Johns Hopkins University Student Government Association

Meeting Minutes, Tuesday, October 4, 2011

I. Call to Order, 7:30

II. Roll Call

1. Debra excused

III. Introductions

1. New Freshman Senators: Mahzi Malcolm, Aleksandra Olekhnovich, Nash Jenkins, Alex Barbera, Rodolfo Finocchi, Evan Brooker
2. New Freshman Class President: Joshua Goodstein

IV. Executive Officer Reports

I. President Ardi Mendoza:

1. Congrats freshman! 65% turnout!
2. Go over exec board minutes:
   1. Bring bag big/little program
   2. We want to have a retreat for SGA to assess what our plants for later in the year will be
3. Shadowing Program with administrators will start again this year. Each student will shadow an administrator for a day and learn about what everyone does and what goes on
4. Next week’s meeting: Dinner with President Daniels, the Provost, Vice Provost. 30 min dinner and 30 min talk by Daniels

II. Vice President Wyatt Larkin

1. Exec board is attending Parents’ Council Meeting to say thank you to them

III. Treasurer Joanna Gawlik

A. Budget numbers are the same

B. Contingency fund: $28, 400, Operations: $1, 482, Events: $12, 000

C. Meeting with SAC people to assess student requests

D. Housing and Dining Survey has been announced, please fill it out!

IV. Secretary Annie Scavelli

1. Online Syllabi meetings in progress, figuring out compromise for hesitant faculty

V. Message from Dean Boswell

1. Nothing new to report. Happy to see the freshmen.
2. Plan for next week: President Daniels will be joining us and we will be eating at 6:30 (come earlier if you are able).

VI. Committee Reports

A. Academic Affairs: Alexandra Larsen

1. Our committee deals with reading-period violations and improving ISIS to make course selection and evaluation better
2. Trying to move Add/Drop to make it individualized for every class.

B. Appointments and Evaluations Committee: Mimi Gu

1. Deals with student groups.
2. We are looking over SAC fund sponsored group budgets

C. Campus Safety and Development: Nick Trenton

1. It is a new committee to focus more on Campus Development and ways in which students can meet with the SGA to voice their ideas for improvement.
2. It is also to increase security and safety on campus.
3. Blue Jay Shuttle updates have gone out
4. 11am-1pm, free give-a-ways
5. Initiatives’ Grant going very well. We might pick up a couple of them!
6. Meeting with a senior tonight to discuss TA and student test coordination.

D. Finance: Merrill Anovick

1. Deal with the budget and committees appeal to the Finance Committee who will either approve or deny a request before bringing it to the SGA body.

E. Student Services: Kirk Sabnani

1. Working with student groups and administrators on online services, housing and dining, and holiday bus initiatives.
2. Thank you for the input on the Student Services page, still in progress
3. MSE Study Room tracker up on Student Services page
4. Off Campus Housing Database being updated for this year. It now includes neighborhoods and “shush” ratings.
5. Online Taxi Share program is underway! Next week, I will show you guys a small demo on our progress so far
6. Schupper and I are meeting with Dave Ferhman about Housing and Dining issues, of which both of them are on the advisory board for now.

VII. Message from TJ Bozada: Senior Leadership Consultants

1. Run by the Center for Leadership Education. Trained on how to student groups should be run. We help groups decide on what their problems actually are and come up with solutions to them.
2. 4^th year the program is in existence
3. Our awareness on campus has not been high and we are seeking student groups to help out.
4. The Senior Leadership Consultant Group is proposing a partnership in which new provisional groups are assigned a consultant who would asess their effectiveness. “Training wheels” and not asking for payment.

