The Student Government Association (SGA) met with administrators from the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center and the Department of Athletics at its weekly meeting in Commons on Sept. 27.
The SGA also approved a bill funding care packages for displaced Charles Commons residents.
Alanna Shanahan, the newly appointed director of athletics and recreation, spoke about new ways to build up the Hopkins community and get students involved.
“Two things that I’m really passionate about are finding ways to engage the Hopkins undergraduate community,” Shanahan said. “How we can build community, how we can have fantastic events, how do we engage you in athletics and recreation programming — just to create a fun and festive environment and provide a platform for you to get to know one another.”
Shanahan spoke about how stress from schoolwork is a recurring complaint from both athletes and non-athletes, and she believes that the Rec Center would be a good space for expanding community-building programming.
“I unfortunately hear that the stress and tension are a challenge for most students. So I’m thinking, we have these powerful programs, in this powerful space, and what can we do to help this community to wrestle with these issues,” Shanahan said. “How [do] we build university community broadly, how do we integrate student athletes with non-athletes, but again, how do we create programs that you guys want to come to… Because we want to make sure we’re hearing from undergraduate students and what they’re passionate about.”
Jackie Lebeau, the assistant director of fitness at the Rec Center, further elaborated on the need to encourage more students to participate in the Rec Center’s programs and to use the athletic facilities.
“We know that not everyone on campus goes into our building, and that’s something that we want to change because we want to know why aren’t we getting more people in our building,” Lebeau said. “We have all this stuff that everyone — undergraduates, everybody — pays for already in student fees, so what’s holding people from actually walking over and taking advantage of the pool, or the courts, or the indoor track or the weight room?”
She then gave an in depth explanation of the new programs offered by Experiential Education. In particular, a new offering is “broga,” or men’s only yoga, which was created as a counterpart to a ladies’ night in the weight room, an event formed in response to the male-dominated environment of the weight room.
“We get so much feedback from our female members saying that they feel uncomfortable in our weight room and I don’t really know how to change that culture, so I would love to hear feedback if you’ve experienced that,” Lebeau said.
Executive President Charlie Green believes that having a ladies night in the Rec Center would be beneficial to those who do not know how to use weights.
“I don’t know exactly what to do and I never entered the weight room in the rec center, [so] having a ladies’ night in the weight room will be helpful,” Green said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily the fact that there’s guys there, I think it’s more just like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’”
Later in the meeting, Green formally welcomed the prospective freshmen SGA candidates, who were required to attend an SGA meeting before being qualified to run for a position. This year will be especially competitive with 17 candidates running for six available senator positions and eight candidates running for one available class president position.
Green also spoke about the SGA Fall Forum, which will take place on Nov. 8 and will be divided into three sections encompassing the priorities of the year: spirit, mental health, diversity and inclusion.
“The goal of this forum is to showcase what the SGA has been working on and to showcase what student groups have been working on and to connect these student groups and administrators,” Green said. “Having all those groups and us together and all those administrators is a great opportunity to talk together about these issues and to talk in the future and to know each other.”
Sophomore Class Senator Ash Panakam presented the Commons Care Package Act of 2016 for the victims of the sprinkler flood that occurred in Charles Commons on Sept. 4.
“The purpose is simple, we wanted to personally acknowledge the concerns of everyone who got flooded out,” Panakam said. “I know there were people speaking on social media and stuff like that, and we also want to encourage students to share how their experiences were with SGA. We are here to represent them and trying to get our face out there.”
The care packages, which each cost approximately $14, will consist of a Hopkins Blue Jay mug from Barnes & Noble, packets of Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate, peanut-free chocolate, a flyer containing information about SGA’s general meeting and internet memes. Panakam estimated that the packages should be delivered by the end of the week.
Sophomore Class Senator AJ Tsang, who was personally affected by the sprinkler flooding incident, spoke about the purpose of this new initiative.
“We’re providing support to the residents who were moved to the AMRs or Homewood for the duration of the reparations,” Tsang said.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.