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The Communiqué
OUSA's May Update |
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Meaghan Coker | OUSA President
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With the 2010-2011 school year coming to an end and students transitioning into their summer, OUSA will also enter into a period of transition. April and May mark my last months as President and this will be my last message for the communiqué. I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to OUSA in the past year and made it such a success!
This year OUSA has invested unbelievable energy into boosting our research analysis and government relations. Over the past year, OUSA has produced government submission after government submission including the Ontario Online Institute, Going Global and Breaking Barriers. This hard work and thoughtful analysis has translated into an incredibly successful year by majorly contributing to the dialogue within the post-secondary education sector in Ontario.
Some of this year's most notable efforts include the value we have placed on working cohesively within the higher education sector. Over the past year, OUSA has aimed to reach out to new partners within the sector and strengthen existing relationships in order to offer more educated recommendations.
This year we have seen the Ontario government prioritize increasing access to our universities and colleges, with the announcement of fully funding 60,000 new spaces over the next five years. In the future, OUSA hopes to build upon our past efforts to contribute to the discussion of enhancing the accessibility for underrepresented students and groups in our Province.
OUSA's accomplishments this year must be credited to the dynamic team of leaders at OUSA in the 2010-2011 academic year. Our Steering Committee, Home Office staff, and all of our partners and students contributed a great deal of energy and leadership to the Alliance; our successes are a testament to their commitment.
To my fellow members and Vice-Presidents on the Steering Committee, thank you for your unbounded dedication to OUSA and the students of Ontario. The time and effort spent on policy development and your thoughtful direction of our organization was inspiring. It has been a pleasure to serve with you as advocates and leaders for the students we represent.
To the talented Home Office staff, your unwavering commitment to the organization and mandate of OUSA has set an unbelievable standard. The excellent quality of work that you all do every day drives the success of our policy and research, communications and government relations and greatly contributes to the strength of the Alliance.
Special thanks and best wishes to Alexi White as he moves onto new horizons after serving as Executive Director for two years. Thank you so much to the rest of Home Office and best wishes to everyone in the coming year.
To our partners in government and throughout the sector, thank you for your unrelenting commitment to building a stronger system for Ontario. Your dedication to this goal does not go unnoticed by the students this system serves.
In closing, I want to express my sincere appreciation to all the student leaders of OUSA. Your devotion to best representing your students will continue to effect positive change within our system long after this year. It has been an honour and privilege to serve as your President this past year and together we have done our part to ensure the strength of this Alliance into the years ahead. Undoubtedly, OUSA will continue to think critically, plan strategically, and develop meaningful solutions to strive for a brighter future for higher education in Ontario and offer a system that our student and citizens deserve.
-Meaghan Coker
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| Students Vote! | |
There has been one remarkable phenomenon that has caught our eye this federal election campaign, that being the incredible energy and attention given to this election by youth across the country.
As a student leader and someone who falls into the defined category of 'youth', I have watched in amazement as students from east to west (from UPEI in Charlottetown to UBC in Vancouver) have taken interest in commenting on the parties, the platforms, and the leaders but more impressively shown initiative in driving their friends and colleagues to get out the vote.
This movement was unpredictable, the uptake of the message was overwhelming, and the demonstration of understanding the importance and value of our political system was inspiring.
From vote mobs, to videos, to debates, and online comment forums, students have recognized and promoted that we are stakeholders in the direction of our nation, and that to begin to exercise our decision making power, it can all start with a mark on a ballot.
This past weekend in London Ontario, over 1000 students and community members gathered in Victoria Park to celebrate that they were voting in this election. It was the last and largest "VOTE MOB" after countless during the campaign and even Rick Mercer who attended the event, (and famously 'ranted' to students to do the unexpected - meaning vote!), never anticipated a crowd with such excitement.
This election has certainly made me proud to have been part of something powerful and meaningful and has hopefully changed the perspective that younger generations do not care to engage in our political process.
-Meaghan Coker
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OUSA's 7th Annual Partners in Higher Education Dinner
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 | Partners Dinner
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Everything is better when we work together. Although simplistic, this statement rings true for many things in life, none more so than the post-secondary education sector. Partnership amongst stakeholders has always been important to OUSA. As a younger organization, now in our 16th year of official incorporation, the support of our partners has been indispensable to where OUSA is today. Collaboration has been a long standing principle of the stakeholders in our sector, which is evident in the way that we all continue to come together year after year, priority after priority, and issue after issue. For these reasons and more, OUSA is honoured every year to host a celebration of this partnership.
