On March 19, 2026, Memorial University math instructor Beth Ann Austin took to social media regarding news that Memorial is planning major cuts in the Department of Mathematics, including increasing class sizes and reducing course offerings, to eliminate five of the six contractual teaching faculty positions in the department. Austin said she has worked as a contract instructor teaching first-year math for over 13 years.
Austin asked, “No one is denying that students struggle in first-year math courses. And who can blame them when high school math scores in this province have plummeted over the past decade to the lowest in the country?”
She said that, paired with the anxiety many people feel toward math, this lack of foundational skills means that students are “starting at a deficit.”
Austin said most students taking first-year math courses are either fresh out of high school and transitioning to university life or mature students returning to math after years away. She said that in either situation, these students need support that goes beyond teaching the course material: “They need math to be approachable; they need someone to recognize when they are struggling; they need the resources to fill in gaps in their knowledge,” said Austin.
Austin said the difference between a tenured faculty member and the teaching faculty who typically teach these first-year courses is “not necessarily one of teaching skills, but rather a difference of focus.”
She said that tenured faculty are specialized in an area, allowing them to conduct research and inform the teaching of high-level concepts to students, whereas teaching introductory courses requires a different kind of specialized knowledge, including “building background, breaking down concepts, identifying problem areas, and working to fix them.”
She said that teaching faculty may do some research, but their priority is always students: “Teaching is not something I do on the side; it’s what I’ve devoted my life to.”
Austin said there is a significant difference between someone who can teach a course and someone who wants to teach a course, a difference that students can feel immediately.
Austin noted that this is not the first time that cuts have been made with no further plan. She said there are courses that give students limited feedback on their work because the budget used to provide markers was cut.
She said there used to be a Math Learning Centre to help students build foundational skills needed to succeed in first-year math, but the program had limited success and used significant resources, so it was cut.
“We tried having special classes focused on students who were at highest risk of failing, but the smaller class sizes were not cost-effective, so they were cut,” said Austin.
Austin said, “A program that’s not working shouldn’t be continued indefinitely, and no one is suggesting that everything here is working.”
She said, “Recognizing the problem is only the first step, and that’s where the administration stops. Things aren’t working, so we’ll cut them.”
Austin said, “There is no consideration of why the problem is happening, no examination of what has been working and what hasn’t, no work done to find a solution. The only problem being solved is the bottom line of the budget, regardless of the impact.”
She said the administration welcomes changes proposed by instructors to address low success rates, as long as they don’t entail additional costs.
Austin said the instructors who teach these first-year courses with low success rates have continued to do their best for students despite the cuts.
“We’ve changed course content to better suit student needs. We’ve restructured courses to reduce stress and allow students to focus on skills,” said Austin.
Austin said, “We’re the ones meeting to discuss how to help students succeed, how to mitigate the damage of the continued cuts, how to fill the gaps in their foundational knowledge, how to do more with less. Who is going to put in that work after the university casts us aside?”
Austin encouraged people to provide feedback to the Dean of Science at deansci@mun.ca.
View Austin’s post 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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