The Student Government Association (SGA) held its twelfth general body meeting (GBM) of the 111th session on October 31, 2023.
Cabinet Report
Earlier that day, Student Body President Ryan Chou and members of the Executive Cabinet met with Maureen Marsh, Senior Vice President and Secretary of the Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees. Additionally, several members of SGA and the student body at-large participated virtually in a meeting with SNF Agora leadership and other University leadership on October 27th to plan a discussion panel regarding the present conflict in the Middle East. Student Body Vice President Jackson Morris announced that Vice President and Chief of Policy Dr. Branville Bard will present during the GBM on November 11th about public safety and the JHPD. President of the Senate Dalhart Dobbs requested that everyone look at the JHPD draft policies before next week. Student Body Treasurer Jenny Chen updated that the Finance Committee will be creating the funding bill to order the items that will be handed out at the Lighting of the Quad. President of the Senate Dalhart Dobbs stated that the October 17th press release about the impacts of the crisis in the Middle East on JHU students has undergone extensive internal and administrative review to remove any possible identifiable information and is currently being reviewed for accuracy and identifiability by the student participants. The release will be made public after the current version is agreed to.
Confirmations
Ryan Chan was confirmed as a WSE Academic Senator during this meeting. Student Body Secretary Amy Li presented the nominations of Buse Koldaş and Karim Ibrahim Dit Nasrallah for assistant secretary. Chair of Programming Shalala Leny led the senior class programming confirmations of Faith Oblio, Maria Hara, Emily Diaz Osorio, and Xiaojun Gao. Faith Oblio was confirmed as the Treasurer of the Senior Class Programming Council Executive Team, and the rest were confirmed as general members of the programming council. In a four-way internal contest, Sophomore Class President Stone Meng was voted in as the inaugural Vice President Pro-Tempore of the Senate. This new position assumes the roles of the Vice President of the Senate when the President of the Senate or Vice President of the Senate is absent. Stone will succeed Vice President Nasreen Naqvi when she becomes President of the Senate in the Spring.
Reading
The First Reading of the November Tabling Funding Bill proposed an estimated cost of $600 for winter-themed giveaway items like fall sweaters, cookies, apple cider donuts, blankets, and plushies. It is scheduled to tentatively take place on November 28th at the Breezeway.
Committee/Caucus
- The Committee on Health, Safety, and Sustainability met with a representative from Sunrise Movement Baltimore, which is a youth-led, local grassroots hub to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. They expressed the desire to open up more communications with HSS and expand their membership within Hopkins. HSS plans to meet with the Graduate Representative Organization and Office Of Sustainability Admin to suggest ways the sustainability plan will be improved.
- Internal Affairs discussed the MSE Renovations, including requests for a town hall with admins for the student body to understand the upcoming plans, a tuition reduction, and other alternatives.
- The Committee on Student Services have an upcoming meeting with the Vice Provost of Student Affairs to establish a liaison and are looking into expanding mental health services on campus.
- The Women and Gender Minorities Caucus held their first GBM following a round of successful recruiting and sent out promotion materials to Milton Diaz, SGA’s Director of Communications.
- The Committee on Student Organizations went over 40 re-registrations from the previous week and voted on approving all with minor modifications (largely anti-hazing and membership approval issues). They delegated re-registration assignments from a pool of over 60+ RSO approval submissions.
- The Committee on Finance has been approving event grants and receiving interest from prospective co-sponsorships from a few clubs that they hope to bring for first reading at future GBMs. They approved $260 for Violet at Hopkins' November social event, $690 for the Jewish Student Association’s Zach Steinberg Memorial basketball tournament, $296 for TEDxJHU's speaker event, where they will be featuring Teach for America, $600 for the JHU film society's Halloween Screening of the Exorcist, and $500 for the Rocky Horror Picture Show club’s Halloween screening of the musical comedy horror film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.