Faculty, academic librarians, and academic professionals from universities across Ontario attended OCUFA Advocacy Day on March 20 at the Ontario Legislature to advocate for more robust, sustainable government investment in Ontario’s public university system.
OCUFA ambassadors representing more than 18,000 faculty, academic librarians, and academic professionals, conducted meetings with Members of Provincial Parliament and their staff from all parties and ridings across the province. Many MPPs represent ridings that house universities or are adjacent to a university city or town.
OCUFA also hosted an evening reception in the Queen’s Park Dining Room. Speakers included MPP Peggy Sattler, Official Opposition Critic for Colleges and Universities, MPP Karen McCrimmon, Liberal Critic for Colleges and Universities, and MPP Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario. OCUFA representatives, MPPs, journalists, and political staffers also attended and enjoyed refreshments and informal conversation.
Throughout the day, OCUFA ambassadors shared updates and photos from their meetings on social media.
In their meetings with MPPs, OCUFA delegates discussed critical issues facing Ontario’s universities and offered solutions for a thriving university sector, including:
- Increasing funding for Ontario universities by compounded annual increases of 11.75 per cent for five years to bring Ontario up to the national average in per-student funding
- Helping Ontario universities meet and enhance their missions through sustained, long-term investment, to ensure universities can thrive as educational, economic, and cultural hubs in Ontario communities
- Scrapping the proposed performance-based funding model for universities
- Supporting the establishment of a strategy for faculty renewal and pathways for contract faculty towards permanent jobs and stability in their professions
Advocacy Day continues to be a productive and constructive experience for OCUFA and its 31 members organizations to forge connections with elected officials and conduct our ongoing advocacy work in support of a well-funded, world-class public university system.