The University of Ottawa congratulates the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU), which has been selected by full and part-time undergraduate students to represent them.
Today’s results are an illustration of democracy in action. 17% of the University’s 33,000 undergraduate students voted in the referendum. The UOSU must now present a slate of candidates that undergraduate students will elect to form the association’s executive. General elections should be held in the coming weeks.
Once the Union’s executive is in place, the University looks forward to beginning negotiations on an agreement for the association to represent and deliver services to undergraduate students. The agreement must require a strong commitment to good governance, sound financial and human resource management, transparency and accountability. The University will make its best efforts to have a new agreement in place by May 1, 2019.
It is up to the newly-elected student association to determine which services should be offered. For each service, it will be responsible for securing the agreement of undergraduate students. That process will have to take into account the new framework for student service fees announced by the Ontario government earlier this year.
In December, the University signed an interim agreement with the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) to deliver services until April 30, 2019. The interim agreement is limited to service delivery and does not bind the newly elected association beyond that date. All services that students have already paid for will continue without interruption under the terms of the interim agreement until that date.
David Graham
Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs