On January 26, 2022, Memorial University Professor and International Relations expert Lucian Ashworth shared his thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine conflict on NTV Evening News. Below is the transcript:

Toni-Marie Wiseman: Even though it’s on the other side of the world, there is a lot of attention being paid here to what’s happening in Ukraine. Tensions there are high; weapons and soldiers are marshalling at the border in the face of a possible invasion by Russia. NTV’s David Salter spoke with a local expert who’s watching the tensions rise.

David Salter: The Russian troops are training for conflict too close for comfort at the Ukrainian border, waiting for Vladimir Putin to order an invasion.

Lucian Ashworth: There’s a lot of things being threatened here on the ground but whether they will actually end up in an actual full-scale invasion is really a whole different question.

Salter: Russia calls the troop build-up a defensive measure against NATA. Putin wants Western powers to back off or else. The U.S. President is facing pressure to deal with the threat. Joe Biden says an invasion by Russia would change the world, but Lucian Ashworth, a Political Scientist at MUN, doesn’t think a full scale invasion will happen.

Ashworth: A lot of military experts are saying that they don’t actually think Russia is at the moment capable of launching an invasion into Ukraine and that the most likely would be kind of pinprick attacks and things like this. The other thing is that there’s a question about whether there is a grand plan with the Russian government or whether think is kind of ad hoc opportunism.

Salter: The political and military chess game is playing out on the other side of the world, but Ashworth says the ripple effect of political instability in the region will reach our shores.

Ashworth: We’re in a deeply globalized world; what happens in Ukraine is going to affect gas and oil supplies, it’s going to affect the economy of Europe and the European Union, which directly affects the Canadian economy. It’s also going to directly affect the people who have friends and family in the region as well.

Salter: Ashworth is counting on cooler heads prevailing, but he admits it’s a potential powder keg waiting to explode.

Ashworth: There’s always the possibility for an accident, there’s always a possibility for things to go in directions that we don’t want them to go, and I think that’s what we have to be worried about.

Matt Barter is a fourth-year student in the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty at Memorial University of Newfoundland, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. He enjoys reading thought-provoking articles, walks in nature, and volunteering in the community.

On January 31st, 2022, Memorial University student Mackenzie Broders took to social media to call out the powers that be at MUN. They stated, “This administration’s constant dismissal of the very people who make MUN the community what it is cannot be tolerated anymore.” Broders then shared her response to Dr. Vianne’s Timmons’s automated reply that she sent to those who expressed dissatisfaction with the return to in-person learning. Borders then stated, “I’m furious. You should be furious. We deserve better.”

Broders began her email to Timmons by stating, “Your automated, heedless response is a clear symbol of your absolute disinterest in the needs of your students and faculty, and that you would feel the need to have such a response eloquently reflects your constant dismissal and obvious disregard for the wellbeing of the very body of people upon whom your job and the existence of this institution depend.”

Furthermore, Broders stated, “Memorial University does not exist without its students, and your persistent refusal to acknowledge our needs is unacceptable. You have a responsibility to the students of Memorial University and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and it is a responsibility that you have failed to rise to since you came to your office.”

Broders describes the decision to return to in-person learning as being made “hastily and without a concrete plan—this is unacceptable in any case. Students, many of whom were instructed to not return to the province following the break, are having to scramble to secure flights, accommodation, and transportation all within the space of a few days due to your lack of planning.”

Then Broders took issue with Timmons’s statement, “you have included displays that your administration refuses to listen to the needs of its students, faculty and staff by ignoring many of the calls put forward and instead implementing unsatisfactory measures that have left many students feeling more unsafe than ever but without a choice other than to return to campus.”

Even though Timmons did address some of the points by students in her statement, Broders said, “you fail, even refuse, to realize that they are not addressed adequately and that change, and an apology, are imperative.’

Broders stated that the primary directive of a university should be to promote learning, but during a pandemic, the institution’s responsibility is to promote the safety of its members. Broders stated, “Here, your administration has failed on two counts: firstly, students no longer feel that Memorial is a university that values their educations—instead, it is a leech, expecting 2.2 percent of this province’s population, a population of largely unskilled workers who are both working and trying to attend classes, to pay 30% of this province’s debt. Secondly, students no longer feel that Memorial values their safety or needs, as your constant irresponsibility with the lives of the 20,000 students at this university have done nothing to make students feel heard or secure.”

Finally, Broders stated, “You must listen to the voices of your students. You have failed in two ways that this university should never have failed. Students deserve an apology, to feel heard, and to know that the administrators of their institution are more than greedy, callous, unempathetic and out-of-touch. This is your responsibility. This university does not exist without its students.”

