Senate General Body Meeting #10 — Minutes (10/21/24)

112th Johns Hopkins Student Government AssociationSenate Meeting #10Oct 16, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17MINUTES

11. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

a. Excused Absentees: Yonatanne Desta, Zoe Gaillard, Deryck Yin,Molly Kuzma, Tanisha Taneja, Jordyn Craig-Schwartz, Lucy Landry,

Yashas Mallikarjun, Jennifer Tang Cabrera

b. Unexcused Absentees:

12. Convening Business (40 min)

a. Dining Update - President Stone Meng

i. President Stone Meng’s friend Christopher Amanatreached out to him saying he heard a lot of concerns aboutNolan’s. They interviewed the Nolan’s personnel andlistened to their concerns.

1. Employees reported significant understaffing,

especially in dish washing and particularly between6 AM and 2:30 PM. Two members of the staff haveto do it for 8 hours and they barely have time to takea break and rest. The conveyor belt doesn’t work, sothey get forced to reach for those dishes themselves,creating more challenges and exhaustion. Most ofthe time, people don’t clean the plates, so they takeup extra time to do that.

2. Workers are often required to cover multiple

stations simultaneously, such as the salad bar, grill,and DRA, with only three staff members typicallyavailable to manage all operations. There are threepeople that specialize in these stations. Mostly oneperson is there and they find themselvesoverwhelmed as they have to manage up to fivestations (e.g., waffle, omelette, bagel, deli, fruit,salad).

3. They reported that the juice served at Nolan’s is

made by mixing tap water with concentrate. TheDRAs are responsible from cleaning andmaintaining dining areas and refill the beveragestations, so they have been asking for a better way torefill the dispensers and filter the water. They haveto lug the water around in large plastic tubs, whichare not convenient.

4. Workers mentioned that there has been an ongoing

mice infestation in the kitchen area.

5. They highlighted their concerns about the

temporary workers that have been hired, statingthat this violates their contract terms (that existingworkers should be prioritized for shift assignments).They also stated that temporary workers often lackadequate training and their background checks arenot conducted.

6. Managers allow the staff to come only an hour prior.

Since this is not enough time to make the necessarypreparations, it makes the staff look bad from thestudent’s side.ii. They drafted an email to the administration. Since this isout of our expertise and rather an Hopkins managementissue, at its current stage, we can’t do anything to fix it.However, we can advocate to the administration. If everystudent writes to Hopkins Dining, we can address this.Amanat and Meng asked everyone to voice this concern.Secretary Buse Koldas will communicate with TheNews-Letter and propose this as an article idea.

13. Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)
14. Public Input (3 min)
15. Reports (5 min)

a. Cabinet Reports (4 min)i. Meng informed the senate that Director of the HopkinsSemester DC Lauren Reynolds will be coming to themeeting to talk about the program.ii. President of the Senate Nasreen Naqvi said that an emailhas been sent out to fill the vacancies: Programming

Members, Junior and Senior Class Senators, Disability

Caucus Senator, Activism and Advocacy Caucus Senatorand Assistant Secretaries.iii. Treasurer Brandon Benjamin informed the senate that wehave around 16 thousand USD in our discretionarybudget.iv. Other executive board members had no significantupdates.

b. Advisor Report (2 min)i. Advisor Jessica Snell had no significant updates.

16. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

g. Guest Speaker - Dr. Reynoldsi. Reynolds runs the Hopkins Semester in DC Exchangeprogram. She was a member of the GraduateRepresentative Organization when she was in college, soshe’s happy to be here with us. With this program, youspend a semester around a specific theme and the themechanges every semester. The ideas mainly come from thefaculty here and they get the chance to build the piecesaround it by creating internship opportunities, researchprojects and a couple of classes.ii. She believes that the number one regret students haveafter graduating from college is not studying abroad. She’saware that it is tricky to convince people to come andstudy in DC as we all have commitments here.iii. She explained that she is having a little bit of troublegetting it out to the students and she asked the SGA’sopinion on how they can reach to more students.Applications are due tonight and it will probably beextended. This semester’s theme will be Migration andRefugees, which is a crucial topic no matter who is electedin these elections. They might even get a grant that willimprove the program further.

