This past week, Hopkins students celebrated Earth Week by hosting events such as a sustainability town hall and a fashion show called Planet Runway. Although many of these events were interactive and designed to be fun, they all called for participants to take action against climate change.
George Mitchell from Neighborhoods United, an organization of community associations in Baltimore, and Ray Kelly from Communities United, a group that helps working families obtain socioeconomic and environmental justice, gave a guest lecture during a class titled “Health and Wellbeing in Baltimore: A Public Health Perspective.” Mitchell and Kelly explored the role that students can play in their community.
The Committee on Student Elections (CSE) announced the results of the 2019-20 Student Government Association (SGA) Class Council elections on Friday. Voter turnout increased from 928 to 1508 votes, a 38.5 percent increase from last year.
Rise Bmore hosted a panel of women from A Revolutionary Summer, a summer reading and writing program for black teenage girls, on Friday. A Revolutionary Summer allows selected participants to study and write literature, seeking to present a more complete narrative about black women and girls in history than what many may learn at their high schools.
Student Government Association (SGA) members discussed University concerns regarding Spring Fair at their weekly meeting in Charles Commons on Tuesday. According to Director of Student Leadership and Involvement Calvin Smith, Jr., who serves as SGA’s advisor and spoke at the meeting, the University will start to strictly enforce a no open container policy on campus.
Co-authors, University of Pennsylvania history professor Brent Cebul, Hopkins associate professor of history Nathan Connolly, and Hopkins sociology professor Stuart Schrader, gave a talk about their book Shaped by the State at Red Emma’s Bookstore on Thursday April 18. Christy Thornton, Hopkins assistant professor of sociology, moderated the discussion, which centered on race and the prison system in relation to the two-party system in America.
“I would urge that faculty, students and the community speak out against whatever they want to speak out against and that they are not punished for their concerns. My whole book is about how you bring about change; this is what I thought about my whole life. You organize the people and the community,” she said.
On Thursday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan approved legislation that will allow Hopkins to establish a private police force. By signing the bill – titled the Community Safety and Strengthening Act – into law, Hogan has authorized Hopkins to be the first private university in Maryland to have its own police force.
The Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) held their penultimate event of the semester on Tuesday, featuring a panel on Law and Social Movements with speakers from a number of social justice and legal defense organizations.
Ronak D. Desai gave the Asian-Pacific Heritage Celebratory Keynote Address in the Glass Pavilion on April 15. His presentation focused on Asian American narratives and the challenges that the community faces. Desai, a lawyer and Hopkins alum, is an affiliate at the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University.
For over two weeks, members of the Hopkins and Baltimore community have participated in a sit-in at Garland Hall to protest the proposed private police force and the University’s contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Inform, Discuss, Enlighten, Acknowledge, Learn (IDEAL) JHU hosted a discussion on the role of local news and journalism in Baltimore on Wednesday, April 18. The discussion was moderated by Political Science Professor Emeritus and Academy Professor Matthew Crenson. The event featured Doug Donovan, an investigative reporter at the Baltimore Sun, and Ron Cassie, a senior editor at Baltimore Magazine.
Hopkins and Baltimore community members met for a third rally to protest the Hopkins private police force, University contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and promote Justice for Tyrone West on Wednesday, April 17 in Wyman Park Dell. The rally was organized by members of Students Against Private Police (SAPP), Hopkins Coalition Against ICE (HCAI) and leaders of West Wednesdays, a weekly vigil held in honor of West, who died in 2013 while in police custody. Morgan State University police officers were investigated in conjunction with West’s death.
Wings, a student group aiming to improve menstrual health and hygiene, and Sexual Assault Resource Unit (SARU), a student group advocating for increased awareness of rape culture and sexual violence, hosted a panel titled “Health Justice, Policy and Equity” on Wednesday. The panelists discussed barriers to menstrual and sexual health equity and the policies surrounding those topics.
University President Ronald J. Daniels and Provost Sunil Kumar released the second progress report on the Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion on Friday. University officials drafted the Roadmap, a document outlining plans to make Hopkins more diverse, following the Black Student Union’s (BSU) 2015 protests and list of demands.
Mathangi Subramanian, an award-winning Indian American author, gave a presentation on her book, A People’s History of Heaven, at Red Emma’s Bookstore on Wednesday, April 17. This work, which revolves around five girls and their mothers who live in a small village in Bangalore, India, is her first piece of literary fiction.
Ava Pipitone, the executive director of the Baltimore Transgender Alliance, discussed how gender relates to all aspects of life — including race and class — at an event called Trans Issues are not Trans Issues. The Impact Hub hosted the event, which took place on Tuesday.
Carma Hinton, professor of Art History at George Mason University, discussed the process of creating The Gate of Heavenly Peace, a documentary on the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests. Hinton, co-directed the film with her husband and it was released in 1995. The Program in East Asian Studies hosted Monday’s event.
Student Government Association (SGA) members discussed a new civic innovation grant and fund at their weekly meeting in Charles Commons on Tuesday. Executive President AJ Tsang pledged to donate funding to create the grant, which he intends to promote and sustain student activism on campus.
