Written By: Bruce March, Sanuda Ranawake & Jacob Laybolt
MUNL’s Declining Reputation
On Wednesday, April 26th, the Memorial University Students Union held a town hall in the breezeway with government, senior administrators, and opposition parties. The topic of discussion: The Rising Inaccessibility of NL’s Post-Secondary Education. In attendance was Minister Tom Osborne, PC Education Critic Barry Petten, NDP Leader Jim Dinn, MUNL President Neil Bose and Provost Jennifer Lokash.
The event comes on the heels of a meeting a week prior between Premier Furey and various university stakeholders about the future of Memorial, of which MUNSU was in attendance. The forum allowed students to directly question the decision-makers of MUNL in relation to post-secondary policy.
All parties seem to acknowledge the declining reputation of MUNL. Its operations of late have been criticized and characterized as in a crisis of leadership. In part due to the theme of governance emerging in the MUNFA strike and the recent ousting of President Timmons connected to misrepresentation and false claims of indigenous ancestry.
Topics were wide-ranging, with many students asking questions during the Q&A segment. Ely Pittman, the Executive Director of Student Life at MUNSU, asked about the harm to indigenous peoples that the departure of Timmons has left behind and what the administration will do moving forward to rectify the situation.
President Bose responded, saying the healing process must involve indigenous peoples. Indigenous students must feel welcome, a forum was held for them, and it’s a start toward reconciliation.
Mackenzie Broders, the incoming Director of Advocacy at MUNSU, asked how government and admin can communicate more fairly. Minister Osborne responded that the meeting of all stakeholders earlier in the week shows that communication is improving.
Improving Communications
President Bose claimed improving communication with students, faculty, staff, and the government is a major goal of the new administration. The president highlighted government relationships when a student asked if he would publicly lobby the government to reduce fees. He replied with uncertainty, citing the improved relationship the university now has with the government.
Minister Osborne claimed that previous administrations maintained a good relationship with the government despite university presidents lobbying. Regardless, communication improvements were put forward as a major goal for the new administration.
Fees & Transparency
President Bose also committed to reviewing and simplifying the university’s fee structure. The president claimed the current fees system is complicated and ultimately reduces transparency in how students are charged.
On international student fees, however, the president claimed that the higher fees will bolster the university’s reputation internationally, stating some may equate low fees with low quality.
Declining Enrollment
All parties seemed to have different explanations regarding declining enrollment. Opposition MHA Barry Petten and NDP leader Jim Dinn claimed the rising tuition was directly to blame for declining undergraduate enrollment.
Minister Osborne agreed it was related but added that other factors are also at play. Meanwhile, President Bose claimed that the tuition increase had no effect on the undergraduate enrollment decrease, citing other reasons, such as students registering early to qualify for the lower tuition rate.
‘Separate Truths’ and Shifting Responsibilities
Perhaps most apparent and notable, the event featured the clashing of various viewpoints on the phase-out of $68.4 million in funding from the provincial government to Memorial University and the subsequent rise in tuition.
During the discussion, Moderator John Harris highlighted the 19.1% decrease in Memorial’s enrollment over the past few years, bringing it to the forefront of the conversation and tying it to the tuition increase. Dinn and Petten described the statistic as huge, making analogies to population and employment, with Osborne stating it’s complicated for numerous potential factors such as covid.
On the rise in tuition, Minister Tom Osborne stated the decision to shift funding was made to support students; by moving funding into student aid with loans and grants. This supposedly came about after a proposal by the university administration to move funding from the tuition offset grant to general operations.
The opposition, and indeed many students, sought to highlight the inaccessibility of means-based loans and grants as creating additional barriers to education. Jim Dinn said any loan or grant program is tied up in bureaucracy and that lowering tuition lessens the need to avail of loans. Barry Petten agreed, emphasizing how this move can make education out of reach for many students.
Also discussed was an apparent shifting of responsibility of who initiated the cut in funding. Since its announcement in 2021, the university administration and the provincial government have had conflicting stories about how the end of the long-standing tuition freeze came about. It was stated that Former President Timmons had said, “There are separate truths regarding this.”
This spurred an interesting dialogue as student Bert Power questioned both Minister Osborne and President Bose on this point. Osborne claimed the administration presented the government with a plan to raise tuition. The government felt the funding should be for maintaining low tuition and thus decided to remove the funds if they were not to serve this purpose.
President Bose seemed to deflect the question stating it couldn’t be ‘categorically’ answered and that tuition rises have been proposed numerous times during the freeze. This stands in stark contrast to the story the previous administration has long held that they were blindsided by the government’s cut in funding and were then subsequently forced to raise tuition.
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