February 12, 2024
Blog
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Presidential Update Holiday Edition 2022
Hi everyone!
I'll be honest, it’s been a wild few weeks here at OUSA!
From onboarding our new Research and Policy Analyst Octavia and returning to our first in-person General Assembly since 2019, to saying goodbye to long-time and beloved Executive Director Eddy Avila and braving the first snowfall of the season in Toronto at our annual Student Advocacy Conference at Queen’s Park, we can't seem to catch a break — and am I looking forward to one!
So, to kick off our December, I’m writing to you with a special, holiday edition of our presidential updates to take a moment and appreciate all the hard work we’ve done to imagine and advocate for a better post-secondary education system in Ontario.
Recapping OUSA's 56th General Assembly... In-Person!
Twice a year, student leaders and delegates join OUSA in a weekend-long conference (known as General Assembly aka GA) that aims to discuss, refine, debate, and approve our policy papers on a variety of post-secondary issues. Over the past 2 years, OUSA has held 5 GAs online and while the discussions were just as riveting virtually, we were itching to get back in-person. Well, over this past Hallo-weekend, OUSA finally made the long-awaited return to an in-person GA, hosted by our friends at the Students’ General Association (SGA) at Laurentian University, in the beautiful city of Sudbury!
Believe in Your Student Voice - Eddy’s Farewell Blog
Today is my last day working as the Executive Director at the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance or OUSA for short - a clarification that has become a permanent addition to my introduction after 4 years of working for this amazing organization. I have a lot of thoughts, memories, and thanks I want to share, but I’ll try to keep it (somewhat) brief.
I want to take this opportunity to highlight two messages:
- Student voices are important & should be the guiding force behind all student advocacy
- @ students - You can do this. Your voice should be taken seriously and you are well-positioned to speak on student issues.
Hidden Fees, Assignments, and the Planned Destruction of Affordable Textbooks
There’s a special question that university students ask at the start of each semester. A question whose answer, if you’re lucky, will be a resounding “no”:
“Is the textbook really required?”
Textbook publishers have worked hard to make sure the answer is always a “yes.” Digital Learning Resources (DLRs) are here, and they bring unaffordable textbooks, inaccessible methods of evaluation, and an inherently inequitable learning environment along with them. How did we get here, what is a DLR, and what can be done to address their impact on post-secondary education?
Introducing Octavia Andrade-Dixon, OUSA's New Research and Policy Analyst
Ello!
My name is Octavia, and I am very excited to join OUSA’s team as a Research and Policy Analyst!
Presidential Update October 2022
Hellooo October! Hope everyone’s first month back to school has been absolutely swell! It’s an eventful time of year, and OUSA’s certainly getting into the thick of things.
Consent Awareness Week: OUSA's Fall 2022 Campaign Against Sex and Gender-Based Violence
Have you heard about Consent Awareness Week?
(Content warning: sex and gender-based violence)
View online with e-reader here
Presidential Update September 2022
September = welcome back to campus! I hope you all had fantastic summers and are well-rested as we dive into the school year.
In Case You Missed It: OUSA Drops “RGB: Issues in Ontario’s PSE,” A Photo Series
Happy Friday, everyone!
In case you missed it, let’s catch you up! Just last week, Vivian Chiem, our Communications and Advocacy Intern launched her capstone project, RGB: Issues in Ontario’s Post Secondary Education! RGB is a colour-coded photo series that aims to bring attention to ongoing issues that university students face in Ontario in the areas of sexual and gender based violence, affordability and mental health. The project draws from OUSA’s student survey, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Survey (OUSS), as well as OUSA’s own policy library.