SGA discusses changing its constitution

The Student Government Association (SGA) discussed ongoing edits to the SGA constitution in its regular Tuesday meeting in the Charles Commons Barber Room and in a special meeting held on Sunday afternoon in the Mattin Center.

The SGA spent these two meetings discussing ideas without settling on any conclusive changes, and they have not yet voted on any revisions.

“We plan to have the edits done by the end of the semester, as originally the vote [for the constitution] was supposed to go out with the executive ballots on Friday, but we pushed it off so we can keep making the proper changes,” Freshman Class Senator Alex Darwiche said. “The changes that were suggested Sunday are changes that need to be made to validate the SGA. There are a lot of committees and subcommittees that are no longer followed, so to validate the current SGA we need to update the procedural contents of [the constitution] first.”

Aside from minor grammatical changes and the addition of the words “her” and “she” throughout the constitution, SGA members debated the idea of adding a clause that requires a minimum of one year of SGA experience in order to serve on the Executive Board. Opponents of this clause said that such a clause would make it more difficult for transfer students to have the opportunity to serve.

Another possible clause discussed included the enumeration of the jobs among the executive board members. The constitution will be discussed further at a later meeting.

“We’re doing good with the constitution,” Darwiche said. “I think a lot of the problems with SGA currently is that we don’t have the scope we need. We have a lot of people who really want to do a lot of good, but it’s too fragmented... I think the overhaul of the constitution will really help give SGA a wider scope.”

The meeting began with Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Dean Beverly Wendland talking about improving campus life. Wendland brought up the possibility of offering credits for internships in order to alleviate students’ workload. The meeting then transitioned into a discussion about the progress of the Sexual Violence Advisory Committee and how the administration could be more helpful in resolving related issues.

Sophomore Daniel Villalobos, director of operations for the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA), gave a presentation urging the SGA to pass a resolution to prevent Chick-Fil-A from opening a location in the forthcoming 3200 St. Paul complex. Chick-Fil-A Chief Operations Officer Dan Cathy has long spoken out on his views against gay marriage.

After the presentation, Associate Dean of Campus Programming Tiffany Sanchez said that the developers have not yet planned on opening a Chick-Fil-A in 3200 St. Paul.

SGA Executive President Janice Bonsu discussed the schedule for the upcoming elections. Voting will begin on April 3 at 4 p.m. and will continue until 11:59 p.m. on April 5. Winners will be announced on April 6.

Bonsu also spoke about posts containing racist language on Yik Yak, an anonymous social media platform where students post to groups in a certain geographic region. Bonsu discussed the SGA’s partnership with Dean of Student Life Terry Martinez in order to address the issue.

“There have been some really concerning posts on Yik Yak right now, many of which are racially charged,” Bonsu said. “Even if it is coming from our surrounding communities, many were very Hopkins-specific. We think these are isolated events in the community, but we are thinking of ways to help the students own the positivity and really put forth that anonymously this isn’t something we stand for.”

Executive Treasurer Will Szymanski spoke about club funding applications, which are due on April 5. Executive Secretary Adelaide Morphett talked about recent incidences of Baltimore City Police (BPD) ticketing jaywalkers near campus. Szymanski brought up the idea of having the head of the Transportation Department brief students about the recent citations, providing the transportation head with the opportunity to interact with the student body.

Junior Class Senator and Chairwoman of the Student Life Committee Amy Sun discussed plans for getting food trucks to visit the Beach in order to incentivize students to go outdoors. Sun also discussed planning a student community service day that may involve a sandwich-making initiative.

Senior Class Senator and Academic Affairs Committee Chairman Andrew Griswold discussed the SGA’s initiative to collect data about exam dates and performance after spring break to provide quantifiable data to deans that would address the issue with placing exams after breaks. Griswold announced that the initial report will be released sometime in April.

Sophomore Class Senator and Appointments and Evaluations Committee Chairman JB Brown discussed the application process for joining the Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS). Brown emphasized that SGA members are ineligible to serve simultaneous terms on the FAS board.

The Committee for Safety, Sustainability and Development discussed the progress in obtaining additional compost bins for Gilman Hall and announced its bill for purchasing a massage chair for $800 to help reduce student stress. The bill was tabled and edited to include that profits from the chair will be used for its upkeep.

Junior Class Senator and Finance Committee Chairman Jahan Mirchandani approved funding for 1,400 “It’s On Us” campaign buttons. The buttons, in conjunction with flyers and t-shirts, aim to increase awareness for the sexual assault prevention campaign that will be promoted this month.

Senior Maxwell Dickey introduced a club association amendment that would establish a group that would represent student organizations. This association would aim to inform the SGA about student group leaders’ reactions to proposed bills. Senators likened the bill to a chamber of commerce of student organizations in which student group leaders would be able to interact and cooperate with the SGA. The discussion was tabled for future evaluation.

The SGA considered the Bill for Open Programming, which was written by Dickey. The bill sought to create an Independent Programming Organization (IPO) that will be granted the authority to develop and implement events on behalf of the SGA for the student body. After discussion and a number of back-and-forth motions, the bill failed by one vote.