As the second semester commences, SGA held its first meeting of the semester this past Tuesday. While it was just the first one of the semester, the SGA shared topics of significance.
The meeting proceeded as normal with each executive officer delivering their reports, which consisted mainly of updates for long-term plans and projects that would be more complete in the near future.
Following such, the various SGA committees reported on their respective fields. The major update of the meeting came from the Committee of Student Involvement.
Ardi Mendoza, a junior, discussed how the committee would be advertising for the upcoming Student Activities Fair, which is to be held on this Thursday, Feb. 3. He said that a Facebook group would be created to further promote the event.
Members of SGA were also asked to volunteer for various jobs at this fair. The Class Councils reported on various projects they would be working on as well for the near future.
The highlight here came from the Freshman Class Council. Merrill Anovik, the freshman class president, introduced the newest freshman senator, Alex Dash, who is filling a recent vacancy at this post.
The greater part of the night concentrated on a new possible partnership introduced to SGA from MySugu, a commerce website created by Hopkins graduates.
While MySugu is currently an independent organization from the University, SGA is pursuing the possibility of creating an official partnership with MySugu that would implement, as SGA President Mark Dirzulaitis calls it, “a Craigslist that is for the JHU community only.” Instead of buying and selling books from the Barnes and Noble Bookstore, students would be able to exchange such goods on an exclusive network linked only to Hopkins. Unlike the current situation, MySugu would be linked to the JHU SGA webpage. This partnership would become “a central place where students could buy and sell textbooks,” George stated. Furthermore, it would be a network where the primary focus would be the safety, security and comfort for the student body.
While the idea appealed to many, other members of SGA had questions regarding the website and the partnership.
Treasurer Wyatt Larkin, a sophomore, inquired about the legality and terms of the partnership, specifically how the agreement would be formed (via handshake agreement or contract or verbal agreement), and if the terms of the contract would pan out in five or six years from now.
Because the website has only been launched recently, there was also some questioning regarding the future plans of the website, specifically in terms of its plans to expand to other universities, to network with other universities and such.
The appeal of the proposal reappeared during the open discussion following the MySugu presentation. Members of SGA wanted to implement a variety of things not even suggested by the creators into the server. Additionally, there was a shared agreement that such a partnership with the SGA website would increase usage and viewership on the SGA website.
After much discussion, SGA decided to further discuss this partnership next week, when perhaps a vote would be held as well on the subject.
The final discussion point of the evening was over allowing a greater public, student body presence at the meetings. SGA meetings, currently held on Tuesday nights weekly in Mason Hall, feature almost no attendance from the student body, something SGA wants to change.
Alexandra Larson, the sophomore class president, stated that perhaps because SGA meetings are held so far from where students live, both on and off campus, attendance is minimal. Senator Saharsh Patel, a senior, suggested that SGA hold one meeting a month at Nolan’s to increase student body presence and knowledge on issues at hand.
