March 14, 2025
Blog
Interested in writing for OUSA? Contact Tiffany Li Wu, our Operations & Communications Coordinator.
Introducing Gabrielle Pinto, Advocacy and Communications Intern
Hi everyone! My name is Gabrielle Pinto (she/her) and I am so excited to be joining OUSA this summer as the Advocacy and Communications Intern! As someone interested in both policy and marketing/communications, I am excited to learn more about these fields.
Introducing Sophia Carnovale, Indigenous Policy Intern
Shé:kon! My name is Sophia Carnovale (she/her/they), and I’m thrilled to be back as OUSA’s Indigenous Policy Intern this summer!
I am both Italian and Mohawk Wolf Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River. This fall, I will enter my 4th and final year at Brock University to pursue a Bachelor’s of Public Health Honours with a Minor in Indigenous Studies.
April 2025 Presidential Update
Hello and Happy Spring!
I hope those of you who are students have been staying well through your exams, and the rest of you have been enjoying the warmer weather.
OUSA’s 18th Partners in Higher Education Dinner and 2025 Teaching Excellence Award Recipients
For the past 18 years, April has marked the Partners in Higher Education Dinner (PiHED) and as your humble host, we were delighted to be joined by so many guests this year. The event celebrated the hard work of our students, educators, sector partners, and elected officials in the higher education sector this year. We are so grateful to The Honourable Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security for providing opening remarks and to Iyobosa, Faith Ogunkoya, Manager of Black Student Success Centre at McMaster University for providing an insightful keynote. We also recognized Eddy Avila as our Honoured Alumni Award recipient and Sebastien Corrie as our Excellence in Student Advocacy Award recipient, given in honour of Stephanie Ye-Mowe.
March 2025 Presidential Update
Happy Spring!!! I know the weather hasn’t been showing it, at least not everyday, but I hope you’re all enjoying the longer days and warmer weather where we can find it.
We started off March with our Spring General Assembly!! A huge thank you to the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association for hosting us and keeping us very well fed all weekend. You can read more about our guest speakers and everything else we got up to here. After 4 productive days, we passed two new policy stances:
- A Comprehensive Access Strategy
- Tech-enabled Learning
Good food, good policy: a recap of the 61st General Assembly
From March 6th to 9th, OUSA hosted our spring General Assembly (GA) at University of Waterloo! Spring GA was bittersweet for many of our Steering Committee members as it marked the last time they led their delegation.
65 students came together, dissected policy, offered feedback, and engaged in critical discussion to approve two of the following OUSA’s policy papers.
- A Comprehensive Access Strategy
- Tech-enabled Learning
Presidential Update January and February 2025
Hi all,
Long time no chat, and I really mean it this time! Happy new year, new semester, and happy Black History Month!
OUSA’s had a busy start, and we’ve got an even busier couple weeks ahead of us. We started the year by submitting our recommendations for this budget cycle, highlighting pressing student concerns related to sector sustainability, student financial aid, mental health, and gender-based and sexual violence.
Your Existence is Political.
I wish I could say that the title of this blog is dramatic, but quite frankly, it’s not.
We all occupy intersecting identities and carry a variety of lived experiences. Consequently, we rely on the provincial government to support our needs in these identities. For example, if you are a driver, you’re likely visiting Service Ontario every once in a while. If you or a loved one has made a hospital visit to address a medical concern, then you’ve interacted with Ontario’s healthcare system. If you’re a student, you might be an OSAP recipient. If you have a disability, you could be on ODSP. If you’re both an OSAP and ODSP recipient, then your levels of funding are affected by one another.
Navigating the Student Housing Crisis: A Call for Affordable Solutions
Access to safe, affordable housing is a core necessity for student success, yet in communities across Ontario, this basic need remains out of reach for far too many. Whether in large urban centres like Toronto, mid-sized cities like Kingston, or smaller college towns, students face similar challenges: limited housing options, rising rents, and insufficient oversight to ensure safe and habitable conditions. While some students have the financial cushion to weather these pressures—benefiting from family support or personal savings—far too many others struggle to keep up, working extra hours or taking on larger debt loads just to secure a roof over their heads.
What exactly does the Ontario government do for your University education?
Happy election season Ontario! On February 27th, voters across the province are heading to the polls to choose who they want to represent their needs at Queen’s Park. Who makes up a large part of the composition of these voters? You - students!