iv. Sophomore Class Senator Omotara Tiamiyu expressedthat it sounds interesting. She was wondering if studentsneed to have a specific major to participate in theprogram.v. Reynolds explained that they have interdisciplinaryprograms, so this creates a little bit of trouble with STEMstudents to get their credits work right. Theyy preferinterdisciplinary thinkers. Whiting students are eligible aslong as they have a Krieger minor. The programguarantees mentoring support and research. Reynoldshighlighted the significance of this as it might be hard forsome students to find research in humanities. Sheexpressed that participating in this program in yoursenior year would allow networking and job interviews.She emphasized the importance of making use of the D.C.building as a Hopkins student, expressing that our cardsscan in that building, too.

vi. Sophomore Class Senator Tarini Basireddy asked toclarify if this is for Krieger or Whiting students.vii. Reynolds said open to Whiting as long as they have aKrieger major or minor.

viii. Women and Gender Minority Senator Karen VasquezLuna asked if financial aid is transferred.ix. Reynolds said that everything is transferred. Forsophomores, all it takes for her is to inform housing thatthe student will be spending the semester in D.C. It mightbe trickier for juniors and seniors but she emphasizedtheir connections as they have students coming in and outof D.C., so she’s trying to work on that. Although onestudent kept his lease here, she believes that this ishorribly expensive. According to Reynolds, there are a lotof ways to make it work, so she prefers to sit down witheach student and discuss how to make the experiencebetter.x. WSE Senator Ivan Alexander Kroumov asked what theyare doing for their marketing.xi. Reynolds mentioned their social media accounts(@jhu.hsdc on Instagram). They have been utilizingmailing lists from departments and television screensaround campus. She is the advisor of the MUN club, soshe’s been trying to get the word out through herstudents. She mentioned that they have a pre-law advisorat the D.C. campus, so she can connect people with them.She mentioned a student who is interning for Fox Newsand White House, while participating in the Get Out theVote efforts.xii. Vice President Amy Li asked if it is possible for studentsto take Homewood and D.C. campus classessimultaneously.xiii. Reynolds said that this is possible if and only if it’s anonline class. However, she’s willing to work with thestudents on that.xiv. Li was also curious about how topics are determined everysemester.xv. Reynolds further clarified that the faculty from thiscampus and any joint faculty determines them. They cometogether and propose a theme, but if a student has anidea, they also listen to those.xvi. WSE Senator Moses Frumkin read the following

paragraphs from François Furstenberg’s The News-Letterarticle, titled “Is Johns Hopkins abandoning its foundingmission?”:

1. You might wonder, as I have, who will pay to

maintain the ostentatious facility, cover thesalaries of the dozens of SNF Agora facultyappointments and support the Institute’sadministrative staff and programming? Theanswer, I’m afraid, is that most of those costs fall to

the School of Arts and Sciences, imposing severeconstraints on its budget.

2. But SNF Agora is only the beginning. Last year, the

University opened its majestic building inWashington, D.C., named for Michael Bloomberg,who funded the $650 million cost. Now thatHopkins owns the building, which nearlybankrupted its previous owner, the centraladministration is desperately encouraging facultyin Baltimore to use it. The Provost’s office has evencommitted $15 million in annual funding to“support universitywide endeavors anchored at

555 Pennsylvania Ave.”

3. Our dean has no choice but to play along. Now, the

School of Arts and Sciences is incurringever-growing costs to support conferences inWashington, administrative and pedagogicalexpenses for the “DC Semester” and no doubt anumber of other expenditures so the president canbrag about how the university is using its flashynew outpost, which, alas, doesn’t respond to asingle KSAS strategic initiative.xvii. Frumkin asked what Reynolds thinks about this as,according to his observations, there are several KSASdepartments who would benefit greatly from a greaterbudget.xviii. Reynolds does not agree with the way her program isdismissed in this article, although she recognizes that itmight be a valid question to have. She expressed thatKSAS is not the only funder of the program and that shebelieves that the program gives a lot back to the studentsby helping them use their humanities skills. She expressedthat they have also been applying for grants, which isindependent from the KSAS budget. She suggested to talkto the administrators about this if there are morequestions about it.xix. Motion for a two minute recess was passed.

