During a public presentation on November 18, 2024, as part of Memorial University’s Provost search process, Interim Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Jennifer Lokash was publicly accused of making false statements in the media during the summer regarding the protest and occupation in support of Palestine.
Nikita Stapleton said on July 8, 2024, following the arrest of the student protesters on campus, Lokash gave a couple of media availabilities, and in those, she made several statements that were “demonstrably false.” Lokash stated to the media that the building closed at the regular time, 10:00 pm and that police were called only after students refused to leave. However, the police report indicates that Memorial called the police at 3:36 pm in the afternoon and arranged for them to come that evening. The police were on campus at 9:15 pm, 42 minutes before the trespass notices were issued.
Stapleton said Memorial had several lines of communication with students throughout the day and did not once mention that they were pursuing trespass or calling the police.
President Bose intervened and said, “Excuse me, these are not questions that we can have for the candidate.” Stapleton asked to be allowed to finish, and Bose responded, “Keep going for a few minutes, but I will shut you down.”
Stapleton asked two questions: “Did you know these claims you made were untrue when you made them? If not, what steps have you taken since then to address your role in spreading this information to the university and the broader community?”
Lokash responded, “As Dr. Both said, not really appropriate questioning for a candidate in this position, but I will say that no. By no means did I knowingly tell lies to the media… When we go out into the media for sensitive topics, we do a lot of preparation for that. There are many voices that are involved in developing key messages and… I am delivering those messages to the best of my ability. I don’t agree, Nikita, that there was untruth told to the media, and you know, I think that’s all I’m going to say here on that today.”
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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