According to its constitution, the Student Government Association (SGA) was founded upon “the importance of strengthening student unity, representing student interests and providing a forum for the exchange of ideas.” Unfortunately, we’re not sure these lofty ideals are being met.
In the most recent step toward the implementation of a private police force, Hopkins Public Safety hosted a town hall at Shriver Hall last Thursday. The event was quickly interrupted by protesters, which included Hopkins students and Baltimore community members.
Welcome to Week Four of the semester — classes are underway, midterms are right around the corner and life just got a whole lot busier. While high grades are a top priority for any student, especially here at Hopkins, we also want to emphasize the importance of maintaining your mental health and well-being.
The recently released 2022-2023 U.S. News & World Report college rankings place Hopkins at seventh among national universities — a jump from last year’s ninth. The annual rankings always spark conversation around campus. Over the last decade, Hopkins has gradually climbed to the top 10 and is continuing to rise through the ranks.
Every new school year brings change: different professors, different classmates, maybe even a different go-to order at Brody Cafe. But some of the recent changes on campus have us scratching our heads, wondering how and why the University has decided to alter key policies.
This fall marks the University’s first fully in-person semester in three years. Along with this change comes the revival of classic college traditions and the process of adjusting to a repopulated campus. It’s both an exciting and scary time for all of us, even the ones who have been at Hopkins for a few years now.
Congratulations – we’ve made it through another year of college during a pandemic. This is no small feat, and being a student as the world tries to keep it together is an emotional rollercoaster.
A few weeks ago, Amazon and Hopkins revealed the JHU + Amazon Initiative for Interactive AI (AI2AI), a research-based collaboration to further advance artificial intelligence (AI) research in areas such as machine learning, computer vision and speech processing.
It finally feels like spring is here: The weather is warm, the end of classes is near and students are getting ready for Spring Fair. While there is much to celebrate, we also acknowledge that Hopkins has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases following spring break and the emergence of a highly contagious Omicron subvariant.
Three years ago, The News-Letter conducted an internal review of our staff’s demographics to determine the extent of our representation of the student body. We came away with mixed results and a firm resolve to do better moving forward.
Amid last year’s virtual classes, the 2021 Student Government Association (SGA) election showed a 66% decrease in voter turnout compared to the year prior. While this is understandable given that we were virtual, only 20.3% of students — compared to last year’s 12% — participated in the recent SGA election even now that we’re back on campus.
Once again, all but one position of the Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Board elections are uncontested. In past years, we’ve noted that those appointed in uncontested elections often lack accountability and encouragement to undertake new initiatives. Some of last year’s uncontested candidates are running in this year’s elections.
As a result of the war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine sparked by the Russian Federation’s military invasion of the country, over two million citizens have been displaced and tens of thousands of Ukranians are facing a lack of food, water and electricity.
It’s now March, which means it’s been just about two years since the COVID-19 pandemic permanently impacted our lives. Around this time in 2020, students were sent home from campus without a clue about when we’d ever return as fear, lockdowns and uncertainty swept across the country.
Hopkins recently released the results of its Early Decision II cycle to the high school seniors who eagerly applied. We want to extend our warmest congratulations to our new Blue Jays, the Class of 2026!
Last Friday, Blue Jays walked out of their morning classes to a 60-degree day, ready to relax and recharge in the sunshine. Alas, the weather was short-lived: Dreams of lounging on the Beach all weekend quickly came to an end as another round of snow brought us back to reality.
Students have long criticized the University’s Office of Institutional Equity (OIE). Tasked with fostering an environment free from harassment and discrimination, OIE should be a useful and effective resource for the Hopkins community. Instead, it is underfunded, understaffed and unproductive.
February is Black History Month — as students, we should take this time to celebrate the achievements and heritage of Black people at Hopkins and beyond. As residents of Baltimore, we can support local Black-owned businesses and learn about Black history and culture in the city.
Hopkins hasn’t experienced a “normal” semester since fall 2019, and we return this spring with an all-too-familiar sense of uncertainty. Once again, we spent a break sorting through seemingly contradictory messaging from administrators which often brought more confusion than peace of mind. For example, although masking and testing requirements have been increased, Hodson 110 and Gilman 50 are packed with students returning for spring classes.
We have come to the end of another semester at Hopkins. Reflecting on the past three months, we must ask ourselves: Has the University eased our transition to a “new normal?”
