Senate General Body Meeting #2 — Minutes (04/23/24)

JHU Student Government AssociationSenate Meeting #2April 23, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Shaffer 301AGENDA

1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

a. Absentees:i. Excused: Ethan Edelstein, Hailey Saya Tomlinson,Zachary Bahar, Priya Dubey, Karen Luna, Sean Kao,

Avishi Gargii. Unexcused:b. Present:

2. Convening Business (3 min)

a. Cabinet Appointments - President Stone Meng

3. Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)
4. Public Input (3 min)
5. Reports (17 min)

a. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

i. Student Body President - President Stone Meng

b. Advisor Report (2 min) - Jessica Snell

6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

a. GBM Structure Discussion - President Stone Meng, PresidentNasreen Naqvi, Exec.

b. SGA Expectations Presentation - President Nasreen Naqvi

c. Hopkins Club Discussion - Vice President Amy Li and Vice

President Jackson Morris

d. Approval of SAC Guidelines- Treasurer Brandon Benjamin

7. First Reading
8. Second Reading
9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)
10. Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)

a. Meeting with Committee ChairsTime-length and adjournment estimates are provided for the benefit ofguests at Senate meetings. However, SGA meetings are always slated toextend until 9:00 PM (10:00 PM over the summer) and SGA members areexpected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment bymotion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate.JHU Student Government Association

Senate Meeting #2April 23, 2024 / 07:00 PM / Shaffer 301MINUTES

11. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

a. Absentees:i. Excused: Oluwakemi Abiodun, Zachary Bahar, PriyaDubey, Ethan Edelstein, Nayshawn Ferebee, Avishi Garg,Sean Kao, Hailey Saya Tomlinson, Tyler Turner, Karen

Vasquez Lunaii. Unexcused: Ryan Alezz, Jordyn Craig-Schwartz,

Ivan-Alexander Kroumov, Sun Moon, AdithyanNeelamana, Cynthia Sanchez Hidalgo, Mahima Singh,Leon Yeb. Present:

12. Convening Business (3 min)

a. Cabinet Appointments - President Stone Mengi. Connie Weng has been appointed as the Director ofCommunications. She served in this position in the lastSGA, too. She is a sophomore studying Materials Scienceand Engineering with a minor in Visual Arts. She will becreating graphics for our initiatives and social mediacontent (like for fundraisers or big scale events like MajorFair). She will help class councils, too. She will be chairingthe CMC, which consists of a group of people that helpher. The group mostly consists of videographers andphotographers, too. She asked the members to reach outto her if they would like to get something reshared orreposted on SGA accounts. One of her goals is tostreamline graphical requests as there have been multipletimes she has been asked to create a graphic a day beforethe event or without much information. She wants to havea more organized system (like a Google Document thatpeople need to fill out to request a design). She hopes toachieve more external content like content that willbenefit the students, such as information aboutregistration or other events.ii. Jason Shumsky has been appointed as the Director ofResearch. He served in this position in the last SGA, too.He is working on compensating the SGA members’ effortsas in other student governments, representatives get paid.He will also help the senators in making research.

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

a. Agenda was approved.

14. Public Input (3 min)
15. Reports (17 min)

a. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

i. Student Body President - President Stone Meng

1. Meng asked everyone to sign up for Amy’s meeting

slots. He also informed the senate that SGA willsend out an email about the SGA initiatives thatincludes surveys and other relevant information. Heasked everyone to let him know if they haveanything to say.

ii. Advisor Report (2 min) - Jessica Snell

1. Snell is also planning to hold one-on-one meeting

times to get to know the SGA members closely.

16. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

a. GBM Structure Discussion - President Stone Meng, PresidentNasreen Naqvi, Exec.i. Naqvi started the conversation on how we will manage thetime we have in the GBM. She recommended someone tosuspend Robert's Rules so we can have a discussion whereeveryone can speak. She opened the floor to let people talkabout it and asked them to share any ideas they have onwhat they want their committee to look like.

