On Tuesday, Sept. 8 the 114th Student Government Association (SGA) convened for their third weekly general body meeting (GBM) of the academic year, where they confirmed four members of the Committee on Student Elections (CSE) and considered changes to its attendance policy, funding and caucus-representation rules.
SGA Treasurer Amy Xu announced that the finance committee had been working on approving allocations and had approximately $200,000 remaining to distribute.
Black Caucus Senator Oluwanifemi Ajayi spoke about her work to increase campus visibility of Black culture. She identified multiple Black student organizations on campus and said she plans to meet with them and create a centralized platform intended to share information about Black student life at Hopkins.
Class Council Senator Kai Martin discussed several Student Service Committee projects. These included an effort to clarify meal swipe rules at Charles Street Market and a plan to meet with Hopkins Dining about the removal or exclusion of certain cultural food options. Furthermore, the committee is assigning members to serve as liaisons to University departments and planning a tabling event concerning data centers.
Senator Mamadou Thiam spoke about exploring how to make athletic trainers available to smaller club sports to help prevent injuries and give immediate on-site support when they occur.
SGA next confirmed four students to serve on CSE. The committee conducts candidate information sessions, establishes election timelines and oversees election procedures. The Senate confirmed Grace Yang, Sajiv Harikrishnan, Anahat Goraya and Jazlyn Sandhu.
Senators then discussed a proposed Accountability Act. The changes were intended to promote transparency in members' work and attendance. The proposal requires senators to remain listed in initiative reports regardless of whether or not they have an update, allowing the public to see which members are and are not actively reporting work. The act distinguishes absences from GBMs from absences at committee meetings. Members would be permitted three excused GBM absences per semester, as well as three excused absences for each committee on which they serve. The Senate voted to send the Accountability Act to the Internal Affairs Committee for further review.
SGA then considered the Fast-Forward Finance Bill on second reading. The measure allows funding requests below a designated cap to bypass first reading and proceed directly through to Finance Committee review and a second reading before the Senate. The proposal's expedited-funding ceiling was increased from $500 to $1,000. Members said many event-funding requests fall below $1,000, and some questioned whether the higher threshold would limit appropriate legislative scrutiny of a large amount of money.
The revised bill permits up to $250 in summer spending on SGA promotional materials. Senators said the provision could help SGA prepare banners and other materials before the academic year begins. The Senate also approved a separate funding bill for the Johns Hopkins University Muslim Association.
The package did not add proposed transfer-student and LGBTQIA+ caucus seats. Sponsors said those changes would need to follow a separate constitutional amendment process. The proposal vote fell short of the required three-fourths threshold, leading the Senate to table it until the next GBM.
During public input, a student announced plans to introduce legislation that would mandate SGA to release aggregate and more comprehensive statistics about how the organization distributes funding.
