The Jewish Students Association of Peabody (JSAP) held an event titled “Confronting Antisemitism: Holocaust Education” on March 10. At the event, Northwestern University senior Charlotte Masters spoke about being the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Last week, some Hopkins undergraduates began volunteering at M&T Bank Stadium, one of three mass vaccination sites in Baltimore, to offer non-clinical support services through the Vaccine Volunteer Project.
The Student Government Association discussed mid-semester course evaluations and guidelines for the Student Activities Commission at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, March 9.
Mayor Brandon Scott announced that Baltimore City’s existing COVID-19 restrictions will remain in place, despite Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s plans to begin reopening the state. Scott’s executive order went into effect at 6 a.m. on March 12, seven hours before Hogan’s did.
As part of the second phase of its reopening plan, Hopkins opened several on-campus spaces to be used for small in-person gatherings and study spaces in early February. Despite initial delays due to a COVID-19 spike and snowstorms, the Milton S. Eisenhower (MSE) Library, Brody Learning Center, Hutzler Reading Room (HUT), large tent in the Freshman Quad and smaller temporary outdoor structures around campus have opened with limited hours.
Senior Nihaal Rahman was one of 18 students to be named a Luce Scholar last month. Founded in 1974, the prestigious scholarship is awarded annually by the Henry Luce Foundation to provide students with professional training to elevate their understanding of Asia. Each scholar is assigned to work with an organization somewhere in Asia based on their interests. This year’s program will last from August 2021 to July 2022.
In January, the University’s Inheritance Baltimore project received a $4.4 million grant from the Just Futures Initiative of the Mellon Foundation. The initiative was created to tackle social equity issues in light of the racial injustice protests that took place in 2020.
Following a rise in xenophobia against Asian Americans at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a recent string of high-profile attacks in the past few months that raised greater awareness of violence against the Asian American community.
Due to this semester’s hybrid model, students are able to take classes either remotely or in-person. While many undergraduates chose to return to campus, those who did not have faced many challenges. Students living away from the East Coast, for example, have had to tackle two disparate time zones on top of the difficulties of online learning.
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) hosted Amy Goodman on March 4 to discuss her ongoing work as an investigative journalist and host of Democracy Now!, an independent news program focused on social activism, critiquing corporate influence and analyzing American foreign policy.
The University’s limit on undergraduate outdoor gatherings was increased from five to 10 people on March 4. Indoor gatherings are still limited to a maximum of five people.
The Judiciary Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates held a session on Feb. 23 to discuss House Bill 336 (HB0336) and House Bill 1284 (HB1284). Both bills, if passed, will repeal past laws related to the establishment and maintenance of the Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD). HB0336 would also prohibit all private universities in Maryland from establishing their own police forces.
The Hopkins Black Student Union (BSU) and the Black Student Athlete Association hosted a panel discussion on Feb. 26 about students’ role in transformative justice both on and off campus.
This semester, University housing reopened for freshmen and sophomores for the first time since students were sent home at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the hybrid spring semester, Hopkins has established isolation and quarantine housing for students who test positive for COVID-19 or come into close contact with someone who tested positive. There are currently 343 rooms reserved for this purpose at AMR III, the McCoy Hall, the Inn at the Colonnade and an additional Hopkins-owned property.
The Student Government Association (SGA) unanimously passed a contact tracing resolution and discussed University programming for the hybrid semester during its weekly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) hosted Radhya Al-Mutawakel on Feb. 24 to discuss her ongoing work against the Yemeni Crisis. Al-Mutawakel was the first speaker of the 2021 FAS, themed “Where Do We Go From Here?” The event was moderated by FAS Co-President Ryan Ebrahimy and FAS Co-Director Margaret Hanson.
For years, students have called on the University to improve mental health resources at Hopkins. In light of the pandemic, for some, it has been a year of renewed struggles. For others, the pandemic has created entirely new mental health issues.
The Student Government Association (SGA) discussed the Committee to Establish Principles on Naming’s ongoing efforts to rename Hopkins buildings, scholarships and programs tied to racism or inequality at its weekly meeting on Feb. 16.
“The main message from me to the students is: You’re in a community that cares for each other. I hope everybody is conscious of the community. This is only one year where you have to be in your home all the time.”