h. Admissions Discussion- President of Senate Nasreen Naqvii. The Black Students Union (BSU) came to the meeting topresent. They’ve read out the email they sent to the SGA.ii. They introduced themselves. The representatives whopresented in this meeting were the BSU President Gnagna

Sy, BSU Vice President Ty’Shera Mintz and the OLÉLatine Student Group Vice-President Anna María Zahrah.iii. They read the email, which can be found below:

1. Dear Members of the 2024-2025 112th Student

Government Association Executive Board,

2. We, the undersigned student organizations that

predominantly serve the Latine and Blackcommunities at Johns Hopkins University, arewriting to express our disappointment in the SGA’sinitiative and sentiment towards the significantdrop in Latine (48.6%) and Black (58.7%) studentenrollment for the Class of 2028. This declinereflects a failure of leadership and strategyfollowing the SCOTUS decision to ban AffirmativeAction, and we urge the SGA to take immediate anddecisive action to address this issue.

3. As the Primary Representative Body of Hopkins

Undergraduates, the SGA is tasked withrecognizing the concerns of ALL undergraduatestudents especially with such significantimplications for what the future of this universitymay face in sight of further decrease in diversity.

4. The decline witnessed at JHU outweighs that of our

peer institutions and yet administration has yet todemonstrate urgency in revealing actionable plansin response to these disturbing numbers especiallyin the midst of application season. We believe thatthe SGA, as a representative body, has becomecomplicit in this and fallen short in advocating andproviding public acknowledgement and sentimentfor the student communities most affected by this.To that end, we are making the followingdemands:

5. SGA Statement and Public Apology: We ask the

SGA to issue a public statement supporting Latineand Black students, calling for accountability fromthe administration for its lack of urgency andaction in addressing the significant decline inadmissions for these groups. Additionally, werequest a public apology from the SGA ExecutiveBoard for not taking this matter seriously from theoutset and for failing to advocate quickly andforcefully on behalf of these marginalized groupsand the student body at large. It is crucial that theSGA acknowledges its responsibility to use its fullpower to ensure that these demands are met andthat progress is made swiftly.

6. Public Apology and Acknowledgement of Failure of

Responsibility: Furthermore, we call on theuniversity administration, including President Ron

Daniels, Provost Ray Jayawardhana, and theOffice of Admissions, to issue a public apology fordownplaying the severity of this situation in theirrecent email. Their broad language failed to fullyacknowledge the university’s responsibility for thisdrastic decline, especially in comparison to peerinstitutions that faced the same challenges butachieved better outcomes. By not taking decisiveaction and offering clear accountability, they haveundermined the trust and confidence of the Latineand Black communities at Hopkins. We expectthem to take responsibility for these failures andprovide a transparent and comprehensiveexplanation of how they plan to address this issuemoving forward.

7. Pressure and Responsibility: We urge the SGA to

use every avenue and exert the full extent of itspower to demand that the administration takeresponsibility for this dramatic drop in Latine andBlack student enrollment. This issue cannot beresolved with vague promises or superficial efforts;it requires a strategic, well-defined plan thatincludes clear, measurable goals and timelines forprogress. Specifically, we ask the SGA to demandthe following from the administration:

8. Comprehensive Action Plan: The administration

must publicly outline the specific steps it will taketo reverse this trend and prevent further declines inLatine and Black student enrollment. This planshould include strategies that have provensuccessful at other institutions, such as targetedoutreach to first-generation and low-incomestudents, enhanced recruitment efforts in urbanand underserved communities, and the use ofholistic, race-neutral admissions criteria that valuediverse student experiences.

