¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA Ignites Change: Launches Empowering Activism Campaign
In 2019, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Graduate Students’ Association (¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA) went inactive. Until that point, it had received most of its funding from the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU). The 2018-2019 ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA budget lists over in funding from the UTGSU.
On March 18th, 2023, ¹û½´ÊÓƵ students voted to reactivate the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA. In April of 2023, elections were held and the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA has since been active. The ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA previously received funds from the UTGSU and these funds were sourced from ¹û½´ÊÓƵ student fees. The UTGSU continued to collect student fees from ¹û½´ÊÓƵ students during the inactive periods. However, the UTGSU has not supplied any funding to the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA since 2019 and has not returned to its previous 2019 funding model. The ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA is currently only receiving funding from ¹û½´ÊÓƵ, which amounts to around $4000 in funding per year. The lack of funding for the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA would result in the collapse of most of the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA’s services including but not limited to conference assistance funding, student awards, academic conferences for ¹û½´ÊÓƵ students, and emergency funding for students in need. Many ¹û½´ÊÓƵ students who are aspiring or current teachers, principals, and other education workers in K-12 and higher education, rely on these ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA services.
We believe that funding for these services should continue to ensure ¹û½´ÊÓƵ student success. For this reason and due to the UTGSU's failing to respond to our inquiries surrounding our funding, we launched an activism campaign to allow for ¹û½´ÊÓƵ student voices to be heard.
We call on the UTGSU to do the following:
- Bring back ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA funding to 2019 levels;
- Backpay the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA the funds it would have received for the years it was inactive, not including the funding that was received by the Departmental Student Associations at ¹û½´ÊÓƵ;
- Ensure UTGSU officials maintain regular communication with the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA.
Here are some ways ¹û½´ÊÓƵ students and allies can support our activism campaign:
- Sign the supporting our above statement
- as a volunteer for collective actions
- Contact UTGSU officials by email using
- Attend UTGSU Board of Directors and Assembly Meetings and voice your support for the campaign
- Share, interact with, and support posts on ¹û½´ÊÓƵ GSA’s and
