112th JHU Student Government Association Senate Meeting #8 October 1, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17 AGENDA
- Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)
a. Absentees: i. Excused: Tim Huang, Prisha Agrawal, Ryan Alezz, Alex Kroumov, Adithyan Neelamana, Arihant Singh, Jacquelyn Slade, Hailey Saya Tomlinson, ii. Present:
- Convening Business (20 mins)
- Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)
a. Motion to start the meeting has passed and agenda has been approved.
- Public Input (3 min)
- Reports (10 min)
a. Cabinet Reports (4 min) i. Executive Team- Exec b. Advisor Report (2 min) - Jessica Snell
- Non-Legislative Business (15 min)
a. Updates from Stone- President Stone Meng i. Executive President Stone Meng emailed Brittani Brown about the fencing around MSE. Meng asked if anyone had any ideas as to why they had installed the fencing. He made it clear that neither the library nor President Ron Daniels said anything to SGA regarding the fencing even though SGA had meetings with them just yesterday.
- KSAS Senator Jaden Garcia pointed out that there
will be changes to the floor, which is probably why they put the fencing. ii. Meng announced that the Rec Center announced their advisory board. If interested, you need to reply to the thread Secretary Buse Koldas started. If there are a lot of people who are interested, we will have an application.
- KSAS Senator Danial Nabizadeh asked what exactly
this advisory board is.
- Meng explained that it’s similar to the dining
advisory board. The Rec Center Advisory Board will meet monthly. Regular students and GRO, SGA and staff representatives are expected to join the committee. It was started by Meng, Sophomore Class President Vishnu Dontu and a few other people who were passionate about this and these people allowed this to happen. iii. Vice President Amy Li thanked everyone for participating in the retreat. iv. Advisor Jessica Snell said that IT is looking for SGA participation in an IT/SGA subcommittee. Students would be able to provide feedback and hear updates on tech-related topics from the undergraduate perspective. If interested, let Snell know.
- Meng mentioned the ongoing printing issue around
campus. He believes that IT can be informed about this. v. Meng elaborated more on the meeting that took place between the executive board and President Daniels yesterday. Meng was happy with the progress. The executive branch mentioned the MSE construction survey and issues with current replacements were discussed. The administration asked the executive board’s opinion about bringing back the Freshman Annex. SGA suggested opening Gilman Hall classrooms, Pava Center and Imagine Center as potential study places. vi. Feedback regarding current transportation issues were brought up. President Daniels said that they haven’t received a request from the transportation department that they needed more funding, even though that was the information given to SGA. vii. Concerns regarding admissions were brought up and President Daniels informed the SGA that they are searching for ways to keep the multiculturalism and diversity of Hopkins, potentially by hiring more veterans as the administration realized that this group is racially diverse. viii. The administration was also informed about the broken desks and other initiatives. ix. President of Senate Nasreen Naqvi mentioned that the issues with the JHMI were brought up. President Daniels suggested sending two buses at a time when necessary. Vice Provost Rachelle Hernandez will follow up on this. x. Naqvi clarified that there will be no student parking lot in the student center. xi. President Daniels agreed to have recurring meetings with the executive branch. b. CSO/Senate VP Vacancy Election- President Nasreen Naqvi i. Fraternity & Sorority Life Senator Yashas Mallikarjun was internally elected within the committee, but Naqvi stated that this has to be approved by ⅔ of the quorum. ii. The senate approved Mallikarjun as the new chair of CSO. Former CSO Chair Junior Class Senator Shruti Tyagi will have a transition meeting with Mallikarjun. iii. During these elections, Media Senator Tyler Turner was elected as the vice chair of CSO. iv. Sophomore Class Senator Omotara Tiamiyu asked if Mallikarjun will now be in one committee, to which Naqvi answered yes. Mallikarjun has been removed from Civic Engagement. v. Three vacancies will be filled. vi. Since former Vice President of Senate Jackson Morris resigned from SGA, the senate will need to elect a new Vice President of Senate. We won’t be able to have an election today as not enough people are present. Candidates will need to make a one minute speech if interested. We will vote internally. Naqvi asked people to not skip. An official email with more information will be sent out. c. Construction Updates- President Stone Meng, Vice President Amy Li, Senator Daarian Rouhani i. Meng, Li and KSAS Senator Daarian Rouhani went to a meeting with the library. ii. Rouhani said that the most significant idea was to separate MSE Annex as the quiet place and Brody/Hodson as collaborative spaces. During the meeting, SGA highlighted that there isn’t enough separation between group and self study, cubicles and open tables. Separating these and adding signage will create a distinct quiet level. Rouhani suggested moving all cubicles to Annex and moving the group tables to Hodson, yet he is not sure if Sheridan Dean Elisabeth M. Long is interested in doing this now as this is a big project, but we will keep thinking. iii. Li said that people were concerned about the lack of seating area in Brody, so they discussed increasing seating for collaborative studying. Changing Brody reading room furniture and adding more tables and chairs were considered. Long is interested in creating a Homewood Map that shows shortcuts. Long wants to work with Hernandez, who also expressed interest in this. JHU Medicine has an app that shows the shortcuts within campus, which will serve as an inspiration. The goal is to replicate this for Homewood. iv. Long is also interested in creating a library advisory board. She wants to do it in the near future. v. The printing issues were brough up, since it is not only in the MSE Annex and Brody only, there isn’t much library can do. vi. Rouhani added that since the study places will get crowded during finals week, Scott Bates Commons and Gilman classrooms will be opened for studying. They are planning to have singular people tables, so that it helps with the overflow and the capacity of the room can be maximized. vii. Li said that they discussed the situation of the graduate students, since they are using the Board of Trustees Room as their study place. viii. Rouhani prepared the minutes for this meeting. ix. Turner asked if the temperature issue in buildings has been discussed. This will be addressed for the MSE Annex. x. Motion for a five minute Q&A with one minute speaking time passed. xi. Sophomore Class Senator Tarini Basireddy asked if anything had been sent out about the furniture. Email still wasn’t approved and it’s awaiting approval from Brown, but a classroom advisory committee exists, which will have students in it soon, and President Daniels has been informed about the issue in the meeting.
- Cohort Time (10 min)
- First Reading
- Second Reading
a. 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month Latine Caucus Tabling Funding Bill - Senator Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo i. This tabling will take place next Thursday from 1 to 3 PM. ii. Stickers have been prepared. Finance had some concerns about the money. Hispanic/Latinx Senator Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo thinks the paletas are fairly priced considering the time it takes to make them. She highlighted that we will be supporting a local business and giving back to the community. She said that this was the most fairly priced option she came across while researching. iii. The bill was passed unanimously. b. HSS National Health Education Week Tabling - Senator Srigouri Oruganty i. This tabling will consist of giveaways for hygiene products. We will distribute health related stickers. We will use a wheel and we will ask trivia questions to the people who approach the table. ii. It will take place on October 23rd from 12 to 3 pm at Breezeway. iii. Hidalgo asked if we can get the mini hand sanitizers to any providers on campus. Junior Class Senator Srigouri Oruganty will ask the Public Safety Department. Naqvi suggested passing this bill today and then see if we can reduce the cost by getting some of the products for free from Hopkins departments. iv. Hidalgo also pointed out that Health & Wellbeing has care packages, so we can also ask to get some. Oruganty still thinks we should vote on this bill and pass, as we will save money if we can get it from them. v. The bill was passed unanimously.
- Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)
- Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)
a. Motion to adjourn the meeting was passed. b. Basireddy announced that the Center of Educational Outreach is hosting an event tomorrow. Volunteer by texting Basireddy if you’re interested. 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