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October 27, 2025 October 27, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

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COURTESY OF RUDY MALCOM After Real Food’s campaign, Dining will review its contracts with PepsiCo.

Dining implements changes in response to student groups’ demands

By DEREK MORITZ | November 14, 2019

This March, Real Food Hopkins, a student organization promoting food justice and sustainability, launched the Pour Out Pepsi campaign. According to Real Food Co-President Katie Smith, PepsiCo has a history of violating human rights, labor laws and sustainability regulations. The group aimed to convince Hopkins Dining to end its exclusivity contract with PepsiCo, which requires that 80 percent of all beverages sold on campus — not just soft drinks — are manufactured by PepsiCo.

COURTESY OF FELICIA PETTERWAY The FLI event on Tuesday prepared FLI students to use alumni networks.

FLI students discuss post-graduation success

By KATERINA FRYE | November 14, 2019

As part of its Food for Thought Dinner Series, the Hopkins First-Generation, Low-Income (FLI) Network hosted a talk called “Post-Graduation Realities from a FLI Perspective” on Thursday, Nov. 7. The Network is part of the University’s mission to help FLI students share their backgrounds and flourish. 

COURTESY OF RUDY MALCOM Several Hopkins students walked out of class to show their solidarity with DACA recipients.

Dreamers, allies march to protect DACA program

By RUDY MALCOM | November 14, 2019

Thousands of students across the nation walked out of their classrooms on Nov. 8, four days before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday over the legality of the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA has allowed nearly 800,000 individuals who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, also known as Dreamers, to apply for work permits and avoid deportation. 

Visiting professor discusses the monsters of the Bible

By VICTOR SUN | November 7, 2019

On Monday, Esther Hamori, an associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Union Theological Seminary in New York, presented the 2019 Samuel Iwry Lecture on "The Biblical God and His Entourage of Monsters" for the Department of Near Eastern Studies. 

COURTESY OF FELICIA PETTERWAY First-generation and limited-income students reflect on their experiences at Hopkins so far ahead of the FLI Network’s celebration of National First-Generation College Student Day on Friday, Nov. 8.

How is the University supporting FLI students?

By RUDY MALCOM | November 7, 2019

“Unfortunately, I cannot say that during my time at Hopkins I have felt supported as a [First-Generation, Limited-Income (FLI)] student by the University as a whole. Over time, the University has started to recognize the struggles that FLI students face, but it has been a slow process to correct these issues.”

COURTESY OF PAVA LAPERE The FastForward U Spark program is for early-stage student ventures.

FastForward U supports early stage student ventures

By AASHNA SUNDESHA | November 7, 2019

In September, FastForward U (FFU) selected 10 student groups for the Spark track of its accelerator program. In addition to funding, the program provides mentorship and programming for student entrepreneurs through weekly workshops held by local entrepreneurs. The Spark track is for groups which are in the early stages of their venture. 

COURTESY OF EUNICE NAMKOONG Ibram X. Kendi discussed how language plays a large role in antiracism.

Ibram X. Kendi speaks at Baltimore Book Festival

By EUNICE NAMKOONG | November 7, 2019

The Baltimore Book Festival, an annual celebration of literary work in Maryland, took place on Nov. 1-10. Baltimoreans lined up at Inner Harbor to attend talks, book signings, bookseller tents and readings by various authors on a plethora of topics: from social justice activism, science fiction and romanticism to children’s classics.

ERICMETRO/CC BY-SA 3.0 Zhang presented research on a plan for WWII-era Jewish resettlement in his home province in China.

Senior’s research sheds new light on Chinese plans for Jewish resettlement

By MICHAEL TRAUTMANN RODRIGUEZ | November 7, 2019

Sheng Zhang, a senior majoring in international studies, presented his research on the Chinese government’s attempt to create a settlement for Jewish refugees during World Word II — specifically the Yunnan Plan — and the factors that led to its failure on Tuesday. Zhang is the 2019 recipient of the John Koren Award for Holocaust Research and Education, which is granted annually to an undergraduate student researching the Holocaust. 

COURTESY OF JULIA CHOE Karen Fleming discussed the phenomenon of the leaky STEM pipeline.

Women Faculty Forum hosts event on gender equity

By JULIA CHOE | November 7, 2019

The Women Faculty Forum (WFF) at Homewood held Where We Stand, an event which included a series of presentations and small group discussions that explored the topics of gender equity and community, on Monday.

FILE PHOTO Student organization leaders reacted to changes in SLI group policy.

SLI initiative will allow groups to track finances

By RYAN AGHAMOHAMMADI | November 7, 2019

Recently, the Office of Student Leadership and Involvement (SLI) announced a new financial module through which all allocation of funds will now be handled. In an email to student organization leaders on Oct. 22, SLI detailed several other changes to existing policies, including an organizational audit, new purchase request procedures as well as new trainings for student organization leaders.

COURTESY OF JAKE LEFKOVITZ Baltimore Ceasefire 365 began in 2017 as a way to reduce gun violence.

Baltimore Ceasefire 365 hosts community tailgate to end gun homicide

By JAKE LEFKOVITZ | November 7, 2019

As part of a Baltimore Ceasefire 365 initiative, three local community organizers — Charlene Rock-Foster, Nadean Paige and Dwayne Richardson — held an event on Saturday in the Belair-Edison neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore called the “West Meets East Ceasefire Tailgate.” The tailgate, hosted on Cliftmont Ave., sought to connect community members with helpful resources and generate a sense of community that both West Side and East Side residents could share in, the organizers said. 

COURTESY OF MELISSA HYNDS SARU aims to raise awareness about sexual violence during Red Weeks.

SARU raises campus awareness about Red Weeks

By KAREN WANG | October 31, 2019

Last week, the Sexual Assault Resource Unit (SARU), a student advocacy group, began putting up signage around campus to recognize the Red Zone. This period is defined as the weeks between Orientation and Halloween (or Thanksgiving), during which sexual violence is most likely to occur. Campuses nationwide are reclaiming these weeks as a time for activism against sexual violence.

COURTESY OF CHRIS H. PARK Ross critiqued current American foreign policy, arguing against isolationism.

Former Ambassador Ross discusses Arab-Israeli peace

By CHRIS H. PARK | October 31, 2019

Former Ambassador Dennis Ross, an American diplomat who worked under five different presidential administrations, spoke about American foreign policy and the future of the Middle East in the Clipper Room of Shriver Hall on Wednesday. The event was sponsored by Hopkins Hillel, an organization for Jewish students on campus.

FILE PHOTO The Board will seek to hold the new private police force accountable.

Who will serve on JHPD Accountability Board?

By SABRINA ABRAMS | October 31, 2019

Daniel Ennis, the University’s senior vice president for finance and administration, and Robert Kasdin, Hopkins Medicine’s senior vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer, announced on Thursday the opening of the application period for the University’s Police Accountability Board in an email to the community.

FILE PHOTO The former Vice Provost of Institutional Equity left Hopkins last July.

University begins search to replace vice provost

By SOPHIA LIPKIN | October 31, 2019

The University announced that it has convened a search committee to select the next vice provost for institutional equity on Wednesday in an email to the community. This administrative position oversees the University’s discrimination and harassment resources, including disability services and sexual misconduct. 

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