112th Johns Hopkins Student Government AssociationSenate Meeting #15December 3, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17MINUTES
- Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)
a. Excused Absentees: Prisha Agrawalb. Unexcused Absentees: Brandon Benjamin, Tarini Basirreddy,
Nayshawn Ferebee, Ivan-Alexander Kroumov, Cynthia Sanchez
Hidalgo, Omotara Tiamiyu, Tyler Turner
- Convening Business (40 min)
a. Sophomore Programming Council Confirmations - Chair TimHuangi. Sophomore Programming Council members gotconfirmed.
- Grace Guan
- Julian Martinez
- Ava Jacqueline Flores
ii. Motion to confirm these nominations passed.
b. Motion to move Justice Nominations to Convening Businesswas passed.
c. Justice Nominationsi. The Judicial Branch was missing two justices. Stonenominated these justices:
- Caitlyn Ramdat
- Aryan Gautam
ii. Motion to confirm these nominations passed.
- Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)
a. Agenda got approved.
- Public Input (3 min)
- Reports (5 min)
a. Cabinet Reports (4 min)i. GBM time changed to 7:20-9:20 PM. There will be a voteon Teams. We will have a short meeting tonight.ii. President Stone Meng will speak on the updates from thePresident Daniels meeting as those will be shared innon-legislative business.
b. Advisor Report (2 min)i. Advisor Jessica Snell said that admin invitations to GBMshave to be sent before the semester ends for a lineup ofadmin to come in. People should send a Teams messagewith the names of people they would like to see.ii. Snell thanked those who filled out the WiFi survey. Thiswill go out this week to all undergraduate students.iii. IT is looking forward to speaking at a GBM in the springsemester to discuss the survey and some other topics.
- Non-Legislative Business (15 min)
c. Updates from Meeting with President Daniels- ExecutiveBranch
i. Brainstorming post Daniels Meeting
- Meng said that the University showed an increase in
diversity and made progress with the AffirmativeAction results. Meeting with an Admissions Officeris coming up. This meeting should provide moreinformation.
- For construction, Daniels will pour much more
funding to compensate the students, but not in theway of a tuition reduction. This is to supportstudents by things similar to the Freshman Annexor MSE Annex. To work out exactly where thatfunding will go towards, we will have a discussionabout this. Meeting has been scheduled for nextweek to confirm how the funding will be used.Tonight’s meeting will translate into that meeting.
- Programming Chair Tim Huang said that there will
be a separate meeting with Brittani Brown onconstruction. We need ways to ask PresidentDaniels to give us funding that is related to thelibrary closure. Tuition reduction and increasingdining dollars were rejected because they are notdirectly related to the library closure.
- Vice President Amy Li said that enhancing student
life is important, so initiatives about that isrequested.
- Li said that the portable security cameras will be
taken down by the end of this week. There will bemore permanent security cameras.
- President of the Senate Nasreen Naqvi said that
they don’t have facial recognition as it is against thelaw. They also agreed that they are hideous.
- Naqvi said that tours of the student center with hot
chocolate or other offerings to compensate for theconstruction were well received. They need ideasrelated to student life, directly correlated to theconstruction. For example, each faculty member inthe medical campus was given compensation aftertheir construction. Ideas must be related to what isbeing impacted. We have to make a creative casebecause it doesn’t make a difference to them if wehave to walk 5 extra minutes to get to class.
- Secretary Buse Koldas said that they liked the idea
of having engineering majors visit the constructionsites from an engineering perspective in tours thatare career-focused, romanticizing the construction.
- Naqvi said that the hours of study centers are going
to be extended for reading days and they will bereleased soon.
- Motion for unmoderated caucus of 10 minutes
passed.
- Vice President of Senate Srigouri Oruganty said that
Marc passes on the weekends to go to the D.C.campus to study could be a good compensation.12.Meng wanted the freshmen to understand what theFreshman Annex was, so he explained that it was abig giant tent with heaters and tables allowing thestudents to work there but it wasn’t popular. It is acloser study space that students can go to.
- Naqvi said that it was a huge tent at the Freshman
Quad with socially distanced desks. It was veryunpopular and it was not brought back and that'swhy we have Hopkins Club now. This or anotheralternative can be brought back. It was worthmillions. Dance groups used it to practice but it wasnot used to study. It also had a very loud generatorand no bathroom.14.Li said that they had their freshman formal there.
- Li suggested investing in transportation so that
students can go off campus to study but thiscontradicts student engagement on campus. Wecould allow them to go to other Hopkins spaces.
16.Sophomore Class President Vishnu Dontu said thatthey have put us in a tight spot. He doesn’t knowhow useful pouring millions into such solutionswould be. If money is put into MSE, it won't be seenfor a few years. Tuition reduction is directly related,according to him.
- Fraternity & Sorority Senator Yashas Mallikarjun
asked for more frequent shuttle hours and, if not,the budget for the spring concert to be increased toget a better artist or more student organizationfunding.
