On September 18, 2024, at a Memorial University Students’ Union Board of Directors meeting, engineering student Ben Oates read out a prepared statement with concerns of students who claimed that they were mistreated and neglected by the students’ union. Oates claimed he consulted hundreds of fellow students and spent four years on the Engineering Society. He said students felt “alienated at best and intimidated into silence at worst.” Oates said that although he believes the union’s initiatives are “misguided, ineffective, and counterproductive,” he believes that they share a common vision of “a more equitable, better equipped, and continually prosperous Memorial University.”
Oates said that the students’ union had deviated from its core values, which are enshrined in the constitution and in the tradition of the student union since its existence. He said that in recent years, the students’ union has transitioned from “a student representative organization into a soapbox for elevating a certain political ideology and agenda.” Oates indicated that it is not an unpopular or unfounded opinion and shared a quote from a student:
“MUNSU has become a political organization that disguises itself as a student activist group in order to expropriate the resources students give them (i.e. platforms and funding) to further their own political agendas – not represent students – and someone needs to keep them in line.”
Oates said that the campaigns conducted by the student union in the post-COVID era demonstrate that his opinion is not unfounded and that many of the elected officials at the student union do not have the support of the student body, exemplified by what he claimed is a sub-20 percent voter turnout each year. Oates also felt that students did not have input into the campaigns.
Oates claimed that he heard from students that the students’ union’s action had hurt them, like engineering students who have suffered a greater than ten percent reduction in co-op placements this year, and they felt it was due to an “inflammatory campaign” by the students’ union that caused reputation damage to several companies who in turn reduced or eliminated opportunities for students.
Oates claimed that the student union has a close association with the MUN Students for Palestine group and took issue with this. Oates said a protest action taken to disrupt an event in the Queen Elizabeth II Library served “only to aggravate others while not advancing meaningful causes.”
Oates claimed that he had 31 written statements from students who had concerns about the student union, but all wished to remain anonymous out of fear of “reprisal, intimidation, and bully-pulpit tactics. He said that the students’ union’s “collective actions have not served to unite people behind any given cause but have sought to divide, destroy, and suppress any who dare speak out in even the slightest opposition to what he called “the party line.”
Oates said he wished to bring about a pragmatic environment at Memorial and offered several recommendations, including a suspension of activities pertaining to the campaigns portfolio and the introduction of a “quorum” rule whereby the Executive is not permitted to execute any public-facing campaigns without the consent and consultation of at least 50 percent of the student body. He also recommended the introduction of an “open and fair process” in which students can challenge the viewpoint of the student union without fear of reprisal,” along with an amendment that would make students’ union fees optional.
He also recommended that the student union launch a review of the process in which student groups are ratified and issued funding to not allow “the individual opinions of any one group to interfere with the operations of an independent student group.” Furthermore, Oates recommended the students’ union issue an apology for what he claimed was a “dereliction of duty.” He also recommended the rebuilding of a “professional working relationship” with stakeholders like the university administration and government. Finally, Oates recommended that the students’ union constitution be amended so that no member shall be involved with any “political and/or partisan activity” during their term in office and that a violation should result in immediate expulsion from the organization.
View Oates’s letter below:
Matt Barter is a graduate of the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty at Memorial University of Newfoundland, holding a degree in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. He enjoys reading thought-provoking articles, taking walks in nature, and volunteering in the community.
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