9. Set Timeline: We ask that the SGA demand a

concrete timeline from the administration,detailing when each of these steps will beimplemented. The timeline must include short-termactions (within the next semester) as well aslong-term strategies that can be evaluated over thecourse of the next and future admissions cycles. Wewant to ensure that progress is not pushed intoindefinite future plans but is actively beingaddressed in the immediate term.

10. Numerical Goals: To ensure transparency and

accountability, we ask the SGA to push for theadministration to set distinct numerical goals forincreasing Latine and Black student enrollment infuture classes. This includes both the Class of 2029and beyond, with annual benchmarks forimprovement. The administration must makepublic its commitment to restoring and surpassingthe previous representation levels of these groups.

11. Regular Progress Updates: We request that the

SGA hold the administration accountable forproviding regular progress updates to the studentbody. These updates should track the success ofrecruitment efforts and outline any adjustments ornew initiatives that may be necessary if the initialsteps fall short. A public, quarterly report wouldallow for transparency and ensure that both theSGA and the larger student community canmonitor the administration’s commitment to theseefforts.12.Town Hall with Admissions and Financial Aid: Werequest that the SGA facilitate and advocate for atown hall with senior representatives from both the

Admissions and Financial Aid offices by the end ofthe semester. Specifically, we ask that this town

hall include the Provost and Vice Provost for

Admissions, and the Provost and Vice Provost forFinancial Aid to ensure that those with the mostdecision-making power are present and candirectly address student concerns. This town hallshould provide a platform for students to voicetheir frustrations and ask questions about thestrategies and actions the university will take torectify the significant drop in Latine and Blackstudent enrollment.13.It is critical that this event be open andtransparent, allowing for a candid dialoguebetween students and key university officials.Additionally, we request that a comprehensive planbe presented at this town hall, outlining howAdmissions and Financial Aid intend to approachthe issue moving forward, including any changesto recruitment strategies, financial aid distribution,and support for underrepresented groups. Thismust be a priority, and we expect the SGA to ensurethat this conversation happens before the end of thesemester, with sufficient publicity to ensure broadstudent participation.14.Survey to Collect Student Sentiments: As a leadingresearch institution, Johns Hopkins should beleveraging data-driven strategies like studentsurveys more frequently and with greater urgencyto address critical issues on campus. In light of thesignificant demographic decline in Latine andBlack student enrollment, we request that the SGApromptly administer a comprehensive survey togather data on how this decline is affecting thestudent body, particularly those fromunderrepresented communities.15.This survey should aim to capture both qualitativeand quantitative feedback on students' perceptionsof the admissions decline, their sense of belonging,and the overall representation of diversity oncampus. Given Hopkins' research expertise, it iscrucial that the survey be thoughtfully designed toyield actionable insights, allowing theadministration and the SGA to understand thebroader implications of this enrollment drop andrespond appropriately.16.We urge the SGA to expedite the process oflaunching this survey, ensuring it is distributed in atimely manner so that the data can be analyzedand shared before the end of the semester. Theresults should be used not only to guide immediatechanges but also to inform longer-term strategiesaimed at rebuilding trust and fostering a moreinclusive campus environment. As an institutionthat prides itself on research excellence, it isimperative that we use these tools to swiftlyidentify and address the concerns of our studentbody, with full transparency in both the processand the outcomes.17.The time for action is now. The university’sleadership has failed to uphold its commitment todiversity, and the SGA must take an active role inholding them accountable. This situation demandsan immediate and coordinated response, and welook to the SGA to lead in advocating for theinterests of the student body.

