SGA discusses Spring Fair, student groups

At its meeting last Tuesday, the Student Government Association(SGA) approved the formal status of two student groups, discussed the launching of a database on off-campus housing and assessed the budget requirements for this year’s Spring Fair Music Festival.

The two student organizations that were approved by the SGA were the Actuarial Club and Dance Marathon.

“[Approval means] they have the ability to make room reservations,” sophomore senator Mike Wu said.

Director of Student activities Jason Heiserman added, “they’d be eligible to request funding.”

Interest in the Actuarial club was one of the reasons it was approved. “The info session turnout was about 30 kids,” Wu said.

Similarly, Dance Marathon, an organization whose goal would be to put together a charity event of the same name on April 8th, was approved because it was deemed to have attracted sufficient interest, presented viable funding ideas, and embraced a good cause.

The proceeds from Dance Marathon would go to the Children’s Miracle Network, a non-profit organization that raises funds for children’s hospitals.

However, approval on other student groups was deferred to later date. The Hopkins Tai Chi club was one of them. Although Wu said that “[Tai Chi] has been meeting pretty regularly on the quad,” a decision on its formal status was not made at this week’s meeting.

Also left in limbo were the Young Americans for Liberty, a prospective political organization..

“It has a national organization behind it. They’re going to work with College Republicans and College Democrats to host debates,” Wu said.

On the other hand, some clubs were put on a probation list.

“Being on probation . . . means they’re not 100 percent approved,” Wu said.

Sophomore senator Mimi Gu clarified, “if we don’t think they’re financially stable or we don’t see longevity in the club . . . for those two reasons, we’ll re-evaluate a club.”

Groups on probation include a Krav Maga group; See Hop Run, a running club; the International Service Learning Program, which would help premed students with community outreach; and the Foodies, a cooking group.

Still other clubs were rejected altogether, such as UNICEF and a yoga group.

Another issue that was discussed at the meeting was the Student Services off-campus housing database.

The database, which will allow students to search different properties, is functioning, but is yet to be launched in anticipations of new additions, according to junior senator Kirk Sabnani.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to have user submitted comments,” Sabnani said.

Some of the other features that may be added are additional search filters, a GoogleMaps template and more sorting of properties. “We’re hoping to have it done by the end of the semester,” Sabnani said in his concluding remarks.

The SGA is also working on the Spring Fair Music Festival. Last year approximately $17,500 was spent, but it wasn’t enough to bring in a top artist popular enough to sell large numbers of tickets.

“We need 15 [thousand], we would like 30,” Dirzulaitis said.

This year instead of spending the most significant portion of the budget on hiring just one band, the Festival committee plans to hire many small local bands to have continuous music performances throughout the day.