On April 3, the Oversight Action and Awareness Committee (OAAC) launched a public Facebook page to further its mission of increasing transparency and accountability among student-run organizations on campus. The group is categorized as a community organization, though it is not an official campus group because its application to the Student Government Association (SGA) was not submitted until a day after deadline. Director of Student Activities Robert Turning confirmed that the application was received on March 2 at 3:49 p.m.
The committee’s first Facebook post was a video meant to expose the supposed lack of transparency within SGA. The 50 second video, which premiered on April 5, took clips from a campaign video for the Bonsu campaign ticket that included candidates speaking directly to the camera.
The OACC video edited specific clips from the campaign video, adding in spry, upbeat music as well as black and red text. It begins with a quote from the current SGA Executive Secretary Kyra Toomre, who the video incorrectly titles current executive treasurer. In the clip, Toomre, who at the time was running for Executive Vice President with the Bonsu campaign ticket, states that she has worked very hard to increase transparency within SGA at Hopkins. The clip of Toomre then pauses and text appears pointing out that no SGA minutes were posted last fall.
This is one of many attacks the video launches against the SGA on the basis of transparency. Others included pointing out the fact that the SGA meets in Mason Hall, which is the farthest building from the Gilman Quad, as well as quoting a section of the SGA’s minutes from March 11 that reads “if you want to change it, run for SGA.” The video also claims that the SGA cut 95 percent of funding for three student groups overnight and that the executive president appointed his friend to the Judiciary Board.
The video ends with another clip from the Bonsu ticket’s campaign video in which freshman Adelaide Morphett, current freshman class senator and next year’s executive secretary with the Bonsu campaign ticket, tells the camera that she used to own a pet wombat when she was a child. This clip was taken from a section of the campaign video in which candidates told viewers a fun fact about themselves. The clip of Morphett, which does not reference the context of the original video and does not disclose Morphett’s name, follows a screen of text that reads “what are the real issues that need to be addressed?”
On Monday, all four members of the Bonsu campaign ticket were elected to the respective positions for which they were running.
Toomre, who is now SGA’s Executive Secretary, expressed frustration at the OAAC’s use of the footage showing her and Morphett, who is now a freshman class senator. She noted that the committee did not request permission to take the footage beforehand.
“Our campaign video’s rights belong to the videographer and he contacted them asking them to remove the footage a few days ago and has gotten no reply,” she wrote to The News-Letter.
Toomre took responsibility in response to the charge made against the SGA for failing to post minutes throughout the fall semester. She explained that the switch to the jhu.edu domain brought about unforseen challenges in regards to posting the minutes.
“Now we have learned WordPress software and fixed the log-in problems ... I apologize for the lag in uploading minutes this year,” she wrote. “Now the minutes are fully up to date.”
In her own defense, Toomre noted the actions that she has undergone in the SGA to make bureaucratic decisions and events better known among the student body.
“I have increased the use and traffic to the SGA Facebook page because after looking at analytics of the SGA website, the Facebook page seemed like a much better way to get students information,” she wrote. “Also, the SGA twitter is heavily used and students reply with comments, suggestions and ideas.”
Turning also pointed out the efforts that SGA members have undertaken to increase the transparency of the organization.
“The SGA has always maintained an open door policy with their meetings; anyone may attend the meetings,” he said. “They have also instituted ‘What Do You Want Wednesdays’ where they set up tables in various campus locations ... so students may offer suggestions to them directly.”
In response to the video’s attack on SGA meetings in Mason Hall, Toomre noted that SGA chooses to meet there because it offers the largest boardroom available to the organization free of charge. She was, however, sympathetic to those who bemoaned the hall’s distance from the Gilman Quad and shared plans to make the weekly assemblies more accessible.
“We are working on setting up a podcast type system so people can also tune into meetings without physically being there,” she wrote.
In an email to The News-Letter, the OACC relayed its opinion that the SGA’s decision to not accept the committee’s application to be an official campus group was made as a way to prevent transparency on campus. The group noted that members of the SGA are not permitted to prevent student groups from gaining acknowledgment due to personal opinion.
“The proposal had been seen and discussed by members of the SGA, and a conscious decision was made to stall its approval,” the group wrote. “This was not an objective decision.”
The committee’s stance comes after the SGA tabled its application to be officially recognized, which was submitted a day late. Because of this, the committee will not have a chance to become an official student group until next semester. However, members of the group claim that the application was turned in late due to a stolen laptop, a claim which Turning reported not having known about.
“I am unaware if the group gave the SGA a reason for the late application,” Turning wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
In their email, the OAAC emphasized the need for more transparency at and beyond the Homewood campus. They relate the SGA’s tabling of their application to the recent scandals involving Edward Snowden and the NSA leaks.
“Information is power. In a democracy, people are, supposedly, given power to choose who they want in charge, what policies they want implemented. But this power is stymied when voters can’t make informed decisions,” they wrote.
Despite a myriad of explanations from SGA, the OAAC believes its student representatives have failed undergraduates at the school. On April 5, the OAAC cited Section 4 of the SGA Constitution via its Facebook page to prep readers for its next course of action.
“Students have a right to veto any decisions reached by the SGA by means of student referenda,” the post reads.
The OAAC plans to create a student referendum and add itself to the list of student groups being reviewed by the SGA this semester.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.