Coffee with a Side of Advocacy: Why Your Voice Belongs in This Conversation

Grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and actually be heard. That’s the idea behind Coffee with a Side of Advocacy, OTSU’s recurring sit down series where the topics on the table are the ones that actually affect your wallet, your commute, and your...

otsu@ontariotechu.ca (Anwoy Barua) | Tue, Sep 15, 2026

Grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and actually be heard. That’s the idea behind Coffee with a Side of Advocacy, OTSU’s recurring sit down series where the topics on the table are the ones that actually affect your wallet, your commute, and your degree.

This isn’t a panel where you sit and listen. Every session opens with a deliberately blunt discussion prompt, things like OSAP funding, DRT transit reliability, housing affordability, rising school fees, and campus wellness supports, and the floor is yours from there. No script, no filter, just students talking honestly about what’s working and what isn’t. The session wraps with a round table hosted by the Student Advocacy Advisory Committee (SAAC), where your input gets carried directly into the advocacy work OTSU brings to the university and to the province.

Why it matters right now

This session lands on October 2nd, right in the middle of OUSA’s provincial OSAP survey window, which stays open until October 8. That survey is one of the tools student unions across Ontario are using to push for real changes to how OSAP works, and Ontario Tech’s response rate is part of how seriously that data gets taken. If you’ve ever felt like OSAP’s flat allowances don’t reflect what it actually costs to be a student here, this is your chance to put that on record.

Fill out the survey at the event or any time before it closes on October 8. Once you complete the survey, you have the option to provide your contact information to be entered into a draw for 1 of 8 $100 gift cards to a grocery or campus bookstore of your choice ⤵️

Take Survey

What to expect

Free coffee, casual setting, no pressure to have a polished opinion
Honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversation starters
A direct line from your comments to the advocacy priorities OTSU brings forward
A chance to complete the OSAP survey on the spot if you haven’t already

Show up because the decisions being made about student funding, transit, and housing are being made with or without student input. This is one of the easiest ways to make sure it’s with.