Today is my last day working for the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, OUSA. It’s funny, when I started here I knew the name and a bit of what was done here, but really had no idea the breadth and depth of issues that were dealt with on a daily basis. More importantly (in my opinion), I wasn’t prepared for the passion and dedication student leaders and staff had for making a real difference in the lives of all of Ontario’s undergraduate students. For the past 19 months I have had the privilege of working in this environment every day, and let me tell you, it’s been fantastic.
As I listen to 80s power ballads (via The Cult), I consider all of the hard work I’ve seen over the past couple of years. Shortly after I began statistics Canada released data which showed that Ontario students would soon pay the highest tuition in the country. Our organization moved fully into external relations mode, advocating loudly for the continued accessibility and affordability of the system. In interview after interview, our then President, Trevor Mayoh, reminded reports and the provincial government that the future prosperity of Ontario and Canada relied on making post-secondary education more accessible, and tuition rises of 5% a year were not going to do that.
This was just one of the many issues we tackled in my first six months on the job, and with each one, I became more and more impressed with the way OUSA did business.
And then the recession hit…
Suddenly, the whole sector, or really the whole world, went into damage control mode. But this didn’t stop us from advocating strongly for the issues students face every day like inadequate student assistance, lagging student services, or an ever deteriorating student experience. This year, under the leadership of Dan Moulton and a new Executive Director Alexi White, we redoubled our efforts and swung into high gear. We produced a 40 page document outlining our vision for the future of post-secondary education in Ontario. We then produced an important piece outlining the multitude of ways that higher education stimulates and supports our economy. We took every meeting we could get, seeing over 60 Mpp’s during our annual lobby conference not to mention a host of deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers.
iTunes just kicked into “Love Removal Machine” and it seems an apt place to end. Let me say to all the OUSA members out there, if you ever wonder how hard your steering committee and home office work for you, just ask me. If you ever wonder what motivates your student leaders, I can easily say, without a doubt, that they fight only to make Ontario’s PSE system and your individual campus better for all students.
It has been my pleasure to serve 140,000 students in their endeavour to create a more accessible, affordable, accountable, high quality post-secondary education system. While it is time for me to move on, I leave OUSA with a hundred wonderful memories and a huge amount of hard work under my belt.
All that is left is to say….
Thank you.
Paul Bien
Former Director of Research and Policy Analysis