JHU SGAThe 114th Session
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Senate Meeting #1 - 4/18/23

Minutes / Senate · 111th session · dated April 18, 2023 · updated October 2, 2023

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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.

JHU Student Government

Senate Meeting # 1

April 18, 2023 / 07:00 PM / Hodson 311

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Absentees:
      1. Excused:
      2. Unexcused
    2. Present

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

    1. Election of President and Vice President of the Senate - Student Body President Ryan Chou
    2. Student Body Presidential Appointments- Student Body President Ryan Chou

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

  4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. Reports (17 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

      1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
      5. Director of Communications
      6. Director of Research
      7. President of the Senate
    2. Advisor Report (2 min) -

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. SGA Committee Report

  7. First Reading

    1. Spring 2023 Bylaws Updates - Secretary Amy Li

  8. Second Reading

    1. 2023-2024 Rules Bill - Student Body President Ryan Chou

  9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

  10. 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 (10:00 PM over the summer) and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate.

MINUTES

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Absentees:
      1. Excused:
      2. Unexcused:
    2. Present:

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

    1. Election of President and Vice President of the Senate - Student Body President Ryan Chou
      1. President of Senate Nominations
        1. Daniel
          1. Strength is harmony
          2. Enjoys working with people for feasible solution
        2. Dalhart Dobbs
          1. Rising Junior, Senator Representing Fraternity and Sorority Life.
          2. Previous experience as Chair of Committee on Student Organizations, Class of 2025 Senate
          3. Experience in working within SGA. Uphold Robert
          4. Representative of Senate, including minority groups. To ensure an inclusive student government on campus.
          5. Invite speakers throughout campus to improve all areas of campus life
          6. Inclusive and accountable student government.
      2. Vice President of Senate Nominations
        1. Stone Meng
          1. Current Freshman Class President, future Sophomore Class Senator
          2. Communication experience
          3. Robotics in high school — teamwork and communication.
          4. Experience communicating with admini
          5. Clarity and efficiency
        2. Brandon Benjamin
          1. Current Sophomore Class Senator, future Junior Class Senator
          2. Finance Committee, Student Services, Health, Safety and Sustainability
            1. Experience with different committees and bring different goals into fruition
        3. Mufasa Cruz Moreno
          1. Current Junior Class Senator, future Senior Class Senator
          2. CSO, Finance, Chair of LatinX
          3. Changes in SGA, many opportunities to start anew
          4. Create an environment that finds community and communication. Engage with the leaders and team
        4. Ryan Alezz
          1. WSE Senator
          2. Redundancy in SGA, bring something new to SGA as Vice President
        5. Nasreen Naqvi
          1. Current Sophomore Class Senator, Future Senator for Religious & Spiritual Life
          2. Change SGA into something even better
          3. Currently an RA, deep commitment into student life
          4. Mental health and wellbeing
            1. Ensure improved access and awareness on mental health
          5. Diversity Equity and Inclusion
            1. Different Senators
            2. Increase access for students and create inclusive community for all through collaboration
      3. Voting Results
        1. Dalhart Dobbs, President of the Senate
        2. Nasreen Naqvi, Vice President of the Senate
    2. Student Body Presidential Appointments - Student Body President Ryan Chou
      1. Student Body President and Cabinet allowed to appoint new positions to SGA, see powerpoint for responsibilities and qualifications
        1. Director of Communications, formerly known as Director of Social Affairs
          1. Milton Diaz ‘25
        2. Director of Research (new position, mandated by Constitution)
          1. Vanessa Han ‘26
        3. Chief of Staff (new position, not mandated by Constitution)
          1. Sean Li ‘26
        4. Director of Transitions (new position, not mandated by Constitution, especially with huge transitions in SGA this year)
          1. Elaina Regier ‘24
        5. Co-Directors of Advocacy (new position, not mandated by Constitution)
          1. Ireland Parrish ‘24
          2. Kobi Khong ‘24
        6. Co-Directors of Publications (new position, not mandated by Constitution)
          1. Appointment for Cabinet and Communications and Marketing Commission Appointments
          2. Kaitlyn Jung ‘24
          3. Christopher Xiao ‘24
      2. President of Senate Dobbs: No one who is graduating early can have an elected position, but President Chou can create appointments.
      3. Vice President Morris: When they graduate, we will nominate new people to the vacant positions.
      4. All candidates approved unanimously

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

    1. President Meng: Motion to add committee presentation into non-legislation business.

  4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. Reports (17 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