ii. Sophomore Class President Vishnu Dontu asked tosuspend the rules and his motion passed.iii. Meng is interested in discussing how to restructure theGBMs and the committees.iv. Secretary Buse Koldas believes that if the senate doesn’thave to be in the room for two hours, then they shouldn’t,meaning the GBM times should be used more effectively.She recognized that some committees like HSS haveproblems with the new structure, so she thinks that weshould have some part of the GBM to discuss yet to alsohave some committee meetings during GBM, with theoption of having committees meet outside, yet she’sunsure if that is fair for everyone as some will stay atmeetings longer while others get to leave.v. Sophomore Class Senator Tarini Basireddy likes the ideaof having committee meetings during the GBM as it forcespeople to focus on the initiatives and focus on onecommittee. She believes that having committee meetingsoutside of the GBM time makes it challenging to scheduleeverything you want to do. If the committee meetings areconducted in the GBM, then senators can schedule theirtime to be involved in initiatives outside of the GBM. Shegave the example of how she missed a meeting on theSouth Asian Studies minor as it coincided with anAcademic Affairs committee meeting.vi. Vice President of the Senate Jackson Morris believesevery committee has different needs. He believes thatallocating a certain portion of the GBMs to thecommittees so they can check in is a good idea, but hebelieves that some committees need a separate time.According to Morris, chairs should be allowed to do that.He also had logistical concerns as he wasn’t sure if anyproductive work could be done if all committees work inthe same room. He questioned how many spaces wewould need and how we could achieve those.

1. Junior Class Senator Srigouri Oruganty agreed with

Koldas’s concerns and agreed that it is hard for theadministrators to participate in the HSS meetings ifthey were to be scheduled at a late time onTuesdays. Oruganty believes that finding a separatetime to meet is already hard enough and that havingthem in the GBM will be even harder to manage.She’s also not sure if limiting everyone to a singlecommittee is a good idea as it will makecollaboration between committees harder. Shebelieves that 15 minute updates could work, but thatseparate meetings are needed.

2. Meng believes that the members have consensus on

reducing the GBM time. He proposed the followingschedule for the GBMs:a. 5 minutes: Attendance and reportsb. 30 minutes: Admin presentations /Nonlegislative Business (This slot will varycase by case. If there are no discussions, thetime will be allocated equally to the latterparts of the GBM)c. 10 minutes: First readingd. 15 minutes: Second reading

e. GBM Adjournmentf. 30-60 minutes: RSO and Finance Committeework time

3. Junior Class Senator Shruti Tyagi likes the idea of

having them in the GBM, but she is concerned aboutcondensing the GBMs to an hour. She questioned ifthis is realistic and what would happen if we had abusy agenda or a visit from an admin. She alsobelieves 30 minutes is fine for the committeemeetings and that it would be more productive, butshe highlighted that there would be some problems.

4. Dontu also likes the idea of a hybrid structure, like a

15-30 minute meetup for the committees after theGBMs. But he also wants committee meetingsoutside of the GBM time as people want to joinmultiple committees. He thinks that60-minute-long GBMs sound nice but that it’s notrealistic since admins take up time.

5. A member of the public Ryan Chou asked to clarify

if the proposal on the table is to have one committeeper person, to which Meng responded right nowthey are hoping to see what the majority wants.

vii. Senior Class Senator Jennifer Tang Cabrera questionedthe reasoning behind this decision, asking if this is for thepurposes of accountability.

1. Chair of Programming Tim Huang explained that

the executive branch realized a lot of people stop toshow up and use their excused absences on thecommittee meetings. He believes that attendancewill be easier to manage if the committee meetingswere to be held in GBM times since people will behere. Though this was the initial idea, now we arehaving a discussion to see what people think. Heexplained that the productivity went down with theold format as people stopped showing up at somepoint and asserted that the new format would keepthe members committed.

2. Cabrera proposed to have everybody meet after the

GBM yet they allow them to meet at a separate time.She thinks that 20 minute long meetup time wouldensure we are getting work done and keep peopleaccountable when it comes to keeping up with goals.viii. Naqvi, talking from experience, disagrees withover-condensing the GBMs. She stated that we can’tpredict what the GBMs will look like. She does not find itproductive to have everyone do their own thing and missout on each others’ work, explaining that prioritizingcommittees might actually be counterproductive. Shesuggested using the GBMs to talk about the work they dofor the purposes of keeping accountability as GBM time isreally valuable. Naqvi advocates that the meeting shouldnot be condensed that much as otherwise we will feeldisconnected. She is in favor of checking in at the end ofthe GBM but the proposed 1 hour GBM and 1 hourcommittee time looks unbalanced to her. She thinks thatdiscussions take up time, especially when they are aboutchallenging topics like mental health and dining that takeup time.

1. Sophomore Class Senator Omotara Tiamiyu agrees

with Naqvi and asks to not completely replace theGBMs but to use the extra time as a way of holdingaccountability and updating each other. Shesuggested having biweekly reports from thecommittees and crafting them during that time.Tiamiyu thinks 15-20 minutes would be enough forthis.ix. Meng appreciated the ideas and added the need ofpresenting a time limit to the admins when they visit.

