SGA debates mental health, real food

The Student Government Association (SGA) had its first meeting of the semester Sunday night to make-up for the time missed from the snow day. SGA also met on Tuesday, where John Hughes, president of Hopkins’ Active Minds chapter, presented a proposal for an upcoming event.

Active Minds is a mental health advocacy organization on campus, with a goal to spread awareness and create change on university campuses around the country in regards to student suicide.

The event that Hughes brought to the SGA is titled Send Silence Packing, a campus-wide event that brings 1,100 backpacks to campus to represent the 1,100 college students around the country who lose their life each year to suicide. The exhibition travels from region to region annually and has chosen the Maryland region this year, reaching out to Hopkins as its first potential host.

The exhibition tries to show students considering suicide that there is an active conversation on mental health and potential aids and solutions on campus. Students at other universities have displayed gratitude in the past.

According to Hughes, the backpacks would be laid out on a public place.

“I thought the Beach would be great in this case, since that’s where most Hopkins students go daily,” Hughes said.

Local chapter members would operate the display, creating a conversation about suicide prevention. The display would also include signs and plaques depicting stories of survivors and statistics of suicide among students.

Mental health is currently being addressed by the administration, as well as students and organizations on campus. A couple goals of the event are to continue the conversation about mental health and to increase staffing at the Counseling Center.

The SGA opened a discussion to decide on whether to contribute to the funds of the exhibition. Freshman Class Senator Jennifer Baron asked about advertising. Hughes explained that the funding for advertising would come from the surplus of organizational dues. Members of the Hopkins Active Minds chapter do not pay individual dues, however, national dues are collected through chapter fundraising. The SGA would help spread publicity for the event.

Another question brought up during discussion was how to keep the conversation on mental health and suicide going, even after the event. Hughes explained that the event’s coordinators and staff will bring a manual and give guidance on how to continue to support mental health on campus following the exhibition.

SGA will discuss and determine if they will provide funding.

Another issue discussed was the passing of a bill requesting $500 of funding for the Real Food Hopkins Summit. Real Food Hopkins is a student-run chapter committed to bringing ‘real’ food, grown locally and sustainably, to campus.

According to SGA Executive President Jack Bartholet, this event needs to be funded through the SGA rather than Student Activities Commission, since it is a school-wide event. The summit brings together students from various universities to Hopkins to discuss and promote involvement in the Real Food commitment.

University President Ronald J. Daniels has signed a commitment with Real Food Hopkins.

“We want to articulate our success to the other schools,” said the representative from Real Foods at the meeting.

This event will be opened up to the public once the date is arranged and funding is acquired. A motion was made to pass the bill and an agreement was reached by the senators to approve it as well.

At Sunday’s meeting, SGA discussed and conditionally passed bills by the members of the senate and the executive board.

One to pass was the “Bill to Conditionally Approve Multiple New Student Organizations,” in order to interview everyone and give authority to the Committee on Student Organizations to approve them after an interview process. This would give the committee final say on any new student organizations.

A resolution was brought up to create the Baltimore College Council composed of Baltimore college student governments of Towson College and Loyola University. Interest so far has been shown by both Towson and Loyola.

Correction: The article previously stated that members of the Hopkins Active Minds chapter pay individual dues. However, the chapter pays organizational dues collected through fundraising and individual members do not pay dues.