18. We look forward to your response and hope to

see the SGA take swift, concrete actions to addressthese concerns.iv. Motion for a 5 minute Q&A with one minute speakingtime passed. Hispanic/Latinx Caucus Chair CynthiaSanchez Hidalgo yielded her time.

v. Sophomore Class Senator Jazzlyn Fernandez thankedthem for coming here, emphasizing her understanding ofthe situation, explaining that as an underrepresentedminority and FLI student, she also felt affected by thesituation. She believes that SGA’s intention was not toignore the situation, and reassured them that they arenow quite passionate about resolving this issue.vi. Sanchez expressed that she has been working on thisinitiative for a while and that she sent the letter sheprepared to the Executive Board during her point ofinformation. She is frustrated that the efforts were startedtwo weeks ago, yet there was no progress made and shefelt dismissed by the executive branch.vii. Sy stated that they are disappointed in the lack of publicacknowledgement from the executive board’s side.viii. Mintz expressed that initiatives that are being takenbehind closed doors can not be counted as progress. Shebelieves that there should have been an announcement atleast.

ix. Religious and Spiritual Life Senator Zachary Bahar askedwhat they would propose the university or the SGA to dowithout violating the rules that have been instigatedregarding affirmative action.x. Sy suggested starting with a town hall.xi. Black Caucus Chair Nayshawn Ferebee tried to addressthis situation two weeks ago, yet he was told that astatement wouldn’t have been the best time to send thisout because the MSE construction resolution was sentout. He thinks that we can deal with these two at the sametime. Although the senate didn’t know these efforts, theyhave been working on this for the past few weeks.

