The Student Government Association (SGA) held its second and last general body meeting (GBM) of its 2023-2024 session for this Spring semester on April 25th, 2023. The Senate elected the following senatorial caucus nominees:
- Tyler Turner as Black Caucus Senator
- Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo as Hispanic/LatinX Caucus Senator
- Steven Doctorman as Honor and Professional Society Registered Student Organizations (RSO) Caucus Senator
There were no nominees for the Media RSO Caucus Senator. SGA aims to fill this position as soon as possible. The position would require attendance of weekly Tuesday 7-9PM Senate meetings and an additional committee meeting(s) depending on committee membership. Those interested in applying can fill out this form to be nominated. Please email Dalhart Dobbs, the newly elected President of the Senate of SGA, with any additional questions at ddobbs2@jhu.edu!
Committee/Caucus Updates
The Health, Safety, and Sustainability committee aims to work with student organizations on events and education initiatives. More specifically, they plan to:
- Discuss a sustainability module with the Office of Sustainability and Homewood Recycling that will be taught in RSO and Finance 101 sessions
- Promote LifeSafe through a tabling event with Public Safety that also addresses questions regarding the JHPD
- Meet with administration from Health Wellbeing and Promotion to lead a therapy-dog event.
- Organize monthly external volunteer events and community partnership initiatives
- Work with the Academic Affairs Committee to develop service learning programs and a volunteer recognition-and-reward program for students who have made outstanding contributions through community service
- Plan a campus-wide Community Service Week with workshops, panel discussions, and guest speakers.
The Student Services Committee hopes to ensure that students have access to superior services and encouragement/support to help them thrive academically and individually. They intend to:
- Enhance the liaison program to connect students with administration contacts
- Develop new ways of gathering student feedback through social media platforms
- Work with the Life Design Lab to provide career guidance, especially to first-year students
- Expand and improve student housing and residence life services
The Internal Affairs Committee fosters a culture of ethical behavior within SGA. They will also:
- Strengthen SGA’s constitutional and bylaw framework
- Improve the impeachment process
- Enhance SGA outreach and communication efforts
- Ensure proper appointment and evaluation of SGA officials
The Committee on Student Organizations will facilitate the registration and re-registration processes for student organizations. They intend to:
- Improve communication about organization onboarding requirements, the approval process, and evaluation of constitutions/bylaws.
- Improve accessibility to SGA through office hours and a channel for student organization leadership.
- Expand the Prospective Organization Application timeline with additional workshops.
- Compile a document of all student organizations under SGA with descriptions.
The Women and Gender Minority Caucus advocates for the needs of female, transgender, gender-expansive, and gender minority students in all SGA meetings, programs, dialogue, and bill legislation and implementation. Next year, they will:
- Collaborate with Gender and Sexuality Resources to increase utilization among the student body and advocacy and education among SGA members.
- Fight for the elimination of discrepancies between chosen and legal names in student EAccounts and Microsoft Services across Hopkins.
- Inquire administration about the training of all professors and teaching assistants with respect to gender affirmation in educational environments
- Advocate for direct SGA and committee support and funding of clubs/organizations that support health equity and empowering programs for women and gender minorities
The Committee on Academic Affairs hopes to create a platform that addresses students’ academic concerns and connects them to departments and administration. They seek to:
- Ensure students have access to timely and accurate information on classes by updating program of study tags, class and professor reviews, and syllabi.
- Coordinate with academic resources like PILOT, Math Help Room, Writing Center so students have the tools they need to succeed academically.
- Work with pre-professional advising to help students prepare for standardized tests like the MCAT, LSAT, and GRE.
- Gain insights on availability of review sessions at the end of the semester and promote availability of past exams and other essential resources.
The Disability Caucus works to make various disability-related events and resources on campus more accessible and easy to locate/access for Hopkins students. They will continue to:
- Collaborate with Student Disability Services and Housing Operations to ensure accommodations, particularly ones for housing, are respected.
- Establish connections with on-campus disability-related groups like the Disabled Student Community Outreach (DiSCO), Advocates for Disability Awareness (ADA), & JHU 4Rare.
- Create an accessible, streamlined process for students to anonymously submit feedback on disability representation at Hopkins.
- Push to improve the current campus infrastructure to better accommodate students with mobility and auditory impairments through proper ramping around campus and auto-caption in all in-person lectures/presentations.
The First Generation/Limited Income (FLI) Committee advocates for the needs of FLI students by creating proper legislation in SGA. They plan to:
- Organize a concise document about FLI-related resources
- Create lasting events like FLI study nights with Hopkins Undergraduate Leaders in Advising (HULA) and Success Coaching in Academic Advising (SCAA)
- Work with FLI Network, I’m First, and FLI Student Advisory Board to create an alum mentorship program that provides networking connections and advice
- Establish an online/in-person feedback collection system for FLI students to submit their complaints, feedback, and prospective improvements.
- Advocate for increased financial aid and scholarship opportunities for FLI students by working with the financial aid office.
The Finance Committee’s goal is to make finance EAT (Effective and efficient, Accessible, and Transparent). They will:
- Make the SAC guidelines accessible and digestible through infographics
- Host an Allocations 101 Workshop to ensure RSO treasurers properly fill out event requests.
- Uphold the prior precedent of equitable funding by prioritizing newer clubs with less money in group funds when evaluating allocations and grants.
- Create a fundraising master document accessible to all clubs to fully explain the new semesterly funding allocation requirement for clubs to have at least one documented fundraising event per semester.
- Increase promotion via the SGA Instagram account by requesting a flyer for each event grant funded by SAC.