The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) is an alliance of

students' unions A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. Their common objective is to protect the interests of over 150,000 professional and

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

, full-time and part-time university students, and to provide research and recommendations to the government on how to improve accessibility, affordability, accountability, and quality of post-secondary education in Ontario.

History

The initial catalyst for the creation of OUSA was disagreement over the position of the provincial and national student association in Ontario on the first Gulf War.The Same Thing Twice
By Kelli Korducki, Published:17 March 2009, The Varsity In 1992, The student associations of

Brock University Brock University is a public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the only university in Canada in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment. The university bear ...

, Queen's University, the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

and

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

, and the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

approached the Ontario Federation of Students(OFS) to host a roundtable discussing the prospect of pushing for an increase in tuition fees. When this idea was rejected, the roundtable occurred informally and resulted in the formal incorporation and creation of OUSA. Part-time students at the

withdrew from the Alliance, as did Queen's Alma Mater Society, citing concerns over the organization's management in the mid-1990s. Queen's then rejoined the Alliance as an associate member in 2001 and then as a full member in 2004. In May 2011, OUSA welcomed two new members, the Trent in Oshawa Student Association (later the

Trent Durham Student Association The Trent Durham Student Association (TDSA) is a non-profit and was created to represent all students, whether part-time or full-time, that attended classes at the Durham Campus of Trent University. The TDSA is also a member of the Ontario Unde ...

) as associate members, and the

McMaster Association of Part-Time Students McMaster may refer to: * Mount McMaster, in Enderby Land, East Antarctica * McMaster (surname) * McMaster School, a building of the University of South Carolina * McMaster University, a university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada See also

* McMast ...

as full members, who had rejoined after a 7-year absence. In May 2013, the

University of Windsor Students' Alliance , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universit ...

voted, through a referendum, to leave the Alliance. On April 29, 2014, the

* McMast ...

also withdrew from membership in OUSA. The Students' General Association (SGA-AGÉ) of

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

was admitted into OUSA in April 2016, with membership taking effect May 2016.

Members

As of 2020, OUSA's membership consists of: *

* Laurentian University Students' General Association/Association Générale des Étudiants *

Wilfrid Laurier University Students' Union Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

McMaster Students Union The McMaster Students Union (MSU), is the central undergraduate student government at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. History The McMaster Student Body, the original student government, was formed in 1890 when McMaster Univer ...

Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, an 1815 battle where Napoleon was defeated * Waterloo, Belgium, location of the battle Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (South Shetland Islands), kno ...

* Brock University Students' Union * University Students' Council of Western University *

Alma Mater Society of Queen's University The Alma Mater Society of Queen's University, otherwise known as the AMS, is the central undergraduate student association at Queen's University at Kingston in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest organization of its kind in Canada. Its r ...

Steering Committee

OUSA's Steering Committee is an eight-member board of directors responsible for the overall strategy of the organization. One executive member of each constituent student union sits on the board as a voting member. According to the organization's Bylaws, each association is entitled to appoint one additional non-voting resource member to OUSA's Steering Committee.

is the only OUSA member in recent years that regularly uses this provision to appoint an additional member. As of December 2022, the membership of the committee is:

Criticisms

Due to its moderate leanings when compared with other student advocacy groups and close working relationship with many decision makers, OUSA has faced criticism that they are too cooperative with the government. OUSA has also received criticism for a mid 1990s proposal that asked for increased government spending towards universities along with increased tuition fees, however this recommendation was reversed a few years later, and OUSA has called for tuition freezes and decreases since at least 1999.Beyond the Breaking Point - Recommendations for a new Tuition Fee Policy
October 31, 1999

Presidents and Executive Directors

Presidents * 1998 - 1999 Kenzie Campbell * 1999 - 2000 Basil Alexander * 2000 - 2001 Mark Schaan * 2001 - 2002 Erin McCloskey * 2002 - 2003 Josh Morgan * 2003 - 2004 Jeff LaPorte * 2004 - 2005 Alison Forbes * 2005 - 2006 Stephanie Murray * 2006 - 2007 Paris Meilleur * 2007 - 2008 David Simmonds * 2008 - 2009 Trevor Mayoh * 2009 - 2010 Dan Moulton * 2010 - 2011 Meaghan Coker * 2011 - 2012 Sean Madden * 2012 - 2013 Alysha Li * 2013 - 2014 Amir Eftekarpour * 2014 - 2015 Jen Carter * 2015 - 2016 Spencer Nestico-Semianiw * 2016 - 2017 Jamie Cleary * 2017 - 2018 Andrew Clubine * 2018 - 2019 Danny Chang * 2019 - 2020 Catherine Dunne * 2020 - 2021 Julia Pereira * 2021 - 2022 Eunice Oladejo * 2022 - Present Jessica Look Executive Directors * 1994 - 1996 Michael Burns * 1997 Rick Marin (Interim) * 1997 - 1998 Barry McCartan * 1998 - 1999 Andrew Boggs * 1999 - 2001 Ryan Parks * 2001 - 2002 Bryce Rudyk * 2002 James Meloche (Interim) * 2002 - 2003 Leslie Church * 2003 - 2005 Adam Spence * 2005 - 2007 Scott Courtice * 2007 - 2008 Chris Locke * 2008 - 2009 Howie Bender * 2009 - 2011 Alexi White * 2011 – 2012 Sam Andrey * 2012 - 2013 Rylan Kinnon * 2014 – 2015 Sean Madden * 2015 – 2017 Zachary Rose * 2017 – 2018 Sophie Helpard * 2019 – 2022 Eddy Avila * 2023- Present Malika Dhanani

References

Information taken from OUSA's website unless otherwise stated. Presidents and Executive Directors updated annually.

External links

*
'Students Concerned About Rising Tuition' Globe & Mail article'Food For Thought Campaign' Toronto Star article"OUSA/CFS article in The Varsity