1. Naqvi explained that we already give them a time

limit, yet that sometimes they go over it. She thinksthat it is hard to cut them off as we consistently askthem to come to the GBM. When this is the case, shethinks it is unrealistic to expect them to talk for only15 minutes. She said that we can ask but we can’tguarantee for sure.

2. Senior Class President Angela Xiong questioned if

we can’t send our follow ups after the meetings.a. Naqvi explained that admins tend to notrespond when we do that. She also highlightedsome challenges when it comes to planningmeetings, such as what should be done if anRSO and admin come on the same day.x. KSAS Senator Danial Nabizadeh agrees that it’s good tohave the committees meet during the GBM. He alsothinks that the committees fell apart as the yearprogressed. He thinks that the new format would simplifythis as the committees could do scheduling and planning.Nabizadeh also added that he communicated with highlevel admins and that they told him that they would ratherhave the committee meetings during the GBMs and thatthey can’t make it to weekends mostly.xi. Morris was wondering if having these 20 minutecommittee times in the middle of the meeting would makesense. He thinks this would help finance especially as theycan check their budget and discuss prior to an RSOpresenting for an event. He also believes that we shoulddiscuss the structure we will follow when we have adminsover. He was in favor of having minutes and biweeklyreports for the committees.xii. Cabrera stated that an hour is not enough for us tocommunicate effectively as limiting discussions to shorttimes will make people feel like they want to discuss it yetthey can’t. She thinks that discourse is very important andhelps us have a community. She also added that morebonding within the SGA is necessary, which can beresolved if the members were to be encouraged to worktogether as it would allow us to know and like each other.Highlighting that in most cases GBMs already run shortanyways, she suggested we do our best to connect and usethe time as effectively.xiii. Tyagi stated that 1 hour for committee meetings is a lotbut that she would be down to having a 90-30 or 100-20minute split. She stated that at the beginning of the GBMswe lose time by doing unnecessary things. She also askedto be more accountable with the number of absences.xiv. Meng believes that the result of the discussion is to notlimit the GBM time but to reduce it by using it aseffectively as possible, while allowing a roughly 20 minutetime for the committees while not limiting people tocommittees.xv. Morris asked if we should discuss when this 20 minuteblock will be conducted in the meetings.

1. Meng thinks that having it at the end is better as

that way we could have the admins over.

2. Basireddy asked the SGA to be aware that mostly

admins leave the campus and go back home andthen come back to visit the meeting.xvi. Basireddy gave a motion to reinstate the rules and itpassed.xvii. Meng asked to vote on the GBM structures. This way, wewon’t endorse the 1 hour long GBM times but we will keepit concise. Following non legislative business, we will havethe committee meetings.

1. Cabrera believes that having everyone in the same

room is a great way for them to communicate andthat 20 minutes might not be enough.

2. Meng explained that this won’t replace the regular

committee meetings we have. This slot will only beused for updates and check-ins.xviii. Morris asked to approve this resolution and proceed withit, which passed.

b. SGA Expectations Presentation - President Nasreen Naqvii. Naqvi gave a presentation on the SGA expectations.ii. She reassured the members that this year we will be morestrict with attendance. There will be a deadline to send anemail to make your absence count as excused. She alsoinformed the SGA that the number of excused absenceswill decrease. She said that if someone forgets to sign intoiClicker, they will be marked absent even if they werehere. 3 PM on Tuesdays is the new deadline. If someonecan’t make it, they should inform Naqvi and Koldas,adding the GBM number to the title of the email.

1. Koldas asked the members to inform her if they end

up coming to the meeting after asking for anexcused absence.iii. Meng strongly believes that the number of absencesshould be reduced as this way there can be moreaccountability and would help everyone. If your peersdon’t work, then you will need to do their work for them.He proposed to have four excused absences and two extraabsences per committee you join.

1. Nabizadeh asked to clarify if this is the base, to

which Meng affirmed.

2. Naqvi asked if anyone has really strong opinions

about absences.

3. Morris reminded that an amendment on this will be

needed.

4. Naqvi told him that an amendment will be

implemented following the discussion.

5. WSE Senator Omar Gharib does not believe that

four is enough as the members will have twomeetings every week anyways.iv. Basireddy sent a motion to have a moderated caucus for 5minutes, which passed.v. Basireddy asked to clarify if this is only for excusedabsences as if this is the case, members will be busy for aweek and then they will run out of their absences.