On March 31st, OUSA hosted the seventh Annual Partners in Higher Education Dinner. This year, the theme of our conversation was centred on the accessibility of post-secondary education in Ontario, a priority that OUSA and many others have invested considerable time and effort.
The programme for the evening included a keynote address from Dr. Ross Finnie, a professor at the University of Ottawa who offered an important perspective into research surrounding issues of access to higher education. Following Dr. Finnie, we were joined by a panel, including Joseph Berger from Higher Education Strategy Associates and formerly of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, Stacey Young from Pathways to Education Canada, Rick Miner with Colleges Ontario and former President of Seneca College, and James Bradshaw from the Globe and Mail. The panel brought together four distinct perspectives offering us all a more nuanced understanding of the approach to be taken in addressing the barriers to higher education that students face across Ontario. Lastly, we were also joined by the Honourable Bob Rae who offered his observations on the challenges of accessibility and the critical importance of investment in higher education in Ontario and Canada.
On behalf of OUSA I want to extend my sincere thanks to our thoughtful speakers, inspired students, loyal alumni, and dedicated partners from the post-secondary sector and our universities. Because of all of your interest and support, the Partners' Dinner continues to be an evening of celebration, thoughtful discussion and an appreciation for what brings us together - our common desire to build the most accessible and highest quality post- secondary system in the world.
-Meaghan Coker
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Alexi White | Outgoing Executive Director
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After a hectic March, things calmed down a bit in April. Our student leaders have begun to transition their successors, and the home office has been busy preparing for OUSA's annual Transition Conference in early May. Members of the 2011-12 Steering Committee are preparing to take the reigns of the organization at their first meeting of the new year on May 13,where they will elect a new OUSA President and VPs.
Meanwhile, OUSA continues to move forward on a number of fronts. We have continued to work with our partners at the College Student Alliance and Ontario Student Trustees Association to push the Ministry of Education to take a more active role in ensuring access to higher education for students from underrepresented groups, specifically advocating for changes to the guidance curriculum in our primary and secondary schools.
Preparations for the government's proposed Ontario Online Institute also hit their stride in April with the appointment of a special advisor to get the file moving. OUSA has met multiple times with this advisor and we are confident that the recommendations he has submitted to the Minister fit closely with OUSA's vision.
In other news, some new faces have been added to the home office team. Chris Martin, a graduate of McMaster University, has been hired to replace Sam as Director of Research beginning May 1. Chris has already done great things for OUSA, first as a member of Steering Committee and then as a summer researcher. I know the best is yet to come. Congratulations Chris! As well, two summer interns will be joining the team for the next four months: Chris Rudnicki, fresh off a year as VP University Affairs for the Alma Mater Society at Queen's, and Kristen Holman, a UWO grad now attending NYU.
This is my last communiqué as OUSA Executive Director, and I want to offer special thanks to my fellow home office staff. So much of what we have accomplished in the past two years is because of the dedication and teamwork of this small group of individuals. I am proud to have worked and learned with them. Best of luck in the future!-Alexi White |
Sam Andrey | Incoming Executive Director
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April has been a month of transition here in the OUSA office, as I move into my new role as Executive Director. We have now hired my replacement Chris Martin, who I am confident will do a tremendous job in the Director of Research role. We have also selected our two summer interns, who will no doubt add some new energy to the office this summer.
Aside from interviews and transition meetings, we've also managed to find some time to continue our other work. Meaghan and I attended the Academica Summit where we participated in many interesting discussions on branding, enrolment management, differentiation and trends in higher education. Research for the upcoming tuition framework discussions also began, as has a comparison of the province's different student financial assistance systems.
Two different Private Members' Bills also were also front and centre this month. MPPs Yasir Naqvi and Rosario Marchese introduced Bill 184 (College and Student Associations Act) that would enshrine in law the right of student associations to collect and administer fees. It has been a recommendation of OUSA's dating back many years to have legislation that would affirm the ability of students to assess ancillary fees, so we were pleased to see this positive step forward. Mr. Marchese also introduced Bill 183, the Ombudsman Statute Law Amendment Act (Designated Public Bodies), which would extend the purview of the Ombudsman to include universities to ensure an extra level of accountability for our institutions.
