Hey Badgers! It’s Alyssa, your Vice President, External Affairs at BUSU, here with your 2024 Spring OUSA General Assembly update for your reading pleasure! 

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of taking eight Brock students with me on a little road trip (hop in delegates we’re going to write some policy)!

After traveling all the way to McMaster University’s campus in Hamilton, ON, the lucky group of BUSU delegates geared up for a weekend filled with policy writing, breakout room debates, delegate socials, and the most exciting part of the weekend (at least from the perspective of this self-proclaimed policy nerd) plenary. While this may not sound like an exciting way to spend your weekend, this years Spring General Assembly (GA) was definitely a memorable one, for a number of reasons:

1. There were three policy papers up for renewal at this GA: Addressing Racism and Religious Discrimination, International Students, and Gender-Based and Sexual Violence Prevention and Response and spoiler alert, all papers were passed at plenary (Yay!!).
2. I got to work with an amazing authorship team consisting of BUSU’s Policy Writer, representatives from the USC (aka Western’s student union), and a representative from WUSA (aka Waterloo’s student union). All of the authors who were working with me on the Gender-based and Sexual Violence Prevention and Response policy paper have demonstrated a passion for sexual violence prevention advocacy, and I definitely learned a lot from them throughout the whole policy writing process. It was an honour to work with them all.
3. The MSU (aka McMaster’s Student Union) invited all of our delegates to their Battle of the Bands event, so we were able to watch some amazing live musical performances from the bands, and I can honestly say that McMaster definitely has some talented students!
4. I had the opportunity to meet, work with, and learn from student leaders from across the province over the course of the weekend. I say this after every OUSA conference, but meeting students who are so passionate and committed to bettering the student experience is always a highlight for me, and it makes me really excited to see the next generation of student leaders and advocates begin to spread their wings!
5. After completing four OUSA GA’s, this GA’s plenary was by far the shortest one that I have ever experienced, clocking in at around 8 hours, which may sound like a really long time to debate student policy papers, but in reality, is significantly shorter than plenary’s I have been to in the past.

It is hard to name all of the reasons why this GA was a memorable one for me, and the reality is, if I was able to do that then this blog post would be way too long (and who would want to read that?). But I would be lying to myself, and by extension all of you, if I didn’t say that this was an extra special GA because it is my fourth and final one. I have loved getting the opportunity to attend these conferences over the last two years, and it is going to be weird for me this time next year when I am watching the next group of BUSU delegates through their Instagram stories, but I am excited to get the opportunity to see a new group of Brock students thrive within this policy writing environment.

OUSA GA’s have been a highlight of my year so far, and I would like to thank each and every person who made these experiences extra special: from OUSA Home Office who have worked tirelessly to support the student authors during the policy writing process; to OUSA’s Steering Committee who have been a real support system for me after the craziness that has been this year; to the BUSU delegates who attended both the fall and spring general assemblies with me, your commitment to student advocacy really shined through; and finally to Carleigh who helped ease my stress levels over the course of the weekend.

That’s all for now Badgers, thank you for following along with my OUSA GA journey!

Until next time,

Alyssa