The Student Government Association (SGA) discussed its plans for student outreach, reviewed new student groups, reformed its What To Fix (WTF) Hopkins page, appointed new members to the Judiciary board and the Committee on Student Elections (CSE) and temporarily suspended sections of the SGA constitution while reviewing compliance with those sections.
The SGA has appointed freshman Robert Ticzon to the new position of Director of Public Relations. Ticzon will be responsible for facilitating SGA communications with the student body, which includes videography, website design and a planned end-of-semester informational flyer about what the SGA has accomplished in the past term. The SGA hopes to expand the new committee to about five people with experience in graphic design, coding or other essential skills. The committee aims to centralize actions that the SGA previously has had to outsource.
Greg Smith, director of transportation, delivered a report to the SGA on recent developments in his office. According to Smith, ridership on the JHMI shuttle is poised to reach 1.8 million this year, and ridership on the Blue Jay shuttle is poised to reach 100,000. Due to strong Saturday ridership on the JHMI shuttle, the Office of Transportation is planning on expanding Saturday service. Smith solicited the SGA for input on the schedule of the Saturday JHMI service, as well as ideas for renaming the Center of Social Concern’s van fleet.
According to Smith, the recent rerouting of several Blue Jay Shuttle routes has resulted in a more balanced ridership distribution. The previously overburdened Blue Route has seen its ridership return to around 80 per day, down from around 100 per day, and ridership on the previously underutilized Green Route has increased. RideCell, an app that can be used to request night-ride shuttle service, will be ready for debut within about a week.
“SGA has been working very closely with Greg Smith, the head of transportation, for various projects. The uber-like app will be an awesome tool for the student body. Trials are continuing, and kinks like response time are being worked out to try and make this service convenient and heavily utilized by students,” sophomore Senator Ale Saichin wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Smith also reported on his office’s implementation of the new bike rental program, which is financed directly by the SGA. Three bikes will be available for rental outside the Office of Transportation in the parking garage under Mason Hall for $3 per day or $15 per week. Aside from a $2 surcharge to cover the cost of credit or debit card authorization, the rest of the proceeds will go directly to the SGA, which plans to use the funds to increase the number of bikes available.
SGA members communicated the importance they place on transportation.
“To increase a sense of community and move away from this campus bubble, transportation has assisted us greatly to provide plenty of opportunities to access these places in a safe and free way,” Junior Class President Jahan Mirchandani wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
“As beautiful as Homewood is, there are several neighborhoods around the City of Baltimore that every Hopkins student should experience at least once before they graduate,” Mirchandani wrote.
The SGA responded to concerns over material posted on its WTF Hopkins Facebook page. Recently, a post on the page criticizing the Hopkins Emergency Response Organization was removed after the SGA received complaints that the post was inflammatory and potentially slanderous. Senators were reluctant to begin strictly moderating the page but also pointed out that the page should not be allowed to turn into a forum for general social criticism. Due to the page’s previously public settings, it was prominently on display for prospective students. The SGA decided to make the page private and to remind posters to only write about material that the SGA has the jurisdiction to remedy.
The Committee on Academic Affairs reported on their efforts to create exam blackout days — days on which professors are forbidden by the administration from holding exams — in the spring semester. The committee is in contact with the administration and is requesting that the Monday and Tuesday following spring break and Spring Fair be designated as exam blackout dates. No dates have been finalized yet.
The SGA unanimously approved the recognition of the Adventist Student Fellowship as a religious and spiritual student group. The SGA unanimously rejected the recognition of JHU Politik Focus, a group which aims to produce weekly news reels about on-campus political news, citing a lack of organization and the potential that the group will be absorbed by the Foreign Affairs Symposium.
Senior class senator Rodolfo Finocchi moved to suspend two sections of the SGA constitution while the SGA evaluates its compliance with those sections. The sections were 4.06d, which requires the Executive Secretary to coordinate with the Student Rights and Interests Committee, and section 6.3, which mandates the creation of a Committee for External Committees and Commissions. Finocchi pointed out that neither committee currently exists and that thus, the SGA is in violation of these sections. The SGA voted unanimously to suspend these sections of the Constitution as an interim measure.
Executive President Janice Bonsu reported on her meeting with Vice Provost for Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger about the University’s policies on sexual crimes. Bonsu was concerned about the fact that the sexual harassment and sexual violence policies are completely separate, saying this may cause confusion. She was also concerned that there is a lack of clarity regarding which offices can offer confidentiality to students and that student input was not solicited for the drafting of the policies. According to Bonsu, Shollenberger said the lack of student input was due to the limited time that the Oct. 1 deadline of the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act afforded to create a policy.
Executive Treasurer Will Szymanski reported that his meeting with student group treasurers was successful; approximately 130 treasurers were invited and 102 attended. Szymanski provided information about legal issues surrounding funding and spent an hour after the meeting answering questions.
Executive Secretary Adelaide Morphett reported that the SGA’s new transportation blog, “The Flightplan,” has garnered thousands of pageviews. She saw this as a success.
“The Flightplan that was just finished is a helpful resource that encourages students to travel in Baltimore,” sophomore Senator Charlie Green wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
“SGA is making great strides to integrate students into the city. They want students out at different festivals and The Flightplan makes this easy. In the Hop On section of The Flightplan website, descriptions are given of different transit methods around Baltimore. The Destinations section lists different festivals and events that they want students out at in different neighborhoods,” Green wrote.
The SGA unanimously confirmed freshman Katharine Shadlock, senior Jonathan Ung and juniors Anup Regunathan, Dylan Cowit and Tom Roesser to the SGA Judiciary. Ung and Regunathan are sitting justices. The SGA also confirmed freshman Athena Wong and senior Sam Markstein to the CSE.
