JHU SGAThe 114th Session
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Senate Meeting #22

Minutes / Senate · 111th session · dated March 5, 2024 · updated March 5, 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.

111th JHU Student Government

Senate Meeting #22

March 5, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Shaffer 301

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

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

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

  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. Chair of Programming - Chair Shalala Leny
      6. Director of Communications - Director Connie Weng
      7. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
      8. President of the Senate - President Nasreen Naqvi
      9. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

  7. Student Conduct Board Hearings- Chief Justice Luc Mazzanobile & Senator Oluwakemi Abiodun
  8. SGA Merch Form- Senator Jenny Tang
  9. Storytelling Conversations - Chair Shalala Leny, President Ryan Chou & Vice President Jackson Morris

  10. First Reading

  11. MASA Funding Bill- Senator Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo
  12. Life Design Lab Presentation

  13. Second Reading

    1. OLÉ Funding Bill- Senator Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo
    2. Rage Room Funding Bill- Chair Shalala Leny
      1. presentation
    3. SGA Storytelling Event Funding Bill - Chair Shalala Leny

  14. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

  15. 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 10:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate

111th JHU Student Government

Senate Meeting #22

March 5, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Shaffer 301

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

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

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

  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
        1. Last rehearsal for the Board of Trustees presentations has been completed
        2. Invitations to the administrators will be sent this week for Storytelling Event
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
        1. Special Collections archival meeting with Dean Long on 3/14 at 1:30pm. Please let me, Nas, or Amy know you’re interested in joining!
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
        1. Sophomore Garden Party on 3/8 , 8-11pm. Make sure you register if you’re a sophomore!
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
        1. Will be working on the SAC guidelines for the next SGA administration.
      5. Chair of Programming - Chair Shalala Leny
        1. Not much just planning for March and April events
      6. Director of Communications - Director Connie Weng
        1. No updates
      7. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
        1. No updates
      8. President of the Senate - President Nasreen Naqvi
        1. Not present
      9. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman
        1. Not present

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. Life Design Lab Presentation
      1. Members not present
      2. Motion to move LDL presentation to 7pm. Passed
      3. At 7:40 PM, the members arrived, so the presentation started then
      4. Farouk Dey and Matthew Golden (look up the names)
      5. The presentation focuses on how they help the students and what more they can do. They came to the meeting to talk about this and get ideas
      6. They want the students to reach fulfillment in their lives. People who are curious, try things out, experiment, and are highly connected.
      7. Career planning, what should you do with your major or your life… Most students hate this question, but focus on what others say when they are asked this question. They are mostly unclear.
      8. Life Design is not about answering this question. It is about finding what you are curious about and what you want to experiment with.
      9. They want to reach the 80% satisfaction rate again
      10. A lot of SGA members expressed that they spent time at the Imagine Center
      11. They want students to feel fulfillment
      12. Golden continued: They want this to be a conversation.
      13. They want you to think about the limitless opportunities. They are encouraging you to dream and believe.
      14. Every experience counts, even if it doesn’t feel like that.
      15. Assistant Secretary Buse: Many of the internships on Handshake have a requirement of being a U.S. citizen or resident. As an international student, I have faced many challenges in finding internships. It is important for us to have job experiences as students and help us seek a sense of belonging. What suggestions do you have to offer international students?
        1. Dey: As an international student myself, I understand your struggles. I realized that I needed to be very informed about the immigration process and, for example, any international student with an F1 Visa can work for over 12 months without the company needing to hire the student. This visa comes from the university, but many companies are very uninformed about this. I would suggest educating employers with this information such that international students can have tools to help educate and bring more companies that are more responsive to international students. There are politics and requirements regarding this. For the H1B, it is essentially a lottery and allows for international students to work under an employer for 3 years. There are industry sectors that hold a lot of weight that allow for students to be prioritized in getting H1B. Also, if you apply for H1B in the non-profit sector, you don’t have to rely on the lottery system. There are a lot of strategies in which we can teach international students, including the international students association at Hopkins. Unfortunately, there will always be companies and employees that only limit to U.S. citizens, but we will expand in making the process easier for international students and will collaborate with Hopkins international students.
      16. Senator Mufusa: For a lot of seniors and postgrads: I’m someone who will graduate and take a gap year soon. What about opportunities for them? Especially those who will take a gap year?
        1. Dey: We can work with you more on establishing programs and agencies that might help you out with that.
        2. Golden: Don’t know how many research opportunities there are, but I know that there are about 76 companies that focus on those and they should be on the newsletters, which is run by one of our members. You can directly email Jess Harlee for that.
        3. Dey: We will work on making these opportunities more visible on the websites.
      17. Senator Omotara: Appreciate the presentation. Suggestion about the LDL. Can you post more opportunities that are on campus rather than outside of Hopkins? Like leadership opportunities in student clubs.
        1. Golden: There is a Life Design educator that works with LEED. The intention is to have a resource for that. We can connect you with that if you want. Hopkins Groups is a little messy, so we can work more on bringing them forward.
  7. Student Conduct Board Hearings- Chief Justice Luc Mazzanobile & Senator Oluwakemi Abiodun
    1. Gave overview of student conduct (slide on presentation)
    2. Showed a roadmap of how violation is reported and processed (slide on presentation)
    3. Explained different board hearings; steps include: agreement resolution, administrative hearing, conduct board hearing (slide on presentation)
    4. Student conduct board is composed of 3 students
      1. Question: do you think the judiciary should have a place on this board?
    5. Talked about next steps (slide on presentation)
    6. Many students feel lost and find the steps very ambiguous
    7. Senatorial vote will be done to check if senate is in favor of proceeding with the procedure
    8. Motion for a 5 minute Q&A Passed:
      1. Danial: What are the different offices that deal with student conduct? + Students need an advocate on their behalf and there might be a conflict of interest and doubts SGA might not be the best choice.
        1. One whole office but can run through different offices when collecting data and evidence
      2. Stone: How many students are on the board and have you spoken to any?
        1. 3 students on the board
        2. Student names weren't on the website
      3. Jackson: If there’s a big protest, and SGA wants to lobby for the students protesting, what would happen in this case? Conflict of interest?
        1. Judiciary is told to act as an independent branch of SGA
      4. Amani: Are you aware of the students that are part of this board and what do they know/do?
        1. Suggested that the judiciary have 1 seat on the board
    9. Motion to vote PASSED
  8. SGA Merch Form- Senator Jenny Tang
    1. Members that want to order a quarter zip should fill out the form
    2. The design is in the form
    3. Due to the low price difference between getting it embroidered instead of printed, we will be getting the logo embroidered
    4. Goal: Try to get the number of people who want to buy so they can get a price estimate/unit.
      1. Let’s actually get the merch
  9. Storytelling Conversations - Chair Shalala Leny, President Ryan Chou & Vice President Jackson Morris
    1. Chair Shalala has been talking with some of the senators to finalize the schedule
    2. The program consists of addresses from President Daniels and President Ryan
    3. The questions generally focus on what inspired them to serve as leaders, challenges Hopkins is facing, etc.
    4. More questions are expected from the members

