Memorial University's Student Editorial(est. 1950)

The Student Volunteer Bureau kicked off the Volunteer Day Awards on March 25th in the Landing, with guest speakers including President Janet Morrison, Associate Vice-President (Academic) and Dean of Students Christine Arnold, Director of Student Life Dr. Jennifer Brown.

The Awards commemorate student volunteers and groups at Memorial. Here is a list of the awards and their recipients.

Volunteer Student Group of the Year

There were four nominees for Volunteer Student Group of the Year, with MUN UNICEF Club winning the award.

This award is presented to a Club or Society that has contributed to their university community through their volunteer work this past year.

David Kirkland Student Leadership Award

Amid twenty nominees for the David Kirkland Award (Student Leadership Award), Men’s Basketball Seahawk Norman Burry took home the achievement. 

This award is presented to a student who has contributed to the university community and demonstrated leadership in their volunteer work.

Student Volunteer of the Year

The Student Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Lauren Ringer, who rose above ten other nominees.

The award is presented to a Memorial student who have made contributions to the university community, local community, or the global community. Nominees must have a long-standing commitment to volunteerism.  

Volunteer Residence of the Year

The Volunteer Residence of the Year was awarded to Shiwak Hall.

This award is presented to a residence at Memorial that has made considerable contributions to the community through their collective volunteer work.

Glenn Roy Blundon Award

Finally, the Glenn Roy Blundon Award was granted to Halie Hindy, amid five other dedicated nominees.

Named after former Memorial student Glenn Roy Blundon, the award is presented to a student who has surpassed their normal volunteer duties to advocate for students with disabilities.

After close to an hour of listening to the public plea to keep CHMR open, multiple MUNSU executives presented their own reasons as to why they believed the station needed to be cut.

HSS Representatives

Juairya Abdullah, an HSS rep for MUNSU, and a CUPE 4554 MUNSU employee addressed concerns from the community that taking away CHMR silences marginalized voices, saying “I hear a lot about black and brown and marginalized communities and how much this impacts them, and it almost comes off as little bit of, like, tokenization, as a brown, Muslim, international student.”

She also responded to some community criticisms of the 84 person survey.

She said “someone talked about going to the math society or the statistics department about doing a full survey with their cases… one of the biggest things about statistics, because I have a minor in statistics, is when you’re doing a survey, sometimes it’s not possible to get a whole sample of the population…”

“If your whole population is 11,000, you do a randomized sample to make sure you understand what it represents… because sometimes it’s not possible to do 11,000 members.”

Abdullah said a focus needs to go towards ensuring students needs are met “we’re in a recession right now. I care if someone gives me a $10 voucher to Sobeys, because that’s what’s gonna help me, because the first thing that I’m worried about is being able to make rent, if I’m able to make my tuition, if I’m able to eat properly.

“I feel like a lot of the times when the community speaks about like, well, ‘this is so important,’ of course it’s important, but you need to make sure students have the ability to live and get their actual needs met, and we’re not even able to meet their needs.”

Finally, one other point made by Abdullah was ensuring MUNSU was being smart with its money.

“I’m a student, and I care about where my $51 that I give every semester goes, and, when I know that I’m giving this $51 to the university, that I worked blood sweat and tears for… I know when it goes to help [students].”

“I would love for us to be able to fund everything… I’ve seen over the last to years that I’ve been working here, some people talk about free meal [plans]… that’s what students need.”

Another HSS rep, Hasan Habib, responded to claims that CHMR creates job opportunities for art students.

“I think it’s rather unfair to talk about student employment while not having students as full-time employees in CHMR. To the best of my knowledge, the employment option that CHMR offers to undergrads are, if I’m not mistaken, mostly MUCEPs and ISWEPs, and for those who don’t know, MUCEPs and ISWEPs pay at most around $1,500 a semester. It would perhaps be better to talk about equity and employment for arts students after such concerns within the CHMR structure is addressed.”

He also gave a response to CHMR’s station manager Rhea Rollman, who called out MUNSU for its $1 million loan to renovate the Breezeway.

He said “the Breezeway offers an amazing service, if you simply ask a student they’ll tell you that… they offer an amazing service as a venue for socialization, events, and a place to get drunk after 5pm classes, which I think it quite important for students, especially if they want to maintain a regular type of life… I think it would be quite unwise, in my opinion, to dunk on services that the student body uses regularly in order to get by their day-to-day lives.”

Business Representative

One of MUNSU’s business representatives, Jordan Dean, created the following visual:

Dean said “MUN provides different services. These are the seven main services, and the other category was too small to really mention. There’s a deficit… it is a big deficit. This is our pie, and 32% of it needs to go based on 2024 numbers, and that’s just to balance the budget.”

He continued “if you’ve got to cut 32.3% of this pie out, you can’t do that do that without reducing funding to the radio station.”

“I have spoken to many business students and other students over the past week and a half and unfortunately many are unaware of the service [CHMR], and I have to explain the whole situation because they’re just completely unaware. So that’s my stance, at least for the business faculty and business students, it’s not a service we use.”

