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Senate Meeting #16 - 01/23/24

Minutes / Senate · 111th session · dated January 23, 2024 · updated February 29, 2024

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111th JHU Student Government

Senate Meeting #16

January 23, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17

AGENDA

  1. 1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

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

  2. 2. Convening Business (3 min)

    1. SNF Agora Presentation - Ms. Young Song

  3. 3. Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)

  4. 4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. 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. President of the Senate - President Nasreen Naqvi
      8. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
      9. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman

  6. 6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. KSAS Academic Senator Nomination - Senator Tim Huang
    2. Publications Co-Director and Assistant Directors Nominations - President Ryan Chou
    3. Spring Retreat Update - President Ryan Chou
    4. SGA Ice Skating Night - President Nasreen Naqvi
    5. Student-Alum Survey Results - President Ryan Chou and Senator Tim Huang
    6. T-shirts and Merch Designs - Director Connie Weng
    7. Closed Session

  7. 7. First Reading

    1. Student-Athlete Caucus Bill - Senator Molly Kuzma

  8. 8. Second Reading

    1. Valentines Tabling Bill- Shalala Leny

  9. 9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

    1. Senator of the Week - President Nasreen Naqvi
    2. Major Fair Promotion - Senator Tim Huang
    3. Attendance Check-Out - President Nasreen Naqvi

  10. 10. 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

MINUTES

111th JHU Student Government

Senate Meeting #16

January 23, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17

AGENDA

  1. 11. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

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

  2. 12. Convening Business (3 min)

    1. SNF Agora Presentation - Ms. Young Song
      1. SNF Agora seeks to “generate scholarly insights and transform them into usable knowledge for civic and political actors.” They aim to connect with members of the JHU community and engage with them through such discussions.
      2. Their work is not partisan and they encourage disagreements and healthy discussions to take place under a safe environment. They are all about collaborating.
      3. They work with professors, students, and many more within our community.
      4. They have three pillars: discovery, design, and dialogue. Every year, they host a Freedom Festival where a lot of experts (educators, political leaders, etc.) participate.
      5. They are trying to extend their outreach to meet the need.
      6. They engage in research, training, and public writing.
      7. Their building is right in the corner of San Martin. The soft opening is going to be in October, and move-in will be in summer, current location is in Wyman Park Building.
      8. The festival will be held on Thursday, February 8 from 1 PM until 9 PM at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. They are seeking volunteers for the festival. Help is going to be needed between 12 PM and 8 PM and training will be provided. There will be a raffle for two free tickets to any Rams Head Live concert. Volunteering include checking people in, providing guidance on where the participants should go, etc.
      9. This spring, the SNF Agora Institute will sponsor several debates through the University Debate Initiative. The marquee debate will concern “social media’s role in democracy.” This debate will be followed by several others, which even feature partnerships with student-run organizations.
      10. Another opportunity is the information session event. There will be two information sessions: “Major in Moral and Political Economy” and “Minor in Civic Life.” Sessions will be held from 12:30 - 1:00 PM and 1:15 - 1:45 PM, respectively.
      11. The initiative is planning to organize a talk from Yevgenia Albats as this year will mark the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine.

  3. 13. Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)

    1. Move to table student service interview to next week (approved)
    2. Motion to removing valentines tabling bill

  4. 14. Public Input (3 min)

    1. No members of the public had any input

  5. 15. Reports (17 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

      1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
        1. Welcomed everyone back
        2. Reminded about spring retreat
        3. Semester recap in progress (like a compilation document)
        4. Reminded about nearing the end of this administration
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
        1. Tentatively members of executive board are going to DC for more trustees integration
        2. Working with OSA to get president’s day back
        3. Student affairs will be in our meeting on the 6th of Feb
        4. Initiatives include tuition reduction while center is closed
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
        1. Talked about new attendance format
        2. Working with library to document SGA history
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
        1. In process of finalizing semester allocations
        2. Reminded that new orgs can get $150
      5. Chair of Programming - Chair Shalala Leny
        1. Spring planning
      6. Director of Communications - Director Connie Weng
        1. Remark: no application submissions so far
      7. President of the Senate - President Nasreen Naqvi
        1. Same structure followed
        2. In case of absence, email Nasreen
        3. There will be email calling for agenda points
        4. Main communications via email
        5. TBD: dress more formally when guests are present
      8. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
        1. Not present
      9. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman
        1. Involvement fair Feb 2nd

  6. 16. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. KSAS Academic Senator Nomination - Senator Tim Huang
      1. Welcomed her
      2. Did the confirmation oath
    2. Publications Co-Director and Assistant Directors Nominations - President Ryan Chou
      1. 1 co-director and 3 assistant directors
      2. Welcomed members
      3. Motion to confirm and all confirmed
    3. Closed Session
    4. Spring Retreat Update - President Ryan Chou
      1. Talked about logistics
      2. Went briefly through the document. All details mentioned are in the document
    5. SGA Ice Skating Night - President Nasreen Naqvi
      1. Poll will be sent on Teams to check for interest; will be a great team building exercise
    6. T-shirts and Merch Designs - Director Connie WengI. A presentation on Student Alumni relations was shown- it was seen as important to focus on this dynamic by the SGA executive, and hence, a survey was circulated to students to check for what type of alumni programming interests were desiredii It was encouraged to use OneHop, while other applications are quite useful, it is difficult to use it to build connection with alumniiii A collaboration between the programming team and the alumni relations was recommended to build a greater connect between the students and alumniiv. JHU federal credit union is doing a grant and the SGA is planning on using it for a free Tshirt and merch- tshirts and merch design ideas were implementedv. The issue that there is a need for an event to be there for such merchandise to be given and ideas for the event were discussedvi Ideas for the t-shirt captions were discussed: a Teams poll would be sent to decide the same

  7. 17. First Reading

    1. Student-Athlete Caucus Bill - Senator Molly Kuzmai. Establishing an athlete caucus to have more representation for athletes, provide liaison between the athletes and the SGA, increase school spirit and provide support to the student athletes.

  8. 18. Second Reading

    1. Valentines Tabling Bill- Shalalai Card making and candy section, photo section event on Valentine’s Day on the Breezewayii Breakdown of the event was displayediii Stone: Suggested only having one item to be circulated. Also felt against the idea of the ‘Just Married’ photo idea since it may not be popular
    • Response: Items such as flowers may not be in much demand and there has been a lack of demand for the same

    iv Mufasa: If anyone has been to the tablings since the volunteers have largely been the same

    • Response: Definitely feel that at least half of the SGA have volunteered, took a quick poll and encouraged all to do it

    v. Jennifer: Need for a hard deadline to ensure that there is a proper division and volunteers there for the tabling events

vi. Senator Tim Huang: Individuals can write something to their loved ones and the SGA can provide the stationery for the same- Response: Will keep that in mindvii. Senator Tim Huang: Motion to double the Valentine’s Day cards and keep it only to the film instead of the fuji cameraviii. Bill was approved

  1. 19. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

    1. Senator of the Week - President Nasreen Naqvi
    • To encourage attendance, an award such as this given on the basis of a creative feature is in the pipelines
      1. Student Services Interview - Senator Tim Huang
      2. Major Fair Promotion - Senator Tim Huang
    • It was recommended to talk to ResLife and further, promote the event such that the event could be a great success
      1. Attendance Check-Out - President Nasreen Naqvi

  2. 20. 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