Numerous sustainability-related initiatives were seen on campus this week in celebration of Earth Day. Community members shared their views on the University’s efforts to support sustainability and the improvements they would like to see implemented.
To advocate for environmental sustainability on campus, community members held many events in celebration of Earth Day on April 22.
The University enacted austerity measures in April 2020 in light of financial challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures continued until April 2021, despite the fiscal year ending in 2020 having a budget surplus of $75 million.
The Student Government Association (SGA) held its weekly general body meeting on April 18 to discuss SGA Committee reports and elections, spring 2023 bylaws updates and the 2023–2024 Rules Bill. This was the first meeting of the 111th senate.
The University announced Kehlani as the headliner for the 2023 Spring Fair Concert on April 19, which will be held in the Ralph S. O'Connor Center for Recreation and Well-Being on April 29. Within one hour of its release, 1,843 tickets were sold out.
Johns Hopkins, a wealthy Baltimore merchant and businessman, hoped to build a hospital that would “compare favorably with any other institution of like character in this country and Europe.”
Following the announcement of the suspension of in-person classes on March 10, 2020, the University announced that students were required to leave campus by March 15, 2020 due to increasing worries around the spread of COVID-19. The following fall semester, the University moved courses to an entirely virtual modality.
Katherine Budinger, a sophomore majoring in Writing Seminars and English, is currently conducting a research project connecting Dante Alighieri's narrative poem The Divine Comedy with tarot card meaning and symbolism. In an interview with The News-Letter, she discussed her interest in humanities research, working with the Sheridan Special Collections and the connections she found between Dante and astrology.
Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations (SCNO) provides free consulting services to nonprofits in Baltimore. Their services range from helping organizations with grant writing and web design to increasing social media engagement.
The administration sent a broadcast email releasing a draft of the University’s second strategic framework, Ten for One, on April 14. The framework outlines 10 goals that the University hopes to achieve by 2030. The goals focus on building an inclusive, University-wide community on-campus; promoting excellence in students, faculty and staff; continuing to lead in research endeavours with real world impacts; and contributing to neighboring Baltimore communities.
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) held its last panel of the semester on the topic of workers’ rights on April 13. The panel featured Chris Smalls, the president and founder of Amazon Labor Union, Roxie Herbekian from Unite Here and Anna Word from Teachers and Researchers United, the Hopkins graduate worker union. The event was moderated by Maximillian Alvarez from The Real News Network, and speakers shared their stories on organizing and unionizing in their respective industries.
Jason Zhang is a senior completing a BS/MSE in Chemical Biomolecular Engineering. In an interview with The News-Letter, Zhang discussed his research in chemistry and physics, where he grows gemstones in his lab, as well as his participation in the Mentoring Assistance Peer Program (MAPP).
TEDxJHU held its spring main event, "In Full Bloom," on April 8. Four speakers from the Baltimore region spoke at the event, including associate professor Andrew Cameron, plant enthusiast Liz Vayda, educator Kaelyn Chang and singer Almira Zaky. The AllNighters, an acapella group at the University, performed during intermission.
The Student Government Association (SGA) held its weekly general body meeting on April 11 to discuss funding for a Blue Jays and Poets Open Mic Night, the Fiji Islander Funding Bill, constitutional and bylaws amendments, the Container Funding Bill and the SGA Inauguration Funding Bill. The Financial Aid Office also gave a presentation to SGA.
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Institute’s University debate initiative co-hosted the debate on the Supreme Court featuring Neal Katyal and Jeffrey Rosen on April 6. This was the fifth event in the 2023 Foreign Affairs Symposium series “Paradigm Shift.”
Levering Hall is nestled between the Decker, Wyman and Keyser quads. In 1889, Eugene Levering, a successful Baltimore-born banker, philanthropist and trustee of the University, provided $20,000 for the establishment of a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) on the University’s old downtown campus. In a letter dated May 1 of that year, Levering expressed his wishes for the building.
The JHU Pep Band plays music at University sporting events, including football, field hockey and lacrosse games. The Pep Band has also played at a variety of nonathletic events, such as Alumni Weekend and Lighting of the Quads.
Redonda Miller attended the University as a medical student and became the first female president of Hopkins Hospital in 2016. In an interview with The News-Letter, she discussed her approach to leadership, how it informs the operations of the hospital and the insights she’s gained from her career.
The Student Government Association (SGA) held its weekly general body meeting on April 4 to discuss funding for an Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Fashion Show, SGA graduation stoles and containers for SGA. Additionally, JHU Dining presented a meal plan overview for the 2023–2024 academic year.
On April 4, various departments at the University hosted professor Chadwick Allen to discuss his new book Earthworks Rising: Mound Building in Native Literature and Arts. Allen is a Russell F. Stark University professor with academic specialization in trans-indigenous literary studies and postcolonial literatures. Allen, of Chickasaw ancestry, focused his talk on archaeological histories of mounds.
