On October 25th, 2023, The Marine Institute Students’ Union (MISU) penned a letter to the Minister of Education of Education regarding the release of the Auditor General’s report into Memorial University. They state it is “a blistering report which confirms what Student Unions in the MUNL system have been saying for years. MUNL’s spending is not focused where it needs to be, and the institution is suffering for it.”
Furthermore, they state that they firmly believe that Memorial students, including those at the Marine Institute, should not be responsible for “financing the administrative bloat and overspending highlighted in the report; a burden which is increasingly being transferred to us by the provincial government.”
They note that food banks are overwhelmed, and the little housing that is available for students is increasingly overpriced. They also state that every other basic necessity of life continues to look more like a luxury item. They state, “Meanwhile, MUNL has continued to spend lavishly; just not where the money needs to be directed.”
They state that when the provincial government eliminated the tuition freeze, it did not transfer to students the cost of their education. “It transitioned to students the cost of an overspending, and under supervised, Memorial administration.”
The MISU is calling on Howell and the provincial government to immediately reinstate a tuition freeze, which they state is “money not given by the taxpayers to Memorial as a free gift, but as targeted relief for the university’s primary stakeholder: its students. They conclude by stating, “Let us be clear: students shouldn’t pay for MUN’s misdeeds.”
View the 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.
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