The coming weeks will be busy as we say goodbye to our extremely talented leader Alexi White and welcome in a brand new crop of student leaders. I'm looking forward to meeting with the full new team and getting down to work!
-Sam Andrey
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Alvin Tedjo | Director of Communications
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 Spring is always a very exciting time at OUSA. A year's worth of hard work and dedication from students and staff culminate at the end of the year with the budget, our partners dinner, and the annual changing of the guard. This year, we've seen much more change than usual, as my dear friend Alexi White leaves to pursue even more higher education, we've had a domino effect of staff changes in the office, at the same time we're transitioning our new steering committee. It is certainly an exciting time at OUSA, where we can reflect on the past and pass on knowledge that will help us succeed in the future. Our newly elected steering committee is eager and to learn and tackle new challenges. Next week OUSA begins its Transition Conference in Toronto, where the new team will get a crash course in post-secondary education policy, government relations, media and stakeholder relations, and how OUSA works. I'd like to welcome everyone to the OUSA family, and say goodbye and thank you to our wonderful students who've worked so hard for the past 12 months, and to Alexi White, our fearless Executive Director who cares more about PSE policy than anyone else I know - you will be missed.
-Alvin Tedjo
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Chris Martin | Director of Research
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 Though I am only going into my third day at OUSA, I can already see that May is going to be a busy month. Thus far, much of my time has been spent getting myself acquainted with the tremendous progress OUSA has made over the past eight months, since I last worked here. I have been enormously impressed, as there truly is an absolute mountain of progress to get caught up on.
Of course, this summer's major research projects will be tremendous undertakings. Papers on system growth, accountability and tuition have all been requested by General assembly. With thinking on a new tuition framework underway and increased attention on system sustainability, work on these truly cannot begin soon enough. Thankfully our two summer interns Chris Rudnicki and Kristen Holmann, as well as Laura Pin will be around to help execute these projects.
So far, Chris has been hard at work updating OUSA's issue briefings as well as helping prepare a presentation for an upcoming COU conference on aboriginal education. Kristen will be joining us next week, completing our research team just in time for Transition Conference. We'll soon get down to the task of pulling together data for our upcoming policy papers. A comprehensive argument on tuition will need to take into account our new research on cost inflation and the financial pressures on institutions. System growth will need to address issues within the operating formula and Accountability will need to examine both our own Multi-Year-Accountability processes and the regimes used by other jurisdictions.
It's a tremendously exciting time to be working for OUSA, I can already tell.
-Chris Martin
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Laura Pin | Research Analyst
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During the month of April, I contributed to several projects in the OUSA research portfolio. I have been working on laying the groundwork for student consultation on OUSA's Aboriginal Student Policy, and had the opportunity to attend a year end lunch at Brock's Aboriginal student centre and speak with students about post-secondary issues.
Another large project I have been working on is a research paper on cost inflation at Ontario universities, to help source where universities spent the money they received through the years under the Province's Reaching Higher plan.
Finally, I also have been further investigating student health care provision and student mental health, as there has been talk of expanding the Family Health Team model to post-secondary campuses. I'm excited to continue work on these projects over the coming month, and also to welcome Chris, Chris and Kristen to the OUSA Home Office.
-Laura Pin |
Chris Rudnicki | Summer Intern
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 My name is Chris Rudnicki, and I'm excited to be joining OUSA's home office team as a research intern this summer. As a member of last year's Steering Committee, I helped shape a number of OUSA's research and advocacy priorities for the year; I am eager to carry forward this work with the OUSA research team. Specifically, I am keen to get working on consultation and advocacy regarding our recently passed Aboriginal students paper. Aboriginal youth continue to face extreme barriers in accessing post-secondary education in our province, and I believe that removing these barriers is one of the most urgent challenges facing the sector. I look forward to working with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students and other stakeholders in finding educated solutions for this challenge. -Chris Rudnicki
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Alvin Tedjo
Director of Communications & Public Relations
OUSA | Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance
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