Despite poor attendance, the JHU Student Government Association (SGA) deemed its first Town Hall meeting last Thursday a success.
“We had a good mix of students come voice their opinions and suggestions, and we’re looking forward to hearing from more students,” Sophomore Senator Rodolfo Finocchi wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter. Finocchi serves as the chair of the SGA Senate’s Sustainability, Safety, and Development Committee, which organized the event.
Executive President Moses Song concurred. “It was great to see student participation. Although there weren’t too many students at the Town Hall, I was pleased with the suggestions and opinions we were able to gather … ranging from creating ways to encourage student groups to be more sustainable, creating more Friday night events, to improving access to public condoms,” Song wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
The Town Hall meeting was its first of its kind to increase transparency between students and the SGA, and monthly Town Halls are planned for the rest of the semester.
The executive council of the SGA has also started making bi-weekly videos in conjunction with the prospective Filmmaking Club in order to update students about what projects they’re working on.
“In the past, I really had no idea what the SGA was up to. The videos have helped me stay better connected to their progress, and they’re short enough that they’re accessible to students,” junior Divya Kernik said.
Yet some students haven’t seen any of the SGA’s video updates. “I got an email to watch one of them, but I haven’t seen any of the updates,” sophomore Megan Pino said.
“We want the student body to know everything we do as representatives, and our Executive Board and I will work harder to come up with better ways to communicate,” said Song. Song also pointed to his frequent emails this semester as an improved attempt at means of communication between the students and the SGA.
He also addressed the fact that the organization has not posted minutes from their weekly senate minutes on the SGA website this semester. According to Song, the SGA is having issues with website maintenance, and is trying to hire an executive tech personnel in order to communicate directly with the Executive Board and senators to update the website.
“We want students to understand that we are there to represent them and to be the liaison between them and the administrators,” Finocchi said.
Finocchi points out that the SGA is currently working on a variety of projects in order to better student life, including organizing a Blue Light Security Week in November and working to improve campus IT, and encourages that any student interested in learning about what the SGA does to come to the SGA Senate’s weekly meetings in Mason Hall every Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. “We want students to come to us and let us know [what they want]. I encourage everyone to come out to future ones [Town Hall meetings],” Finocchi said.
