The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) held its 2011 Spring General Assembly (GA) at Queen’s University on the weekend of March 11-13. The assembly was meant as an opportunity to discuss and pass new policy papers, review government submissions made by home office staff since the last assembly met in the fall, and discuss future policy papers to discuss at the next assembly. The Federation of Students, on behalf of undergraduate students, sent a delegation of students from across all faculties to represent Waterloo students’ interests.
OUSA is a provincial post-secondary education lobbying organization that represents the interests of over 140,000 professional and undergraduate students at seven institutions across Ontario, including Waterloo, Laurier, Windsor, Brock, McMaster, Western, and Queen’s. Their founding vision is for an accessible, affordable, accountable and quality undergraduate education in Ontario.
At this GA, we were able to welcome Minister John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, and MPP for Kitchener-Centre to speak. He touched on the investment that the Liberal Government has made since 2005 as part of the Reaching Higher Plan, which saw over $2.2 billion invested in post-secondary education to the end of 2010. While the minister did provide insight into what the current Liberal government has done over the past seven years, he did not release any details about what to expect in their upcoming platform for this October’s election. With the current tuition framework policy expiring at the end of the next academic year, it’s imperative that students urge their provincial representatives to develop an affordable solution for the future.
The main goal of the weekend, however, was to discuss and debate three new or revised policy papers that would set forth the official policy of the organization. Policy papers guide the lobbying efforts that will be made when OUSA meets with provincial officials and generate government submissions on issues pertaining to students. The current policy framework within OUSA sees on-the-book policies expire three years after approval in order to ensure that they remain relevant and up-to-date. At this assembly, one new, one updated, and one soon-to-expire paper were submitted to the assembly.
Ancillary Fees was the soon-to-expire paper that was up for renewal. Ancillary Fees are the additional expenses that students are required to pay on top of their tuition expenses. Here at UW, this would include everything from the FedS and EngSoc fees, to the Student Services Fee, to costs associated with taking class, like textbooks, lab equipment and field trips. Universities are relying more and more on these fees to support operating expenditures, in an effort to by-pass tuition increases, which most are already increasing by the maximum rate already. Though strictly regulated by the province, most students and professors currently do not know which types of fees violate existing regulations.
OUSA’s current policy paper puts emphasis on ensuring that universities are educating faculty and students on what an acceptable fee is. With the rise of technology and the internet, the “gray” area between acceptable and unacceptable is growing and becoming very murky. Two years ago, some courses within science here at UW were requiring students to purchase a single-term membership to an online site where they would take tests. This is in complete violation of ancillary fee requirements as students should not be paying extra fees for testing, something that should be part of core tuition fees. Similarly, having to purchase chemicals to complete labs is often within this gray area too. On the flip side, having to purchase goggles and lab coats are acceptable as students can transfer these between courses, or sell them afterward.
The policy of the fees makes a number of recommendations for making sure these fees are fair to students. Ensuring student representation on their implementation and subsequent increases, that costs don’t just get transferred immediately into core tuition fees, and increased provincial transfers to deter the use of ancillary fees are all core recommendations contained within the policy. The overall policy was well written and easy for members to support.
Student Success was the next paper up for debate. The paper is built around three pillars: In-class Learning, Broader Learning Environment and Student Support. In-class learning focuses on encouraging new pedagogies and technologies into lectures, reconsider if passive techniques are always the best option, and ensuring new TAs and instructors receive some form of training as to how to go about teaching. Broader Learning Environment encompasses extra-curricular and out-of-classroom learning experiences, while Student Support works towards ensuring universities are putting in the proper support systems for students, whether they be first and fourth year transition, introducing warning signs for first year students who struggle or reducing wait times for existing core services like health care and counseling. This paper passed without any major contention.
Finally, the Aboriginal Students policy focused on strategies for early outreach and educational support for aboriginal students. Aboriginal students are among the most underrepresented groups in Ontario’s post-secondary sector, along with students from low-income families, rural areas, and Northern Ontario. This paper was the most contentious due to the fact that no delegate at the general assembly was aboriginal.
A Waterloo delegate put forth a motion to conditionally approve the policy with the requirement that all member schools take it back to their on-campus Aboriginal Centre for review and feedback, and be brought back at Fall General Assembly to receive full consent. While the overall policy seemed to be comprehensive and workable, the extra support from this type of on-campus resource was seen as the best way to proceed. This idea was viewed as friendly and added to the final motion. With this new caveat in place, the paper passed.
Due to amendments that occurred on the floor, and some recommended areas to improve the body text, the final papers should be released in full in the coming weeks at www.ousa.on.ca. Current policies, a great post-secondary education blog and educational resources can also be found there.
The next OUSA General Assembly will occur this upcoming October where policies on system growth, accountability and tuition will be up for discussion and debate. I strongly encourage students to apply to be part of Waterloo’s delegation, not only as a way to take an active role on behalf of students, but to also learn more about post-secondary education policy in Canada. Should you have any questions, or want to see the tentative papers as they stood when we voted, feel free to get in touch with me at t.ek.jenkins@gmail.com.
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