VIII. Class Council Reports

A. Senior Class President: Luke Sand

1. Laser Tag this Thursday!
2. October 20^th: Nolan’s Pub Night
3. Next week: Maxie’s Pizza and Drink Specials
4. Halloween Donuts and Coffee to be handed out the day of Halloween (or the day after)
5. November 10^th: Event downtown
6. Trying to figure out a way to get Seniors down to the Lighting of the Quad, possibly free t-shirts

B. Junior Class President: Alexandra Larsen

1. Dessert event next week!
2. Sushi Night will be next week as well
3. Boat event being looked into
4. Katie and Nathan Memorials in progress
   1. Concrete date (hopefully in October) TBA

C. Sophomore Class President: Merrill Anovick

1. Finished draft for focus group, e-mail going out tonight
2. Class night possibly before Halloween, October 26^th/27^th
3. Parents Fund: They spent the most amount of money on High Table, I’d be happy to come

IX. Open Discussion

1. Erin- What’s the status with the CSE bill?
2. Ardi- We are waiting to hear back from them with what they propose

X. Closed Discussion

1. Dinner with President Daniels          
   1. Ardi: The Executive Board came up with ideas to present to the President. Narrowed it down to Online Syllabi Database (with other possible improvements to ISIS) and the Campus Master Plan (a reevaluation of new possible construction on campus like a student union or more campus housing)
   2. Discussion
      1. Luke: We would like to avoid professors saying the syllabi would deter students because of workload, etc.
      2. Alexandra: It’s a slippery slope because it is the professors intellectual property
      3. Merrill: This is very specific, perhaps, we should not try and convince him of this if he is not the person we would turn to anyway. Not the best use of time.
      4. Wyatt: Daniels has in the past committed to listing syllabi
      5. Dash: What does everyone think about bringing up improvements to student life and extracurricular offerings? Also, Should we find out what is going on the Homestead lot.
      6. Dean Boswell: I am not aware of what has been planned to go on there. It is wise to ask Daniels about the Campus Master Plan.
      7. MSG: Hopkins is lagging behind in sustainability projects. Ask him what Hopkins stance is on sustainability issues because of action by our peer schools.
      8. Joanna: I am aware of a general sustainability agreement the school has committed to in the last five years. Now, it is a question of where they are going with this.
      9. Schupper: Should we bring up the Hopkins Kicks Butts initiative?
      10. Dean Boswell: Daniels has not directly been involved in that. You might just as Daniels what his vision is in sustainability.
      11. Ardi: It might be too narrow to bring up.
      12. Maaiz: The Student Services website might be good to bring up. We can ask him how they can become more central and student friendly.
      13. Dean Boswell: We can talk about our own ideas and what we are able to control and suggest that the university look more broadly on these things. You should educate him on what is important to the SGA and what we are working on.
      14. Erin: Its nice to update him on our student services improvements and consider his opinion on what he has seen could be done.
      15. Wyatt: Summary- Syllabi, Sustainability, Campus Master Plan
          1. i.     Hammer out one thing to ask about and one thing to discuss
          2. ii.     Merrill: Ask him for approval on a meeting on Online Syllabi
          3. iii.     Dean Boswell: Perhaps we should ask VP Steinberg to come in and give a report of the critiques we are hearing about Hopkins and how it can be improved. We can ask someone to come in and present to us on what the administration has in store. Not just have a one-way communication with them, but a conversation
          4. Ardi: Sarah Steinberg had requested coming to a meeting sometime in November. We welcome the opportunity to have them here and get their feedback
          5. Steph: Are the administrators able to stay? Will our open discussion change if we were able to discuss it with them before the meeting?
          6. Dean Boswell: I will let you know.
          7. Ardi: The agenda will be set accordingly. Summary: ISIS and the Master Plan- we will ask him about both. We will ask him of his plans for Student life.
          8. Dean Boswell: In the future, we can invite Deans Newman and Jones. Perhaps, a SGA dinner at one of their homes could occur. What about the menu for this Tuesday?

XI. Announcements

1. Ardi: I am opening up the application for the Judiciary tonight. 5 people will be chosen in all four grades. If you can think of anyone who would be good for this, let us know!  Nominations will be presented at next meeting up to the SGA body approval.
2. Minerva: Dress code for next week- business casual. Guys do ties.

XII. Adjournment

1. Junior Class President Alexandra Larsen, Motion to adjourn
2. Seconded
3. 3. Meeting adjourned at 8:33

Respectfully Submitted,

Executive Secretary Annie Scavelli