At the last Student Activities Commission (SAC) General Assembly (GA) of the semester on Monday, group members voted for the liaisons that will serve for the 2002-03 school year.
There was only one nominee for each of the eight groups, although voters were given the option of filling in their ballots with an "other" candidate. Each of the nominees was given four minutes to deliver a speech, although most, since running unopposed, spoke for less than 30 seconds. Cultural liaison nominee Jon Groce expressed his desire "to see true collaboration between cultural groups." Cheryl Adackapara, nominee for Political Action liaison, conveyed that "political action groups have made a lot of progress since last year." All of the nominees, which included Michael Seibert for Special Interests, Matthew Koelbl for Recreation and Hobbies, Sara Marten for Performing Arts, Marisa Adelman for Publications, Evan Grove for Sports and Ishwaria Chandramohan for Religious, expressed enthusiasm for the coming year. Former Cultural liaison nominee Hope Kelaher declined her nomination and was removed from the ballot.
Elise Roecker, Student Council Executive Treasurer-Elect, reminded members to finalize their group transitions, which involve completing forms for new officers, in order to "save [them] all a lot of headaches in the fall." She requested to meet with the Class A groups who did not receive annual budgets, confirming that their new budgets would be heard again in May.
"We'll discuss correcting the problems that prevented [the group] from receiving a budget in the first place," said Roecker.
Student Council Executive President Anuj Mittal reminded members of the security improvement measures being sought and invited questions and suggestions. The issue, according to Mittal, is the fact that thousands of students live off-campus, with a meager security force of about 10 officers who do not carry weapons. Citing the many break-ins and other crime incidences that have occurred this year, he proposed that security "become more of a presence" amongst the off-campus areas where students live.
Samar Malek, of the Middle Eastern Students Association (MESA), made an announcement concerning the tearing-down of flyers advertising "Arabian Nights," an activity planned by the group. According to Malek, these actions were obviously deliberate.
"Unfortunately, hate and intolerance is alive and well at JHU," said Malek."You have all put your organization's activities in the public's eye, so imagine how it feels to be targeted because of your group's ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation."
Malek added that organizations such as the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA) "are not new to this treatment," and that "the current escalation in the Middle East adds an especially malicious quality" to the particular destruction of MESA flyers.
"I am asking you to please be vigilant about the targeting of student groups and publicize this vandalism to your members. it will not be tolerated," said Malek.
Dr. Bill Smedick, Assistant Dean of Student Life, echoed Malek's concern.
"What's happened is a travesty," said Smedick. "We need to come together as a community. Freedom of speech is a part of our values."
Current SAC Chairperson Noel DeSantos informed members that the Student Council is having a referendum to revise the constitution, including a particular revision which has the likelihood of overturning current bylaws and preventing SAC financial transactions from proceeding until the Student Council can rewrite new ones. According to DeSantos, this revision, termed Constitutional Reform A, will seriously impede the functioning of the SAC. DeSantos affirmed that he did not wish to sway opinions, but merely felt it was his "responsibility to inform" the SAC.