- Chair of Programming Tim Huang said that
Annex can be used as a performance space ifneeded.
19.Senior Class Senator Jacquelyn Slade asked to makethe outlets actually work in the Annex. It is a smallinvestment, but very impactful. She also suggestedgiving out food passes to local cafes and to offertransportation to these places. Center for SocialConcern could suggest alternate study places. Shereiterated to get a software for libraries to show howoccupied a place is. She would like to know wherethere is space on campus.
- Cultural and Identity Senator Jordyn
Craig-Schwartz said that in Brody, they shouldcheck the outlets and furniture. They are fallingapart, especially at the Brody Reading Room. Wehad a library at the time of Freshman Annex, soeveryone went there. She asked: Would more peoplego to the Annex if we don’t have a library now? Itshouldn’t be called the Annex and should beadvertised in a better way. There’s more potentialfor it now though, according to her.21.WSE Senator Amy Xu said that since clubs have alot of supplies, storage would be amazing. Shesuggested the admin to pay for storage fees. Forthose who request, an area could be allocated. Forthe Lime scooters around campus, some sort ofallowance or a small grant for upperclassmen to buyscooters and store in their places to make it lesscrowded could be considered. It may be worthwhilefor students who live off campus or have to navigatearound construction. She is inspired by WellbeingDay, and she suggested Hopkins to invest incustodial funds to have school employees maintainoutdoor seating. More furniture could be broughtout in the spring or early fall when it's nice out.
- Senior Class Senator Ryan Alezz suggested
increasing the amount of J-Cash. Another problemto him is that campus looks ugly and depressing. Hebelieves SGA should make the campus loook moreappealing, especially for seniors graduating. Therecould be more green spaces and plants. Specialgarden study spots and popup gardens put up everyweek could be a good idea. There could be chalkpaintings on the ground and outdoor basketball orsandball court to bring people out. Couches in theAnnex seem like a good idea and he believes that itprobably didn't work out just because of socialdistancing.
- Sophomore Class Senator Jazzlyn Fernandez said
that if there is no tuition reduction, where thismoney is going. She asked if we are getting anythingout of it that we aren’t paying for. She asked to makesure that the annex is at least equipped enough if itis brought back so that it is a comfortable space.
- WSE Senator Moses Frumkin said that to some
degree, if they are going to spend that money onD.C. then why wouldn’t they just give us 5 thousanddollars so that we can spend it however we want.He believes these don’t add any value and that weshould add this to the follow up email.
- Senior Class Senator Jennifer Tang Cabrera said
that she was here when the Freshman Annex washere. It was a cozy space that she went to a fewtimes for the events. It could be successful nowsince we don’t have any other options. Shesuggested having mini cafes and other little thingsto make it a more appealing space. Individual tableswere a major reason why people didn’t want to bethere. Pop up cafes could motivate students to studywith free coffee.
- Craig-Schwartz said that pathways to Brody
could be improved with some lights. SGA could askthe administration to leave some of the lights fromLOTQ. She said that decorating construction siteswith string lights could work.
- Sophomore Class President Vishnu Dontu likes
the idea of Lime scooters. Besides, he suggestedproviding free academic supplies like desk lamps,backpacks or calculators since these are morerelated to the library.
- Freshman Class Senator Kevin Xu said that Lime
scooters could be a good idea as they expedite yourtrip to classes. The major problem, to him, is thatthere is a lack of parking zones. In order for thatLime solution to be effective, there should be moreparking slots. He asked to advocate for changes inthe number of these park zones. He suggestedcooperating with scooter apps to establish. Groupstudy spaces are in short supply and should beprioritized. He asked to gather opinions fromstudents.
- Huang said that the minutes of this meeting are
posted but the ideas are shared on Teams. Any newideas can be added to the list. At this point, we’relooking at nothing or something. We can bring upthese points to let him understand spending more isa must. We’ll post President Daniel’s meetinginformation on social media. They ask everyone tospread the word about this.
- Naqvi said that meeting with Brown will happen
before this semester ends.
d. Lighting of the Quads Tabling- Chair Tim Huangi. The event is on Thursday and fireworks will be behindShriver. Wheel will be spun and depending on thenumber, different levels of prizes will be earned.ii. Everything will be set up starting at 4:30 PM and help willbe needed.iii. General volunteers for line maintenance will be needed.
iv. Religious and Spiritual Life Senator Zachary Bahar askedhow many pig keychains there are, to which Huang saidonly one.v. Alezz asked how many sweatshirts we will give out. Huangdoesn’t know the exact number of freshman sweatshirts.vi. Attendance incentives will be given for volunteers.vii. Meng asked if the fireworks are at 7:30 PM.viii. Li asked if we identify ourselves as SGA people whilemanaging lines.ix. Huang asked people to wear a sticker if they are avolunteer.
- First Reading
- Second Reading
- Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)
- Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)
Time-length and adjournment estimates are provided for the benefit ofguests at Senate meetings. However, SGA meetings are always slated toextend until 9:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in theSenate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before orafter the adjournment estimate.