      1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
        1. President’s Cabinet has met four times to set infrastructure for transitions in SGA.
        2. We will have more specific updates in the next few meetings.
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
        1. Executive Branch will meet with Vice Provost of Student Affairs and Student Health and Well-Being Meeting tomorrow (4/19).
        2. Reply to chain or message Jackson if you have any concerns, student testimony, or ideas you'd like to share in advance of this meeting by tonight.
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
        1. Currently focusing on transitions and infrastructure
        2. Primary communication is Microsoft Teams and documentation is Google Drive
        3. Will send a master Google Calendar to organize meeting times and important meetings for leaders to add to the calendar for communication and transparency
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
        1. Will meet with Advisor Charles and Former Treasurer Kya.
        2. Join the finance committee to manage the SGA budget.
      5. Student Body Chair of Programming - Director Shalala Leny
      6. Director of Communications
      7. Director of Research
      8. President of the Senate
        1. Need volunteers for Sophomore Imagine Center Event.
        2. Help with transition for CSO as Chair of CSO.
    2. Advisor Report (2 min) - Charles Norman
      1. First full semester, congrats on your election and nomination

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. SGA Committee Report
      1. Academic affairs, civic engagement, finance, health, safety, and sustainability, internal affairs, student organizations, student services
      2. See presentation
      3. Senator Cruz Moreno: Motion for 10 minute Q&A, one minute speaking time.
      4. Senator Cruz Moreno: With so many Senators, how do we place
        1. President Dobbs: RSO either Finance or CSO, coming in the Bylaws Updates Bill
      5. Senator Huang: How many are Senators allowed to join?
        1. VP Morris: At maximum three, but recommend 2 at most.
      6. Senator Adi: What is the procedure for Ad-Hoc committee?
        1. President Dobbs: Usually for special circumstances, such as for targeted initiatives on campus, compose a resolution to create a committee.
      7. President Meng: Questions already answered, we do not need to speak for more than 10 minutes despite motion.
      8. President Resham: How to elect Vice Chair for Committees?
        1. President Dobbs: Vice Chairs are elected within committee.
      9. Director Leny: Why are we hosting the elections now?
      10. Senator Cruz Moreno: Motion to end Q&A.
    2. Academic Affairs
      1. Nominations
        1. Resham
          1. Sophomore Class President
          2. Work with Life Design Lab and Imagine Center
          3. Office of the Class President — work to strengthen alumni relations
          4. Undergraduate Admissions Officer to engage more with prospective students
        2. Omar
          1. WSE Senator
          2. Allow for flexibility in taking courses
            1. CS courses for engineering
          3. VP Navqi: As former AA chair, can only advocate and represent students and not create certain courses.
      2. Academic Affairs Chair: Resham Talwar
    3. Civic Engagement
      1. Nominations
        1. Ryan Alezz
    4. Internal Affairs
      1. Nominations
        1. Stone Meng
          1. Committee that engages in impeachment
          2. Has prior experience and knowledge, such as amendments
        2. Jaden Garcia
          1. Experience in student government in high school and consider conflict
          2. No bias in bylaws, etc, despite being a new Senator
      2. Internal Affairs Chair: Stone Meng
    5. Finance
      1. President Dobbs: Point of information: Co-Chair with Treasurer
      2. Nominations
        1. Oluwakemi Abiodun
          1. Experience in Finance Committee last year
          2. Student organizations are either funded or under-funded. Ensure how clubs know how to use and ask for funding to prevent any conflicts and chaos.
        2. Mufasa Cruz Moreno
          1. Keep finances in check
          2. Worked with Treasurers and Finance Directors for summer funding allocations.
          3. Ensure clubs have connections in funding beyond what is passed.
        3. Leon Ye
          1. Have experienced many issues as a member
          2. Want to ensure impartial and fair funding
        4. Brandon Benjamin
          1. Meet with all the treasurers on how to work with funding.
          2. Fund clubs in an equal manner.
          3. Use videography to show students the club’s impact.
      3. Finance Chair:
        1. Brandon Benjamin
    6. CSO
      1. Nominations
        1. Mufasa Cruz Moreno
          1. Ensure that clubs follow the Constitution and have advisors and members.
          2. Make sure that every club is intact for Finance funding.
        2. Christian Bakhit
          1. Opportunity to work in different clubs, such as Minecraft club with DMC
          2. Barriers in funding and support and amendments
          3. Will use experience to support clubs
        3. Shruti Tyagi
          1. VP for JHU4Rare- has experience in re-registration process and served in CSO this year
          2. Faced hurdles, such as finding an advisor, and lack of information about bylaws (e.g. anti-hazing)
          3. Creating a new club may be disadvantageous, make a change to allow campus to be more colorful with new clubs
      2. CSO Chair: Shruti Tyagi
    7. Health, Safety, and Sustainability
      1. Nominations
        1. Danial Nabizadeh
          1. Passionate about environmentalism
          2. Focused on sustainability as platform and make sustainability more convenient for students
          3. Create orientation program about sustainability
        2. Srigouri Oruganty
          1. Sustainability Office and helped on Earth Fest
          2. Research about environment in high school
          3. Understand that health is important, such as in terms of dining and campus environment
        3. Rachel Huang
          1. Been on committee for 2 years, last year being chair
          2. Worked with CSO, Office of Sustainability, Public Safety, Student Health Advisory Council
          3. Worked on sustainability module with Homewood Recycling and Public Safety
      2. President Dobbs: Tie-breaking vote for Rachel Huang
      3. Health, Safety, and Sustainability Chair: Rachel Huang
    8. Student Services
      1. VP Morris: Student Services Chair will be leading the liaison program, in which each senator will be paired with an administrator
      2. Nominations
        1. Christian
          1. Understand about the student complaints about current Hopkins services (library, late night)
          2. Lack of information on campus—no easy access to information
          3. Create website to facilitate information
        2. Tim
          1. Communication with the student body to represent them
          2. Create a student platform to have students can discuss them directly with SGA
        3. Oluwakemi
          1. Former Student Services Vice Chair
          2. Sponsor of Liaison program
          3. Monthly meeting with housing
          4. Use social media to communicate with students in modern ways rather than forums
          5. Set connections with admin to discuss student concerns
      3. Student Services Chair: Oluwakemi
    9. President Dobbs: Will send