See letter below:

Matt Barter is a fourth-year student in the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty at Memorial University of Newfoundland, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. He enjoys reading thought-provoking articles, walks in nature, and volunteering in the community.

On February 2, 2022, the Memorial University of Newfoundland Students’ Union issued a statement on student dissent. See the statement below:

“Dear MUNSU Members,

Memorial University of Newfoundland Students’ Union (MUNSU) stands in solidarity with student activists as we have witnessed a pattern of students’ voices being ignored, neglected, and silenced across Memorial University.

Students and faculty have come together to call for increased protections, informed support, and reasonable accommodations to ensure the safety of every member of MUNL as the university returns to in-person learning. These calls have been minimized and pushed aside as administration pushes forward its agenda without any regard for student concerns.

The decision to massively increase tuition in response to the government cuts to funding post-secondary education has caused outrage and fear as current and prospective students can no longer afford to access an undergraduate degree. Students and community province-wide have been actively organizing against the decision- rallying for accessible and affordable education as a right for all, marching in the streets of downtown, lobbying government and administration, and sharing their outrage as our leadership displays their complete lack of value for students and young people.

While these decisions from government and university leadership have sparked actions from numerous students, we are incredibly concerned that one student is being silenced through the wrongful use of the Student Code of Conduct. An undergraduate student at MUNL has been banned from engaging in student life as a result of exercising their right to peacefully protest. This student has been granted limited access to classes, the library, and the University Centre for the purpose of obtaining needed resources. However, this student remains banned from accessing the rest of campus life at Memorial as a result of voicing their dissent and challenging the President and administration of this institution through peaceful protest.

MUNSU is calling on senior administration at Memorial University to fully drop any remaining bans that are prohibiting this student from fully engaging in student life at this institution. We believe that using the Student Code of Conduct in this way is an unethical attempt to block students from accessing their right to dissent and engage in peaceful protest.

MUNL students are expressing fear of repercussions from university leadership when speaking out against university decisions that are actively creating barriers to their ability to access an education. MUNSU encourages all students, faculty, and staff to continue to speak out against tuition fee increases, the privatization of education, underfunded students resources, and all decisions that create barriers to accessibility and force students and our families further into debt.

MUNSU is calling on university administration to listen to the voices of students, to value the lives and wellbeing of the MUNL community. We are calling on our leadership to recognize their unethical attempts to block student dissent on campus and uphold the rights of students to engage in peaceful protest. MUNSU is calling on our leadership to prioritize our right to access an education.

All students who feel as if they have been subjected to unjust treatment as a result of the Student Code of Conduct should contact your Executive Director of Advocacy, John Mweemba at advocacy@munsu.ca. For all other inquiries, please feel free to get in touch with your Executive Director of External Affairs, Communications, and Research, Hilary Hennessey, at external@munsu.ca.

In Solidarity,
MUN Students’ Union (MUNSU)”

Matt Barter is a fourth-year student in the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty at Memorial University of Newfoundland, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. He enjoys reading thought-provoking articles, walks in nature, and volunteering in the community.

Memorial University students, faculty, and staff returned to campus on January 31st, 2022. However, many students were not there as they disagreed with the administration’s back-to-campus plan. Several students took part in a virtual walkout protest from the safety of their own homes.

Student Kira Whittaker states, “So at the moment, there’s no plan for providing online learning opportunities for students who are facing isolation or who simply can’t return to campus as a result of being immunocompromised and feeling unsafe.”

Another student Andrew Taylor says, “The administration came out… and said if you’re in class and you want to have a sip of water, for instance, you can’t move your mask up to have a sip of water. So I mean, if it’s not safe enough to move your mask up three seconds to sip water, I don’t understand why they’re rushing to get back into class.”

MUNSU Executive Director of External Affairs Hilary Hennessey states, “I feel that MUN should be online during this time as a way to protect everyone’s health and safety as well as to ensure that professors can accommodate students and not have to drain themselves trying to conduct in-person and online learning.”

MUN President Vianne Timmons states that they are doing the best they can with the information they have. She also claims to understand the concerns some students have.

Timmons states, “So there were many different views about coming back to campus today. Some supportive, some not supportive. We listened to the students; we’ve done a few things they’ve asked us to. For example, extend the add/drop date until January 31st with no penalty. So, we have listened to concerns, but we felt with public health guidelines, and we work closely with public health, and other universities around Atlantic Canada all coming back today or have been back, most of them, we felt that this was an appropriate time to bring the students back to campus.”

Matt Barter is a fourth-year student in the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty at Memorial University of Newfoundland, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. He enjoys reading thought-provoking articles, walks in nature, and volunteering in the community.