Student and Worker Coalition Calls on Premier to Stop Cuts

'Students are suffering and we are fed up' says MUNSU Executive Director of External Affairs Nicolas Keough

IMG 0328
MUNSU Executive Director of External Affairs Nicolas Keough speaks at campaign launch. (Jake Laybolt/The Muse)

This Tuesday morning, an assembly of student and labour union representatives called the Campus Coalition, gathered with media to announce a new campaign to increase government funding to Memorial. The group is requesting a meeting with Premier Andrew Furey.

“Our campuses are crumbling around us, tuition fees are increasing at alarming rates to try and make up the funding shortfalls … workers are trying to do more with less” said MUNSU Executive Director of External Affairs Nicolas Keough.

The newly launched campaign against cuts and for increased investment in Memorial University calls itself #FundMUN.

“Our university is celebrating 100 years … What better way to celebrate the university and its importance to our province… by stopping the cuts and restoring funding to MUN” said CUPE 1615 President Bill Kavanagh.

The Campus Coalition brings together the Graduate Students Union, Marine Institute Students’ Union, Grenfell Students Union, and the undergraduate student union, MUNSU, in tandem with several campus labour unions including:

  • MUNFA, represents tenured and contract professors and librarians
  • CUPE 1615, represents administrative, instructional, technical, and technical support staff
  • CUPE 4554, represents MUNSU staff
  • NAPE 7405 & other NAPE members employed in fields such as campus enforcement, maintenance and custodial.
  • LUMUN, represents per-course instructors
  • TAUMUN, represents teaching assistants

FundMUN’s participating organizations represent over 20,000 students, faculty and staff.

The Campus Coalition launched a website where they have encouraged community members to visit and review their resources. Organizers say they are encouraging the public to write the premier with concerns about what they consider to be the decline of Memorial.

Through the campaign, organizers from labour and student unions are planning to mobilize outreach to government, media and the public to raise awareness and grow support to improve conditions at MUN.

“Our campuses are crumbling around us,” said MUNSU External Director Nicolas Keough, referring to infrastructure issues including the continued presence of asbestos throughout campus.

IMG 0333
CUPE 1615 president Bill Kavanagh (Jake Laybolt/The Muse)

Student-worker solidarity amid shared concerns

“Workers are trying to do more with less,” Keough continued. 

The solidarity of the different organizations marks an interesting development of unified interests.

Labour unions seem to be equally concerned about tuition as students, and students seemed to be equally concerned about the state of the university’s operating budget which employs countless staff across MUN.

The decline of conditions at MUN through infrastructure stands in contrast to the increased tuition. “We are down-loading the cuts to our post-secondary system onto the shoulders of an entire generation of people in our province,” said Keough.

This comes amidst previous commitments by the Premier to re-evaluate MUN funding after his government brought the end of the 22-year tuition freeze. In 2021, the province announced it was phasing out $68.4 million from the yearly tuition offset grant over the course of five years. Since this move, tuition at Memorial has more than doubled for domestic students, and doubled for international students.

Keough continued by calling upon Premier Furey to meet with students after over 500 days without a meeting.

MUNFA VP External Lisa Moores comments on cuts

MUNFA VP External and Associate Professor of Counselling, Lisa Moores followed this by stressing the importance of MUN to the provincial economy and culture, referring to the need to honour its namesake which memorialized the sacrifice of those who fought in World War I.

“Continuing to allow the degradation of the University’s ability to function properly is a disservice to the people of the province and to the memory of those it honours.”

Moores also called upon Premier Furey to meet with the student-worker coalition and assist with the university’s precarious situation.

IMG 0331
MUNFA VP External Lisa Moores (Jake Laybolt/The Muse)

CUPE 1615 President grades MUN’s infrastructure 

Representing the administrative and technical staff was President Bill Kavanagh who spoke on behalf of all non-academic staff across several locals. 

Among his concerns is an outstanding cost for deferred maintenance fees which they estimate to be a total of $481 million across the various buildings at Memorial. The situation is due in part from a discontinued maintenance funding program from the government which concluded in 2018. That program provided the university with provisions ranging from $4-10 million per year.

Additionally, the facilities condition index, a metric used to rate infrastructure, revealed a concerning state of affairs. 0-5% is excellent, 5-10% is acceptable, and greater than 10% is ‘fair to poor.’ MUN’s own target of 12%, was eclipsed by its actual rating of 28% across all campuses.

“It is not hyperbolic when we say that our campuses are crumbling around us, they literally are,” said Kavanagh

Kavanagh urged the public to contact members of the house of assembly; he also called upon Furey, who received three degrees from MUN, to contemplate his alumnus status during the next provincial budget.

MUN Responds

“We recognize that many people, inside Memorial University and throughout our province, care deeply about the university and want to see it succeed,” said MUN spokesperson Chad Pelley via email.

“Our priority is ensuring that Memorial can continue to fulfil its teaching, research and public engagement mandate within the context of a constrained provincial budget and multi-year reductions in the university’s operating grant. The challenges associated with this are a part of our ongoing conversations with the provincial government.”

The Muse has reached out to Premier Furey for comment and will update with his response.

Jake is a graduate student, currently studying Employment Relations. In 2023, he completed his Honours BA in Political Science. He has worked with the Muse since 2018, covering student politics, labour organizing, and campus activism.