The Muse

The second MUNSU meeting of the semester took place on January 28, 2026.

As mentioned in the round up of the January 14 meeting, notices of reprimands were served to Human Kinetics and Recreation Representative Colby Dalton and Business Representative Tobi Emioladipupo.

Julian Sutton also put forward motions to censure both Dalton and Emioladipupo, citing failure to fulfill their duties as board members.

Both board members saw large support from both the Executive Directors and other board members alike, with their support hinging on the condition that the two board members increase and improve the communication of their activities.

The discourse surrounding the motions was largely positive, with the discussion prompting Sutton to voice that he would be willing to vote against his own motion, in Dalton’s case. 

The motion to censure Dalton saw one vote in favour of the motion and seventeen against the motion. The motion regarding Emioladipupo met the same fate, with three votes in favour, one abstention, and sixteen against the censure. 

The other major issue at hand centered around whether or not MUNSU should cover the approximately $2,200 in travel, registration, and per diem fees for three students to attend the CFS Black Caucus Annual General Meeting in Toronto in March.

Initially, only two members were attached to the motion—Black Students’ Representative Stephen Ehigie and Students of Colour Representative Kamso Nzwei. 

Director of Campaigns, Rana Abuidris, put a motion forward to amend the motion and add herself to the list of students attending the AGM. The motion to amend passed narrowly, with six in favour, five abstentions, and four opposed. 

The board quickly divided into two camps—those who viewed the money be better spent at MUN, and those who saw the AGM as a means of representing and advocating for their constituencies.

Nathan Gillingham, Director of External Affairs, argued that the money be spent better at MUN, and that the AGM served largely as a networking event.

“Everything we do should be of the direct interest on the socialized basis, not for professional development,” said Gillingham during the debate.

Abuidris on the other hand, argued that the AGM could serve as a means of advocating for the Sudanese population and that she intended to go to highlight the ongoing genocide in Sudan.

She also argued that the conversations and exchanges held at the AGM would “benefit local members directly.”

The motion to send all three students failed to hit the two-thirds threshold with a result of nine in favour, three abstentions, and five opposed.

However, the issue did not die there as Director of Student Life Blake Colbran successfully passed a motion to amend the motion back to its original form, with just Ehigie and Nzwei tagged to it. 

The debate of this motion saw the same arguments made as the previous motion, with the circular nature of the debate being noted by several.

Sutton and Gillingham suggested adding the money that would be better spent, approximately $1700, to MUNSU’s Black History Month budget. This was met with doubt from some board members, including Abuidris.

The motion ultimately passed, with twelve in favour, three abstentions, and two opposed.

In a statement by the GCSU, the union expressed its disappointment in the university’s decision to close the Harlow Campus.

What Harlow means to Grenfell

In an interview with The Muse, GCSU president Tyson Jesso said the Harlow Campus gives a “life changing” opportunity to students to travel outside the province.

“A lot of our students who avail of the opportunity to travel to Harlow are students from rural Newfoundland and Labrador, who never had the opportunity to leave the province … this is a really life changing opportunity that really broadens their personal, academic, and cultural perspectives. Sitting in a classroom and writing a paper on an art piece isn’t the same as sitting in front of the art piece and actually visualizing it.”

According to Jesso, one reason why Harlow is so important to Grenfell is because of the fine arts and theatre department.

“Theatre students at Grenfell are required to go to Harlow campus as part of their degree,” said Jesso. Now that the campus suddenly no longer exists, there are questions on how these students will be able to complete their degree.

“Now we’re wondering like, what does this mean for them? What is the university’s plan for them? How are they gonna graduate if they’re not be able to avail of this mandatory course because the campus just simply doesn’t exist anymore?”

“The closure of Harlow isn’t answering any questions and solving any anxiety or stress that students are facing knowing that these cuts are coming. I feel like it just adds on to the pressure.”

Jesso also touched on the importance of the international recognition both Memorial and Grenfell receive from the Harlow Campus.

“Allowing Grenfell and Memorial to be represented at the international level is incredible to me… it’s very unfortunate [the closure] and I think students are very disappointed in the decision.”

