SGA calls for more funding for PILOT

In their meeting on Tuesday, the Student Government Association (SGA) addressed requests for funding from student groups and passed a resolution calling on Hopkins to increase funding for PILOT, a student-led tutoring program.

SGA voted to give the student group Global China Connection a budget of $1500 for an event they plan to host in which they would bring speakers to campus to discuss developments in the healthtech world. 

Junior Jillian Ho, co-president of Global China Connection, said that she thought the forum would be an excellent experience for students. 

“We believe the forum is a great opportunity for Hopkins to increase its international presence and also to increase the students’ global awareness by facilitating exchanges between medical leaders from China and the U.S.,” she said. 

Hopkins Organization for Pre-Health Education (HOPE) focuses on increasing minority representation in the health professions and also raising awareness of racial health disparities. 

HOPE requested $1000 to help fund a trip for four students to attend the Annual Medical Education Conference (AMEC) hosted by the Student National Medical Association. This year, the conference is taking place in San Francisco. 

Junior Karissa Avignon, a member of HOPE, said that the conference often made a big difference for underrepresented students applying to medical school. 

“Students who have gone in the past three years... have been able to gain lots of resources which they are able to implement into programming,” she said. “For example, some of the students… who are now alumni, they’re coming back for alumni weekend and they’re going to share what they learned.” 

Avignon felt that the conference enabled students to ready themselves for medical school applications.

“Most of the people who have gone said that they felt more prepared applying to medical school,” he said. “AMEC can really help [underrepresented] students in the application process.”

Senior class president Kwame Alston voiced concerns about the use of SGA funds for something only four students could attend.

SGA also unanimously passed a resolution regarding PILOT. Since covered grades were removed this past year, the demand for PILOT tutoring increased significantly in the fall, leading to reduced funding for the program. 

The resolution calls for the administration to increase funding for PILOT. Additionally, it requests expansion of PILOT to humanities and social sciences classes. As of now, most PILOT courses are geared towards STEM classes.