By KELSEY KO
The Student Government Association (SGA) met in the Shriver Hall boardroom, a change from their usual location in the Charles Commons Barber Room, on Tuesday to discuss a variety of issues including the current construction of a new upperclassmen housing option at 3200 St. Paul Street and the continued promotion of sexual health at Hopkins.
SGA Executive President Jason Plush met with Terry Martinez, associate vice provost and dean of student life, last Friday to discuss the current plans for the new apartment building.
The building is in construction on the corner of 33rd and St. Paul Streets across from Charles Commons and Barnes and Noble. It is projected to be finished by the start of next school year.
“The building itself is going to be 9 East 33rd Street. It’s going to have housing for approximately 800 upperclassmen, so it’ll serve as an off-campus space for upperclassmen to live,” Plush said. “That’s going to be the main service of the building but there are also going to be retail locations on the first floor as well as a restaurant and potentially a pharmacy.”
The new building’s facilities are aligned with ideas from the student body, taking into consideration student suggestions of what they would like to see.
Another topic of discussion was the distribution of condoms across the Homewood Campus in order to promote safe sex. There are currently 12 condom dispensers throughout Brody Learning Commons, which are available to students free of charge. SGA has been working with senior public health major Marni Epstein for the past few years to fund the wholesale distribution of free condoms to the Hopkins student body.
SGA Executive Vice President Jack Bartholet expressed support for Epstein’s condom initiative and feels that the SGA has a moral obligation to advocate for the sexual health of Hopkins students.
“I think it’s incumbent upon us as student representatives to make sure that students are able to practice healthy and safe sex,” Bartholet said.
“It happened last year, and they’re bringing it up for this year so it needs to be re-approved, but it’s been an ongoing partnership between the SGA and Marni Epstein,” Bartholet said.
“We actually formed a committee on health and safety to specifically address issues like this on campus. I’m excited to put that committee to good use and start getting into issues that really matter.”
Bartholet voiced his enthusiasm for the bigger role SGA will be taking on in the upcoming school year and the necessary campus-wide issues that it will continue to address.
“I’m really excited to finally be getting into the swing of things with SGA,” Bartholet said. “We spent the early part of the year organizing into committees and restructuring internal affairs so I’m excited to finally be able to turn our attention to more University-wide issues rather than inter-SGA issues.”
SGA Executive Secretary John Stanton discussed increasing student attendance at sporting events and raising more school spirit this year. He is working on strengthening ties between the athletic department and the SGA.
“I’ve seen the best [attendance] with the men’s centennial conference championship game, and I’ve seen the worst at women’s soccer games, where I’m one of 10 people in the stands,” Stanton said. “I want to make every game feel as if it’s a championship game, like at other big state schools. I think that’s possible through our new partnership with the athletic department.”
Stanton’s ideas include having more tailgates, hosting free T-shirt nights and creating a point system to bring more of the student body out into the stands. He will present these ideas at a meeting with the athletic department this Friday.
The SGA also discussed a need for more resourceful student budgeting and attention to financing the startup of new student organizations. SGA Executive Treasurer Matthew Bee will be meeting with the SGA Finance Committee to write up bills regarding the startup costs for two new student organizations at Hopkins this year.
Senior Class President Amy Sun is focused on staying within the budget that has been allocated to the Class of 2016, while also making sure that all the planned events will still run smoothly.
This year’s senior week activities are not decided yet, but possibilities include trips to Rehoboth Beach, Atlantic City and Hershey Park.
“Last year’s senior class had a budget of $11,000, and they went way over budget, so this year we got passed down with debt,” Sun said. “In order to prevent that from happening this year, we decided we would plan all of our events ahead of time with a calendar. We have one event per month right now.”
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