Grenfell Students

Jesso said that he’s heard specifically from fine arts and theatre students that although are extremely disappointed in this decision, understand the university’s position, and expect the university to uphold its commitment in offering them international experiences.

At Grenfell, Jesso says there is a Harlow action committee that is made up of fine arts and theatre students, along with Jesso and the GCSU vice-president who both chair the committee. This committee compromises of students who “are interested or have attended Harlow campus to seek transparency in the closure.”

“We know that MUN has many agreements with many institutions all over the globe, but I feel like preserving this specific trip and making sure there’s little changes to the student’s learning opportunities as possible, which is the most important part.”

Importance of future international learning opportunities

Jesso stresses the importance of Grenfell students getting International opportunities, despite the closure of the Harlow campus.

“Like I said this is a mandatory part of a theatre students academic experience… It’s not on the back of students to figure this out, it’s on the back of the faculty and administrations, so we’re really counting on them to find a solution for these students.”

Jesso told me he believes the university will deliver on continuing to offer said international learning opportunities, even with the absence of Harlow, saying

“I’ve met with university administration multiple times and they are actively searching for alternate locations… and yes it does seem like the university is working on finding alternatives. Where that will be is unsure but I’m fairly confident the university will uphold its promise.“

“Student deserve a plan outlining Memorial’s plans moving forward”

Jesso believes there needs to be more transparency from the university regarding future cuts.

“The university needs to outline a plan for students. I feel like keeping everyone in the dark isn’t the best move to make, especially in times of such uncertainty, people know cuts are coming, so I’m unsure why the university isn’t laying out a plan to let people know what’s coming and are just kinda dropping all these announcements on people.”

For a university that prides themselves on being transparent, Jesso thinks they are not doing the best job at being open with students regarding the budget cuts.

“It’s very unfortunate, especially when they kinda uplift themselves on being such a transparent and open administration.

“When they’re making cuts and keeping everyone in the dark, it doesn’t feel that way. I feel like students deserve a plan outlining Memorial’s plans moving forward.”

On January 21, Times Higher Education released its global university rankings. Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador’s best performance came in the engineering program, where it ranked 6th out of 29 universities in Canada and top 200 globally. 

According to its website, Times Higher Education says its mission “is to be the definitive source of data, insight, and expertise on higher education worldwide” and has had “[a] relationship of trust with universities spanning 50 years.”

The 2026 university rankings have Memorial tied for sixth in the country for engineering programs along with McMaster University, the University of Calgary, and Western University. The University of Toronto topped the ranking for Canadian universities and landed 25th globally.

A university or program’s placement is based on a score calculated by a combination of four categories: Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry and International Outlook.   

The MUN Engineering program was awarded 22.4 points in the “Teaching” category, up one point from 2025, far from University of Toronto’s first place score of 78.7 points however a decrease from its 2023 peak of 25.9. Per the methodology page of the Times Higher Education website, Teaching score is based on “teaching reputation, student-to-staff ratio, doctorate-to-bachelor ratio, doctorate-to-staff ratio, and institutional income.”

MUN was given 27.4 points in the category of Research Environment, down 0.2 points from last year’s peak. The number one ranked University of Toronto scored 81.8 points. Times Higher Education describes the methodology of the Research Environment category as based “on research reputation, income, and productivity.”

In the category of Research Quality, Memorial University reached its peak score of 83.7 points, 2.7 points higher than the previous year’s (and peak of) 81 points. Not far off from the number one ranked University of Toronto’s score of 87.7 points. Research Quality is defined as “includes citation impact, research strength, research excellence, and influence”

The score of the Industry category, which is described as “measures income from industry partnerships and patents,” was very similar to Research Quality. 83.7 points, a new peak, and up one point from 2025 however, it’s a  large increase from just 2 years prior when the category was given a score of 69.8.

And finally, Memorial’s highest scoring category was International Outlook, where it was given a score of 91.7, interestingly higher than the University of Toronto’s score of 89 but lower than the number two ranked University of British Columbia at 92.2 and the number 13 ranked University of New Brunswick at 93.4. International Outlook is stated to “[account] for international students, staff and co-authorship.”

The Muse reached out to Memorial University spokesperson for a reaction to these rankings but they did not respond in time.