Executive Director of Finance

MUNSU’s finance executive spoke about the Union’s current financial situation.

He said “thank you for the overwhelming support for CHMR. It means so much to me to see so much outpouring of love and support for CHMR. When I was elected into this role, MUNSU was in free fall. It still is. Right now we are at a juncture where, like, over next year, actually, if we don’t find a way to break even, then we will have to take out a loan, and then we all know how that path goes. We have another union on campus and we are all seeing what they are going through.”

“So, I have two choices, which is: do something now, or let this organization, the MUN Students Union, face bankruptcy in the next 2-3 years. This decision is not light at all, as the Executive Director of Finance and Services, I was elected to look over the finances of our services, but also the long term financial stability of the Union… and we don’t have anywhere else to go for our funding… our only source of revenue is student funds and our businesses. That’s it.”

Executive Director of External Affairs

MUNSU’s Director of External Affairs said “I fully understand the sentiment of someone on the board of CHMR who may have felt blindsided by this. But I mean, I think it’s really important to emphasize at the same time, because we have unionized staff members, that our consultation obligations would be an inappropriate space to talk about future jobs within that space.”

Many referred to a five-year plan CHMR originally proposed to MUNSU (Rollman also proposed a one-year plan on multiple occasions at the meeting). Gillingham’s response was “it does appear that we don’t really have time, and I think that’s what’s heaviest about this conversation. Our accountant had flagged just a couple of months ago that our bank account was getting so low that we might not even had enough money to pay our staff. That’s a dire condition. It causes a lot of stress amongst many of the current staff here as well.”

Student Life

MUNSU’s Director of Student Life didn’t actually speak during the public forum, but took to an Instagram comment section a day later, where he posted “I am seeing a lot of comments but not many from current students actually paying for this service. CHMR ran a community fundraiser and received a little over $300… If all the media and alumni in these comments who said they support CHMR put their money where their mouth is the union might not have had to make this decision.“

Responding to another comment, Colbran said “I don’t think it’s anyone’s “fault”. The cost has grown and the money from enrollment is down. The funds must come from somewhere. I am not expecting the community to fund CHMR but students shouldn’t either (as I see being suggested).”

“The comments, emails and responses I am seeing are clearly placing blame on the students who voted for the station’s closure as a MUNSU service. If they choose to place blame it also has to lie with the people who use the service without contributing. The fact of the matter is most students do not use the radio station – out of 11,000 students don’t you think more than 60 (not all of those were in support of the CHMR either btw) would have responded?”

“The students I have talked to all said they don’t use it and don’t understand why we are spending $300,000 on it. I do believe the motion passed on what the vast majority of students would have wanted. I would absolutely support a referendum to increase funding, let the students decide.”

Farhan Probandho, MUNSU’s director of finances, called out his colleague on the same Instagram post, and the two had a back and forth in the comments.

The results of the MUNSU general election were announced this evening, April 2nd amid more than 10 vacant positions and 12 uncontested. These vacancies were:

• Indigenous Rep
• Music Rep
• Burton’s Pond
• MacPherson College
• Trans Rep
• Queer Rep
• Medicine Rep
• HKR Rep
• HSS Reps
• Eng Rep A
• Pharmacy Rep

The results of the filled positions are as follows:

Students with Disabilities Representative

Julia Crocker: 276

Jane Meadus: 220

Women Students’ Representative

Hailey Cooke: 480 Yes , 45 No

Education Students’ Representative

Rachel Snow: 27 Yes , 0 No

Nursing Students’ Representative

Winner Nwachukwu: 63 Yes , 7 No

Social Work Students’ Representative

Halie Hindy: 51 Yes , 4 No

Engineering Students’ Representative B

Aayushman Srivastavah: 51 Yes , 4 No

Center for Nursing Studies Representative

Chioma Ehigie: 386 Yes , 57 No

Business Students’ Representative

Shadman Kabir: 92 Yes , 22 No

Science Representative’s (3)

Md Abdullah Al Saikat: 162 Yes , 28 No

Blessing Agu: 155 Yes , 37 No

Sheikh Mahdi Mansib Zion: 158 Yes , 27 No

Black Students’ Representative

Joy Olabode-Daniels: 478 Yes , 49 No

International Student Representative

Swacha Mallik: 481 Yes , 64 No

Executive Director of Campaigns

Rana Abuidris: 450 Yes , 120 No

Executive Director of Finance

Nathan Gillingham: 312

Isfak Ahmed Nehal: 169

Shokry Ahmed (Ziad): 120

Executive Director of Advocacy

Sanaa Mrad: 502 Yes , 72 No

Executive Director of Student Life

Blake Colbran: 480 Yes , 85 No

Executive Director of External Affairs, Communications & Research

Kazi Taqi Yeasir: 344

Stephen Ehigie: 266

In an in-camera session, MUNSU Board of Directors voted to cease funding to CHMR. By June 1st MUNSU employees assigned to CHMR “shall no longer spend their paid working time on broadcasting” according to the motion passed at the April 1st meeting.

