It has recently been announced that Memorial has started the process of selling the Signal Hill Campus, the Johnson Geo Centre, the Ingstad building, and the UK-based Harlow Campus.
These sales are an attempt to dig themselves out of a financial hole (between $24 and $25 million) they’ve found themselves in, which President Janet Morrison seems to be desperately attempting to get them out of. Many are concerned about these sales, and I, an alumni, am too.
But of course, I am biased. I spent the summer of 2013 at Harlow Campus for an “English Cultural Landscaping” intensive four-course semester, under supervision by Dr. Chris Sharpe from the Department of Geography department and Dr. Gerald Pocius from the Department of Folklore.
I was able to visit and get fully immersed in the places we learned about in preparation for our trip. I also made friends and had a few good pints at The Crown.
The campus is located under an hour train ride to London. One PhD peer was able to lodge at Harlow Campus while conducting ethnographic research in London. Access to Harlow Campus is an incredible perk to being a MUN student.
I was surprised this campus was never promoted as a writing retreat, especially for struggling, late-stage, thesis-writing graduate students.
But, that’s the problem. Harlow Campus benefits the students above all, which is why it is undervalued by MUN administration – it doesn’t generate profits they need to justify the administration’s high salaries. But not every inch of MUN needs to generate profit to be justified.
MUN isn’t a business, it’s a university meant to encourage creative thinking and innovation. Not to mention, the poor management and programming of facilities like Harlow make me wonder: was this all a plan to justify their eventual sale.
Hopeful discussions online aspire that these sales might help MUN make repairs to the ever-leaking MUNnels, permanently remove asbestos from the buildings, or create state-of-the-art classrooms.
However, the pessimist in me knows that these gains will just be a bandaid solution to offset the financial deficit (this year) without fixing the reason we got in this situation to begin with: a greedy and poorly managed university.
I won’t pretend that I understand all the inner workings of MUN, but knowing previous president expenditures raises many eyebrows. Memorial is reported to have “the highest administrative salaries per student — $2,369 — compared with other universities of its size.”
This high price benefits the administration, with previous president having done $55k renovations to their office, $450k starting salary, alongside a hefty housing and vehicle allowance, all on student and taxpayers dime.
They have also spent over a million dollars on headhunters to fill positions. All the while the MUNnels looks like the setting of a new Chilla’s Art indie horror game.
President Morrison has announced an executive restructure will be coming into place in March, but it will only result in the removal of one employee, and changes in extravagant salaries and benefits for those with title changes is unclear. [Editor’s note: In an interview with the Muse MUN President Janet Morrison says these changes to executive structure will save around a million dollars a year]
The argument that no one will come to work at MUN if our wages aren’t extravagant is silly and outdated. Newfoundland isn’t some backwaters place and MUN isn’t a mediocre institution you have to bribe people to work at. The administration needs an overhaul and reality check (and further audits) before MUN can get in a proper financial position.
If the administration really wants to cut costs, why not just sell St. John’s and Grenfell campuses and go fully online? Hell, we could even have a subscription-based service for students to have limited access to pre-recorded lectures and, for a premium, unlimited access to all lectures!
AI will write and grade exams, so that they can cut all TA positions, and retire profs without replacing them, all the while keeping administrative pockets lined with gold bars.
When constantly looking to increase profits in this capitalist hellhole, you have to stop and wonder when it will end. The truth is, after selling Harlow, they won’t buy another foreign campus to benefit students.
They won’t be buying another site on the historic Signal Hill. To sell one or two isn’t irrational in this economy, but all at once seems ludicrous. They will keep slashing and cutting until the only thing left are the worn rags we like to call the administrative staff.
Be better and do better. And, for the love of God and all that is good, actually put students first.
Ema Noëlla Kibirkstis, PhD, MUN Almuni