  10. First Reading

  11. MASA Funding Bill- Senator Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo
    1. Senator Cynthia made a presentation about the Mexican American Student Association and their grant proposal
    2. President of the club, Epiphania, gave information about their organization. They have 267 members and organized events such as Cinco de Mayo Celebration and Grito de Independencia.
    3. The presentation will be sent to Teams after just in case the senators want to take a look at it again
    4. The next event is the Historia Entre Telas: Tales Woven in Fabric
    5. It will be held at the Glass Pavilion on April 14 from 8 to 9 PM. It will be a fashion show to celebrate the diverse cultures that are found under the Latin American identity here at Hopkins
    6. It will be open to all Hopkins affiliates. Art exhibitions will also be held and submissions will be accepted
    7. The total expenses are $2059.87. The club is able to afford 375$ of it, so they request $1684.87 from the SGA fund
    8. The bill lists all expenses in detail (decorations, venue and services,
    9. Vice President of the Senate Stone asked why they needed to rent more chairs considering the Glass Pavilion already has chairs
      1. Extra note is that since the event is held on a weekend, prices are significantly higher
    10. Senator Daar asked if they were planning to organize this event annually
      1. They answered yes
      2. Then he followed up by asking if they would be able to use the projectors for next year then
      3. No, because they are rented
    11. The bill has been passed to the Finance Committee

  12. Second Reading

    1. OLÉ Funding Bill- Senator Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo
      1. Attendees needed to pay $20 for entrance, so the goal of the bill is to have no entrance fee
      2. The bill passed.
    2. Rage Room Funding Bill- Chair Shalala Leny
      1. Presentation
      2. Details of price and # of people / room are on the document
      3. Tentative date: April 10
      4. Working on minimizing the price
      5. If it is passed, Shalal will work on getting the contract done as soon as possible
      6. Senator Hidalgo: 3 hrs and 1 additional hour:
        1. Shalala: Yes
        2. Hidalgo: There is a setup time?
        3. Shalala: Yes, that’s why we have it for an extra hour
        4. Hidalgo: How will we decide who goes in?
        5. Shalala: There will probably be an online registration system for the time slots
        6. Motion to vote: PASSED!
    3. SGA Storytelling Event Funding Bill - Chair Shalala Leny
      1. Currently empty, Hopkins Dining has not spoken to us about what exactly is on the menu. Bill has the maximum amount we can spend on food (~$800), which is 20$ per person.
      2. Motion to table this bill to next week?
      3. If we delay any further, it’ll be a headache
      4. Motion to vote: passed and proceeded to voting procedure.
        1. PASSED!

  13. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

    1. Shalala: Happy Blue Jay Tuesday!
      1. Luc: Debates tomorrow at Mudd 26
      2. Danial: If you are interested in working on a mental health initiative, please let Resham or me know!

  14. 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 10:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate