized as silence from SGA is jarring. xxxix. Neelamana expressed that we are on the same team. He asked what kind of actions they would have liked to see from the university’s side (like what the administration or board of trustees should have done). According to him, the language of the Supreme Court reading is pretty strict, so he was curious to hear what policies they would suggest if the Board of Trustees was here. xl. Sy believes that the email highlights the preliminary thoughts to plan this. She expressed that while she doesn’t have enough education to find a way out, board of trustees and administration should be expected to have the answers. She thinks that coming here has been a good first step. xli. Naqvi believes that it takes a lot of courage to come here and discuss this. Fernandez will start a group chat. We will ensure that this won’t be the last conversation. xlii. The senate moved to a closed session to discuss this conversation. i. Wellness Day Feedback- Vice President of Senate Srigouri Oruganty j. Voting Registration + Parking Survey Updates.pptx - Senator Oluwakemi Abidoun k. MSE Resolution Response- President Stone Meng l. Democracy Fest Updates- Senator Angela Xiong m. MSE Patio Initiative- Senator Daarian Rouhani *** Cohort Time

17. First Reading

a. November Tabling - Chair Tim Huang b. SGA Leadership Workshop 2- Chair Tim Huang

18. Second Reading
19. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)
20. Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)

a. Naqvi recommended Sanchez and Ferebee to run the town hall next week as she won’t be here anyways. She thanked everyone for their patience. b. Motion to adjourn the meeting was passed. 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.