1. Huang clarified that committee check-ins won’t

count.

2. Meng clarified that absences can be used on any

meeting they want (like absences that came frombeing in a committee do not need to be used solelyfor committee absences). He believes that membersshould not miss the GBMs anyways as we all agreeat the beginning of our terms to leave our Tuesdaynights for the SGA. Meng reassured the senate thatthe executive board understands that they mighthave external business, but that the expectations forattendance should still be met.vi. Dontu finds six excused absences to be reasonable, but healso thinks that more people should speak about it. Hesuggested having attendance incentives presented topeople and to have more opportunities to make up for theabsences. He asked to mandate this by, for example,asserting if the member doesn’t do it, then they get anunexcused absence.

1. Huang reassured the members that he will make

sure to find more opportunities to make up forabsences.vii. Morris highlighted the need to discuss the number ofunexcused absences too so it’s proportional.viii. Sophomore Class Senator Arihant Singh believes it isgood to focus on attendance as everyone has a habit ofskipping the GBM when it’s convenient. However, hewasn’t sure if it is valuable for someone to show up justbecause they have to. He suggested not quantifying whoshows up yet to make sure there are no spectators.

1. Fraternity & Sorority Life Senator Yashas

Mallikarjun believes that if someone is not followingup with their expectations, then they would beimpeached anyways.

2. Tyagi believes that attendance can be showing up

and doing your work.a. Meng suggested experimenting with thecommittees by having the chairs assign workfor excused and unexcused absences.

3. Naqvi believes that this has become the general

culture. People show up but they don’t put their besteffort forward. She thinks that implementingSenator of the Week could resolve this as morecommunication and recognition would beencouraged, which would eliminate the spectators.

4. Singh thinks that the problem also lies in finding

out how you make committees as productive aspossible. According to him, the issue is not aboutwho shows up or who is assigned to whichcommittee. He thinks that we need to change theway we see the committees.

5. Morris suggested utilizing the SGA website for more

recognition, for example by adding moreinformation about the SGA members.

6. Huang responded to Singh’s point by talking about

his experience as the vice chair of his pastcommittee and explained it’s hard to decide what todedicate your time to. He suggested providing morementorship to committee leaders and training them.He asked the committee chairs to not hesitatecontacting the executive branch if they would like tohave more insights.

7. Treasurer Brandon Benjamin likes the website idea

and suggested using the Instagram highlightsportion to show what senators are doing.ix. The council was informed that there will be a bill in fallregarding excused absences.x. Naqvi went over the presentation covering leave ofabsences and disciplinary marks. When she wasintroducing the “Talking in Turn” slide, she explained thatRobert’s Rules of Order is not everything and asked themembers to not stop the meeting to correct someone iftheir motion is wrong.xi. When it comes to general expectations, Naqvi explainedthat no one expects the members to dress extremelyformally but for photos or admin visits, she asked themembers to wear better attire. She also stated that shewill be super strict when it comes to eating at the GBMbut asked for some mindfulness.

c. Hopkins Club Discussion - Vice President Amy Li and Vice

President Jackson Morrisi. Vice President Amy Li informed the members that a fewdays ago, she participated in a meeting with the Sheridan

Dean of University Libraries, Archives, and MuseumsElisabeth Long with Koldas, Morris, and Naqvi.ii. Information about this area is included in the slides.iii. Long told Li that they would like to change the name.Most popular suggestion so far is Hopkins/HomewoodStudent Library (HSL). Long wants the name to have“library” in it.iv. Li gave an overview of the Hopkins Club. The entrancewill probably be through the parking lot.v. Naqvi told the members that Long asked the SGA to sendher the feedback from the senate. She asked how themembers would like to name these places. She offered tohave tribute rooms for the students who passed away.Some other ideas were banner room, JHU colors room,discoveries room, and countries with JHU presence. Shebelieves that the names should be simple so they are usedby the community.vi. Li highlighted that they do not want to causecontroversies or confusions with the namings, andexplained that they are open to input.vii. Dontu gave a motion to have a 10 minute long moderatedcaucus, which passed.viii. Dontu likes the idea of a Nobel and class tribute room,along with a room dedicated to Hopkins inventions anddiscoveries.ix. Meng proposed the Hopkins Heritage Library andHomewood Heaven names.x. Sophomore Class Senator Jazzlyn Fernandez was curiousif the students would be able to request rooms.

