On February 28, 2024, the Grenfell Campus Student Union in Corner Brook issued a letter to several senior administrators at Memorial University, including President and Vice-chancellor pro tempore Neil Bose, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) pro tempore Jennifer Lokash, Vice-President (Grenfell Campus) Ian Sutherland, and Acting Chief Information Officer Alison Randell. The letter raised concerns regarding the services provided to students at Grenfell Campus.
Following a cybersecurity breach that led to a network outage during the Christmas break, students experienced a substantial reduction in services over the past few months. There was a significant disruption to the services that students rely on for their academic work and personal activities. Many international students in student housing were isolated from their families back home with no way to contact them. Additionally, students were compelled to incur unexpected expenses by increasing their cell phone data plans to compensate for the lack of internet access on campus.
The repercussions of the outage extended into the Winter semester, where students encountered difficulties in contacting professors, academic advisors, and administrative offices over email for assistance. Not only did the outage cause inconveniences, but it also hindered students’ ability to engage with the start of a new semester fully, and some professors were put in a state of limbo with how each course would proceed without access to documents and technological facilities.
Grenfell students who were registered in online classes were expected to attend by upgrading data plans or transporting themselves to spots in town with free Wi-Fi access.
Given the impact of this outage on student services, the GCSU states they “strongly demand a full reimbursement of the student services fees for the severe inconvenience caused to students.” Furthermore, they state, “It is an injustice for students to pay an exorbitant amount of fees and not be provided with the services we were promised… it is important to uphold the standards of service that students expect and most importantly deserve.”
See 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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