Hey friends! Can you believe it’s July already?
June was an eventful month here at OUSA! Following the provincial election, we wrapped up our Get Out The Vote campaign; you can still check out our blog on youth voter apathy here and our FAQs here. In other news, we also had summer school sessions in preparation for our policy papers this year. We’re looking forward to kickstarting the policy cycle for the year – that includes consultations with students from all over Ontario! This year, we’ll be reviewing the following policy papers: Tuition, Teaching & Assessment, Student Entrepreneurship, Employment & Employability, Ancillary & Incidental Fees, Student Accessibility & Disability Inclusion, and Two Spirit & LGBTQ+ Students. Your voice and your elected representatives shape our policy papers at OUSA, and we can’t wait to engage with campuses across the province.
This month also marked the first time our Steering Committee met in person, at Strategic Planning Conference! We decided on our advocacy priorities for the year, which includes Gender-Based Violence Prevention & Response, Rural & Northern Students, Affordability, and Sector Sustainability. Based on OUSA’s policy paper library, we’ll be advocating for specific recommendations on these topics. Personally, one of the highlights of the conference was getting to bond with the team in person and learning more about everyone! (P.S. Steering Committee’s new favourite game is Anomia.) Check out our wrap-up post here, and follow along on our socials to stay connected!
As we look ahead to the rest of the summer, I’m excited to continue learning about the policy cycle! We’ve got consultations, focus groups, and think tanks slotted for July as we ramp up our preparation for the policy papers. If you’re a student looking to get involved with OUSA, be sure to reach out to your Steering Committee member! If you’re not sure who that is, take a look here to see the representative from your student association. There’s so many ways to engage with us. Who knows, you could be the next student author of an OUSA policy paper, or blog!
Until next time!
Jess