1. Li explained that this is still in the works but that

most likely that would be the case for group spaces.xi. Huang thinks the tribute room is a nice idea, but since itwill be a place where the students will study, he thinks itmight be too depressing. He thinks that these namesshould be honored somewhere the students wouldremember them.xii. Senior Class Senator Jacquelyn Slade highlighted that ifthe names of the rooms are longer, it will be less likely forpeople to use them.xiii. Li explained that they want to emulate the Q/M/A/B/C/DLevel system that was present in the Milton S. EisenhowerLibrary and asked for ideas on how to achieve this.xiv. Slade asked to clarify if this discussion is for thealternative space, to which Li said yes.xv. Nabizadeh asked how many people will fit in, to which Liresponded around 300.xvi. Nabizadeh thinks that the tribute room idea is good butalso that it might be a long name.xvii. Huang added that one of the rooms is actually as big asthe Brody Reading Room, stating the pictures are notdoing justice.xviii. Naqvi added that the administrators are unaware thatstudents tend to not share their tables when they arestudying, so she asked the members to consider that.xix. Tyagi likes the idea of naming the rooms after the alumni.She is against naming the space as a “library” as this is notthe case. Instead of Homewood Student Library, shethinks it should be named something like HomewoodStudy Hall.

1. Naqvi highlighted that some names might cause

visitors to confuse the building with the hotelnearby.

2. Dontu asked how strict Long is with naming the

space as a library, to which Li said yes.xx. Mallikarjun was against donating the billiards and askedthem to be preserved somewhere different. He proposedto relocate it to a different place on the campus.

1. Li agreed and added she also doesn’t understand

why they would donate them if they’re in goodcondition.xxi. Shumsky asked if this space would be reinstated once thelibrary comes back, to which Li responded probably yes.

1. Shumsky was curious if the building will be

modernized and was highly against it if this wasgoing to be the case.

2. Li reassured him that only light touches would be

made.xxii. Shumsky thinks the tribute room should not be used as astudy room as it would be too gloomy.

1. Naqvi offered to have some plaques instead of

naming the room.xxiii. Shumsky asked the members to reach out to him so hecan use their input in preparing a survey.xxiv. Naqvi asked the members to go to the town hall the nextday if they have time.xxv. KSAS Senator Daarian Rouhani gave three suggestions toone of the rooms, which the members preferred to refer toas the dark academia room: Dungeon, Room of Sorrows,and Castle Room.xxvi. WSE Senator Amy Xu offered to get inputs from differentdepartments as they have a number of people who madeimportant discoveries. She suggested having them submitrecommendations and ideas for an invention tributeroom. This way, they can reach out if they want tocontribute while helping us find resources and compileinformation. She thinks that they would love to beinvolved in something that promotes them.xxvii. Li will compile these ideas and will be there at the TownHall tomorrow, so Naqvi asked people to reach out to herif they have any additional ideas.

d. Approval of SAC Guidelines - Treasurer Brandon Benjamini. Benjamin changed some things in the guidelines. Heshared a document showing what he changed.ii. He explained that the SAC Guidelines are guidelines forthe finance committee on how to allocate money to otherstudent organizations and more. This year, he wanted tomake some changes so they worked better. Last year,there was a lot to be worked on.iii. Mallikarjun gave a motion to have a 5 minute longmoderated caucus, which passed. He asked if the travelfees included the registration fees, to which Benjaminresponded no.

1. Mallikarjun was curious as to how Benjamin came

up with the 25% number.

2. Benjamin explained that he wanted to start off by

25% as he believes it is not unreasonable for theclub to have that money in a year after fundraisingfor a whole year.iv. Slade believes that 12 USD is not enough for people withdietary restrictions. She asked to discuss this.v. Nabizadeh questioned if we forgot to implement the SACamendment that passed in the past and asked how thesechanges would affect that amendment.

1. Benjamin said that that amendment only affected

the name as SAC was removed due to the lack ofmembers.vi. Oruganty asked if these guidelines are for when clubs aresubmitting their semesterly allocations or when they askfor funding, to which Benjamin responded both.vii. KSAS Senator Jaden Garcia was not sure if the senate canvote on this according to the constitution, to which Naqviand Huang offered to have a non-binding senateagreement that passed.

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

a. Motion to adjourn the meeting passed. After the GBM, ameeting with the committee chairs and the executive board wasconducted where they checked in.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 (10:00 PM over the summer) and SGA members areexpected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment bymotion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate.