UWSA delegation attends OUSA conference
By Michal Tellos
News Editor
March 24, 2010
 Last weekend, Robert Woodrich, the UWSA’s vice-president university affairs, Madeline MacIsaac, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) campus coordinator, and three other UWSA councilors attended OUSA’s final general assembly meeting of the year.
The meeting, which was hosted by the University of Western Ontario, saw delegates from each of the seven OUSA members: Brock, Laurier, McMaster, Queen’s, Waterloo, and of course, Western and Windsor.
The weekend was composed of an opening plenary, breakout sessions, a celebration of OUSA’s 15th anniversary, a closing plenary, and an opportunity to meet and speak with MPP Yasir Naqvi, president of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Woodrich hosted one of the break-out sessions, having co-authored a policy paper with the VPUA from Queen’s.
“This was literally my first experience with drafting policy, so it was a great learning experience,” said Woodrich.
“I co-authored the paper and was responsible for facilitating constructive feedback and implementing any changes that delegates wanted to see made. The paper itself is fairly short, but it represents OUSA's first foray in to the discussion regarding university differentiation,” he added.
The paper was eventually passed at closing plenary.
Woodrich argued that the UWindsor delegation gained a lot from the trip.
“We were able to fully represent our students at the highest governing body of OUSA, where all important decisions are made. Students from Windsor were able to directly voice constructive criticisms about potential policies and thus shape their outcome. We were able to weigh in on future policy and a three-year long-term plan, among other things,” he said.
The delegates also met with OUSA’S 2010-2011 steering committee members for the first time, as well as other student representatives from across Ontario. Additionally, UWSA councilor Thomas Sasso successfully passed a motion on international students.
OUSA’s steering committee is not the same as the general assembly. The former consists only of each member school’s VPUA, while the latter is a larger delegation. The steering committee meets monthly, providing direction for the general assembly, which only meets twice annually.
The conference took place leading up to Woodrich’s pending campaign for OUSA president, a position which has only once been held by Windsor’s VPUA.
“I am definitely going to put my name in the hat, so to speak, for OUSA president. This will happen when I start my second term in May, at the steering committee transition meeting. OUSA executives are voted on by the seven steering committee members, which means that I will need to earn the confidence of my new colleagues at OUSA in a relatively short span on time,” he said.
The campaigning period for OUSA president is merely a day, culminating in a secret ballot, voted upon by each member of the steering committee. Winning would win a lot for UWindsor.
“A win for Windsor will mean that we will have a direct line to ministers, numerous lobby opportunities for our students and enhanced credibility within OUSA. The position will go a long way to fulfilling my mandate of advocating on behalf of and representing our students,” explained Woodrich.
OUSA president is responsible for meeting weekly with OUSA staff and government officials, while sitting as chair of the steering committee meetings.
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