From October 24th to 27th, OUSA hosted our fall General Assembly (GA) at Brock University! Like clockwork, we host this conference twice a year but this round was particularly special because it was our 60th GA in the history of the organization. That’s 60 times that students have come together, dissected policy, offered feedback, and engaged in critical discussion to approve OUSA’s policy papers.
To commemorate this milestone, OUSA had a couple of socials for delegates to partake and enjoy; but first and foremost, they were tasked with reviewing the three following papers:
- Student Financial Aid,
- Environmental Sustainability, and
- Responding to the Blue Ribbon Panel Report (a new addition to our library!)
The conference opened up with our Indigenization Strategy Intern, Sophia Carnovale, giving a Thanksgiving Address in Mohawk, her traditional language. Afterwards, we delved into the breakout sessions where delegates rotated through rooms, over two days, to provide feedback on the policy papers. Then authors integrated these comments and engaged in rewrite sessions, highlighting the student-centred operations of OUSA’s work. On that note, we also had three presentations from delegates who highlighted student-led initiatives on their campus related to the topics of the policy papers we were reviewing. It was fascinating insight into cross-provincial campus projects, and offered a chance for best practice sharing among student leaders.
At the end of each day of breakouts, delegates got to have some fun through a couple of socials to celebrate the big 6-0. The first of these was a karaoke night (if you’ve been following these recaps for a while or have been an attendee of these GAs, you’ll know that OUSA loves a good karaoke session), where tunes like “On the Floor” and “HOT TO GO!” were among the songs belted. The next day, we asked delegates to dress a little fancier for our semi-formal, complete with “60 GA” balloons and a slideshow displaying photos from previous conferences. It was so wholesome to take a look back throughout the years and reflect on all the occasions where students have joined to discuss post-secondary policy. The BUSU team also took us through a debate tournament where the delegates split up into teams to discuss several heated topics like who would win in a fight between a horse-sized duck and and a duck-sized horse, as well as which was more of a salad between potato salad, pasta salad, and fruit salad (the answer is pasta salad).
So, after a sociable couple of nights, General Assembly got right back into the policy swing of things on the last day at Plenary. We had the privilege of being chaired by Christopher Yendt, 11-time delegate (now 12-time) at GA, likely the highest for someone who has never been on Steering Committee or worked at Home Office. Final amendments to the papers were critically discussed and democratically voted on. The conference ended on a successful and sweet note with all three policy papers passing – a massive congratulations to all our student authors! To end off Plenary, we awarded certificates to delegates who have attended five or more GAs, a wonderful tradition that we’ve resumed since returning in-person.
After many goodbyes, hugs, and pictures, everyone headed their separate ways. While these weekends can be exhausting and stressful, it is also incredibly rewarding and reassuring that the work students do at GA matters.
A massive thank you goes out to Carleigh, Kayleigh, Anusha, and Shanaya at BUSU, and OUSA’s Manager of Ops and Comms, Tiffany, for their help planning and organizing the conference! We’re already looking forward to doing this all over again next year in March at Waterloo <3