A previous version of the motion was ruled out of order by Board of Directors Chair Mackenzie Broders because it included MUNSU taking over the $2 per semester student-levy that partly funds CHMR.

The motion that passed says that the “levy will continue to be collected and remitted in accordance with existing referenda and bylaws.”

At the meeting, MUNSU Executive Director of External Affairs Nathan Gillingham said that they need to make cuts to address their deficit of nearly $300,000, and that if the financial situation does not improve at the student union, it will face bankruptcy.

Station Manager Rhea Rollman says she’s seen MUNSU in debt before, and has come back from it by making a longterm plan. “As someone who’s worked here for 20 years, I can guarantee without a shadow of a doubt MUNSU is not going bankrupt anytime soon.”

She says that when she was on the board of MUNSU it was in a worse financial position, and got through it by limiting spending and making a multi-year plan.

Rollmann says that back in December, she had approached the MUNSU board with a five year plan for independence from funding from the Student Union. She says this was rejected by the executive.

At the meeting, Rollmann instead asked for a one-year continuation of funding as the station prepares for independence. This was not granted.

Community support

In the past week, a massive wave of support at local, provincial, and national levels came in favour of keeping CHMR funded. People such as former Open Line host Paddy Daly, CBC’s Tom Power, OZ FM’s Hugh Campbell, musicians and more called for MUNSU to keep the station operational.

Before the in-camera session, community members were invited to the MUNSU meeting and were given the opportunity to publicly discuss their thoughts on MUNSU’s decision to potentially shut down CHMR, including a number of current undergraduate students.

About 140 members of the community and students attended the meeting virtually.

‘Taking away marginalized voices’

One of the biggest concerns mentioned at the meeting was the fact that taking away the campus radio station would be taking a voice away from marginalized people.

Sarojini Ramnarine-Lang says she has been hosting a show at CHMR for nine years.

She said “I have given my time to CHMR and see CHMR shut down, you’re gonna have something else coming to you… I have hosted consistently black history month, women’s history month, the Islamic functions, the Hindu functions, the Buddhist functions and more.“

“If you shut down CHMR I want you to write to me and tell me who is gonna be the voice of black, Indigenous and people of colour community on campus.”

Greg O’Grady, Chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador stuttering association said that hosting his own show at CHMR helped both him and the rest of the stuttering community in St. John’s find their voices.

This was arguably the biggest concern brought up at the meeting. Almost everyone who spoke was worried about the potential of taking voices away from marginalized communities, including undergraduate student Drake Rose, who said “you have several voices within students that are not often represented. I know for sure there are some people who come from Ukraine, Malaysia, Bangladesh that currently have shows at the station.”

‘MUNSU only surveyed 84 people’

Many people were critical of the survey handed out by MUNSU that saw only 84 people respond.

Jeff Rose-Martland was said “you’ve conducted a straw pole of 84 people, and you’re basing this decision on such a low sample, for such a large population… If you’re going to shut down the station, you need to consult the students, and if your justification is nobody’s listening, you need to be able to show that, and 84 people doesn’t do it.”

Kody Gardner, the stations technical director said “I think it’s such an injustice to pull 84 people and make a decision on closing or, you know, removing the funding from CHMR. I can’t imagine making a decision this big with 84 people.”

‘Importance in arts community’

Many in the arts community stressed the importance of CHMR in promoting stuff within the arts.

Cullam Lockhart, a member of the arts community and MUN alum, said “I understand that in a modern era, a lot of things like radio are less relevant because there’s Facebook now.”

“But the fact is, as someone who is very involved in theatre and trying to get these things out, things like Facebook, Instagram and social media are not working very well for these community outreach programs anymore. It’s being replaced with a lot more algorithmic content.”

Brad Mercer said “I want the MUNSU executive to consider that, you know, this is not a decision you want to have associated with your reputation. If you ever want to have a future claiming you support the arts, that you support the growth of artists, that you support the growth of a local or artistic community. This is not a decision you want to have associated with you. I really want you to think about it and consider it.

‘Importance for future journalists’

A lot of people highlighted the importance CHMR has for honing the skills of future journalists and giving them job opportunities.

VOCM’s Russell Bowers was in attendance, and he says he got a job at VOCM less than a year after starting at CHMR, crediting the campus station for giving him that opportunity.

MUN undergraduate student Gracie Gallant, who hopes to get into radio in the future said “I was genuinely so confident CHMR was going to be the reason that I could have a career in radio after graduating MUN… I think to get rid of such a vital community and training ground for prospective journalists at MUN and other creative minds would be just such a deeply felt mistake for years to come.”

The future of CHMR is still uncertain, as the motion passed does not preclude the station to continue independently.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article said it was a unanimous vote. This is incorrect. We have since been informed that there was one vote opposed.