xii. Special Interest and Hobby Senator Adithyan Neelamanaasked to extend the Q&A session by 7 minutes.xiii. Meng addressed the state, echoing what Fernandez saidpreviously and solidified SGA’s stance. He appreciatesthat they came here and punctuated that there’s nofriction from the SGA to oppose it as we are doing ourbest to resolve this. He expressed that Naqvi brought upthe town hall idea during the President Daniels meetingand that there’s no opposition from the executive boardabout this. His personal opinion was that a resolution wasnot the best way to move forward with it, so he suggestedtalking to the senate and deciding on what kind of a stepto take. He asked the members to not twist the executiveboard’s words. According to Meng, a resolution is not thebest option but a statement can definitely be drafted.xiv. Junior Class President Oluwakemi Abiodun asked whatthe difference is between a resolution and a statement.xv. Naqvi explained that, to her understanding, a resolution issent to everybody while a statement is published. Sheemphasized that President Daniels was not able to look atthe admissions data until the end of that cycle, so sheagreed that we haven’t heard anything back about thetown hall and that we should push forward for it.xvi. Sy wishes that SGA initiated these communicationspriorly.xvii. Naqvi believes that this was due to a big chain ofmiscommunication.xviii. There was another motion to extend the Q&A session.xix. Naqvi expressed that we always intend to do our best torepresent the best interest of the students. She promisedto get this done before the end of October. Sentiments arebeing heard and we won’t push this under the rock. Howcan we make sure that students are being heard and seen?This will be a question that hopefully will be answered byfuture efforts.xx. Sy is glad that we’ve been able to come here and talkabout this with the senate. She thinks that we shouldsolidify this within groups. Since the representation ofminority groups is declining, the number of peoplerepresenting them are also decreasing. She wants the SGAto understand where they are coming from. They hope topartner with the SGA and be as involved as possible.xxi. Naqvi suggested organizing a tabling together andadvertising the survey.xxii. KSAS Senator Daarian Rouhani thanked them for coming.As a Mexican, he said that the situation also affected him.He expressed that being complicit is the last thing we are.xxiii. Since Rouhani was not sure whether the resolution wassent by the BSU or SGA senators, Naqvi clarified thatFerebee and Sanchez have been working internally andthat BSU didn’t hear anything from us.xxiv. Rouhani further expressed that accusations only create adivision and that the wording of the email was aggressive.According to him, this is not the best way to move forwardwith it and the solution is going forward. He believes thatorganizing a town hall is a good idea. However, hebelieves that a formal apology is not the right move andwould only create a divide.xxv. Sy disagreed that apologizing would create a divide.xxvi. Tiamiyu understands the frustration and that the timingof the MSE renovation is a statement. She believes that ithas been difficult to come up with resolutions due to thebackground of this problem. According to her, the emailmight have come forward aggressively, but SGA shouldunderstand that BSU didn’t hear anything from our side.There was a lot that must have been communicated andwe should be more transparent. On the topic of mail,which covered a lot of points, a formal apology issomething we should reconsider, yet must just be in theform of a statement. She suggested meeting with theexecutive branch about this and finding ways to getinvolved with the administration to advance forward. Sheunderstands that this has been a very pressing issue andwishes that we said something earlier. It is only right forus to move forward and be more collaborative andtransparent.xxvii. Sy expressed that they don’t want to push the SGA awaybut that they need to hold us accountable. Apology mightnot be needed, but action is.xxviii. Fernandez expressed that we don’t have direct controlover what the admin does. She recommends that next stepshould be for SGA to have FLI and other groups togetherand have a conversation with them to be united in astatement and decision, then present to the admin on thesame front of what should be done.xxix. Sanchez thinks that SGA owes the student body anapology, taking ownership for a responsibility that evenherself didn’t fulfill on time. According to her, studentsdon’t come to us because they don’t trust us. She hopes tohave the apology sent out by tonight.xxx. Basireddy believes that it is important to collaborate oncreating the survey and advertising it to the fullest.xxxi. Mintz is not too concerned about the data collection partas she believes we will get plenty of responses.xxxii. Fernandez suggested creating a channel together. Ferebeeagreed to create a GroupMe group chat and add thenames that signed the email.xxxiii. Koldas started off by saying that the reason why aresolution is not the best move here is because thissituation is caused by a Supreme Court decision,impacting all universities. However, she believes that astatement is a must. She highlighted that this is alsosourced from communication issues with the admin. Atthis point, the admin fails to inform us when they willclose a pathway due to the construction, so it is notsurprising that they failed to acknowledge this situationproperly. She thinks that there are no excuses and that weshould keep pushing forward our work.xxxiv. WSE Senator Omar Gharib believes that a town hall is agood idea. According to him, having apologies andspreading the word out is important, but we should alsofind solutions without breaking the law by looking atcomparable institutions.xxxv. Sanchez said that those steps are in the email.xxxvi. Gharib thinks that a lot of them are apology based.xxxvii. Sy wishes to move forward and to not get too distractedwith the apology part.xxxviii. Naqvi asked the senators to not take the apology part tooliterally. She expressed that all BSU wants is to have thisissue recognized as silence from SGA is jarring.xxxix. Neelamana expressed that we are on the same team. Heasked what kind of actions they would have liked to seefrom the university’s side (like what the administration orboard of trustees should have done). According to him,the language of the Supreme Court reading is pretty strict,so he was curious to hear what policies they would suggestif the Board of Trustees was here.xl. Sy believes that the email highlights the preliminarythoughts to plan this. She expressed that while she doesn’thave enough education to find a way out, board of trusteesand administration should be expected to have theanswers. She thinks that coming here has been a goodfirst step.xli. Naqvi believes that it takes a lot of courage to come hereand discuss this. Fernandez will start a group chat. Wewill ensure that this won’t be the last conversation.xlii. The senate moved to a closed session to discuss thisconversation.

i. Wellness Day Feedback- Vice President of Senate SrigouriOruganty

j. Voting Registration + Parking Survey Updates.pptx - Senator

Oluwakemi Abidoun

k. MSE Resolution Response- President Stone Meng

l. Democracy Fest Updates- Senator Angela Xiong

m. MSE Patio Initiative- Senator Daarian Rouhani

*** Cohort Time

17. First Reading

a. November Tabling - Chair Tim Huang

b. SGA Leadership Workshop 2- Chair Tim Huang

18. Second Reading
19. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)
20. Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)

a. Naqvi recommended Sanchez and Ferebee to run the town hallnext week as she won’t be here anyways. She thanked everyonefor their patience.b. Motion to adjourn the meeting was passed.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.