  7. First Reading

    1. Spring 2023 Bylaws Updates - Secretary Amy Li
      1. Update student body vice president to separate president of the senate
      2. Remove worklog
      3. Require RSO senators to serve on finance or CSO
      4. Update position responsible for committee sorting and change sorting process to elect committee chairs and
      5. Removal of chairs update role
      6. Mainly updating SGA infrastructure and changing/adding positions, if you want to see specifics you can look at it
      7. Senator Nabizadeh- motion for 5 min Q&A with 1 min speaking times
        1. Senator Nabizadeh- how can we access this document?
          1. Available on the agenda
        2. Senator Alezz- do we have a central google drive?
          1. Working on that
        3. Senator T. Huang- question about powers and responsibilities of caucus- are you thinking about specifying what exactly initiatives and events are?
          1. Initiatives are defined as anything that requires public use of the SGA name
        4. Treasurer Chen- how can we determine committee meeting time if we don’t know members or class schedules?
          1. That’s the purpose, the chair decides so that senators can either base their committee choice off of being able to attend meeting or base class schedule off of meeting time

  8. Second Reading

    1. 2023-2024 Rules Bill - Student Body President Ryan Chou
      1. President Chou: Annually passed a document for each new SGA senate.
        1. Removed Approval of Previous Minutes
          1. No consistent review of minutes in past Senate
        2. Change Executive Vice President to President of the Senate
        3. Removed registering codes for GBMs and attendances
        4. No worklog—text-based updates
        5. Shift disciplinary marks from 5 to 3
        6. Add Constituency Meetings
        7. Formalize Motions to address the Senate
      2. President Meng: Motion for 5 minute Q&A 1 minute speaking time
      3. Senator Alezz- POI- when do we use points of information vs Q&A?
        1. Typically when there will be many questions like after the presentation of a bill we use Q&A, if it’s only one we use POI
      4. President Meng: Section 5.1.1 — perhaps removing business casual review, not entirely feasible
        1. VP Morris: only at the discretion of the presiding officer
      5. Senator T. Huang: Enforcement for no food during SGA and no phone
        1. PoS Dobbs: generally no food, with some exceptions. No texting on phone to ensure efficiency in meetings
      6. Senator Nabizadeh: Will we have meetings on Zoom?
        1. PoS Dobbs: only meetings in person, no meetings on Zoom for GBMs. Committee meetings can be on Zoom, at the discretion of the chair.
        2. What is the difference between first and second readings?
          1. PoS Dobbs: Allow for people to have time to discuss resolutions/bills and have time to discuss different legislations. If something comes up, presiding officer can waive first reading based on urgency.

  9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

    1. Senator R. Huang: Earth Fest and Junior Class Council Formal are happening this Friday. More information on Teams.
    2. Senator T. Huang: When is the Sophomore Send-Off?
      1. President Chou: April 24, 3-5pm at Imagine Center. More information on Teams.
    3. Senator Park- TASA Night Market on Saturday, IAC Fashion Show on Sunday
    4. Treasurer Chen: Will be making an SGA 101 document to help new Senators.
    5. Advisor Charles: Spring Fest Artist will be announced tomorrow.

  10. 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 (10:00 PM over the summer) and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate.

NOTES

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Absentees:
      1. Excused:
      2. Unexcused
    2. Present

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

    1. Election of President and Vice President of the Senate - Student Body President Ryan Chou
    2. Student Body Presidential Appointments- Student Body President Ryan Chou

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

  4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. Reports (17 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

      1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
      5. Director of Communications
      6. Director of Research
      7. President of the Senate
    2. Advisor Report (2 min) -

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

  7. First Reading

    1. Spring 2023 Bylaws Updates - Secretary Amy Li

  8. Second Reading

    1. 2023-2024 Rules Bill - Student Body President Ryan Chou

  9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

  10. Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)