Just kidding. I would never place all my eggs in the upper level administrator basket. But, despite the institutional white knuckled death grip on neutrality, I do have hope.
I hope that you will be the one to spearhead change.
To any out-of-the-loop MUN students reading this: Janet Morrison is the incoming president of MUN. We’ll see if she’s any better than the last few.
As you are surely well aware, Dr. Morrison, MUN has something of a reputation issue. Our disgraced President, alleged ecoli scandal, Humans Rights Complaint(s), dwindling enrollment, and tuition hikes come to mind. And how many times have we all heard the words “crumbling infrastructure.”
Of course, that’s to say nothing about the millions directly invested in weapons manufacturers tied to Israel’s ongoing campaign of genocide currently being carried out against the Palestinian people.
Maybe you don’t care about the bad image, because mainland schools are equally rife with cuts and scandals.
Maybe only some people mind that the powers that be here have decided accessible education for all is not a concern anymore.
Still, I think there is time (and opportunity) to change course for the better.
Every institution has issues and shortcomings. Few have something they can point to that says ‘when the world screamed we listened.’
You could be the one to leave that legacy.
Divestment is happening at other institutions, and within other local organizations (I love you St. John’s Pride). This is an opportunity for MUN to display the leadership and courage they have been so severely lacking.
MUN chose not to divest from Apartheid in South Africa during the 1980s, a choice which is now an unthinkable moral position. And for those who say it’s not about morals and not an institution’s responsibility, MUN has done it before.
In 2002, the Board of Regents passed a No Sweat Shop Code, ending the use of sweatshop labour for MUN merch due to ethical considerations, setting a precedent for this type of action.
Your administration could be a keystone in the foundation of a better future.
Student and faculty activism surrounding divestment is already being presented internally as a positive force. I was shown a picture from the recent Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s address, and there I was up on the slideshow, alongside a blurb about the value of HSS students and faculty pushing for change.
Almost as if the very Dean making that presentation hadn’t caused me rage to sob in public during the encampment by being so unhelpful, only to turn around and act like they were with it the whole time.
So you see Dr. Morrison, the work of student activists is already being used for clout. Why not get in on the action.
Change will happen, just like it happened with South Africa. Do you want MUN to be left behind again?
We are asking for divestment from weapons and war and genocide. We’re asking for ethical policy change.
Imagine if the next round of Students Who Care could spend their time proactively providing support to their community instead of arguing and begging and getting arrested over their institution’s complicity in crimes against humanity.
Palestine isn’t the only humanitarian crisis currently ongoing. An effective policy to screen investments could help minimize the war profiteering and blood money MUN is involved in more broadly. War profiteering is so passé these days.
MUN Students for Palestine would like to meet with you.
We would like the chance to make our case live and in person, the way all the best working relationships start. We dance the delicate dance, us begging for a shred of humanity from the institution we’ve poured thousands of dollars, years of our lives, and worst of all, trust, into. Your people saying something so bizarre/out of touch/unfeeling that our members cry/laugh/consider recidivism.
Kidding again. We’ll be so professional it will knock your socks off.
Consider the role you would like to play in shaping the narrative of the future. I believe that you want to make a difference. Go for it with everything in you.
Or don’t. But please don’t pretend 10 years down the line that you didn’t have the opportunity to do the right thing.
