A recently obtained ATIPP reveals consultation submissions for the proposed Respectful Learning Environment policy from October 1st, 2022 to November 3rd. Download file 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.

ATIPP.

A recently obtained ATIPP reveals consultation submissions for the proposed Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities policy from October 1st, 2022 to November 3rd. Download file 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.

Anthony Germain and Jawad Chowdhury.

On December 2nd, 2022, MUN Students’ Union Executive Director of Advocacy Jawad Chowdhury took part in a segment on CBC Anthony Germain’s show “On The Go.” Below is a transcript of the episode:

Anthony Germain: Students at Memorial University says administrative officials went over the top today when they threatened to remove students from a university event. Members of the student union and their supporters held up a giant pink slip with President Vianne Timmons name on during the university’s public report to the community. Jawad Chowdhury is Executive Director of Advocacy for Memorial University’s Student Union and he’s in the studio with me. Good afternoon.

Jawad Chowdhury: Good afternoon.

AG: So, before we get to the threat sir, can you describe the scene? What were students doing?

JC: Right, so today was the president’s report to the community and it was an event where the university essentially portrays all the good work that has been done but over the past year, we’ve seen that students have been under stress from the tuition fee hikes and living cost and so students today chose this event because it was a perfect fit, we could also express our message to the community and we went there with a pink slip that essentially said Vianne Timmons our president was fired and we cited the following.

AG: Just before you say that I should point out this is a very big pink slip, it is not like a sheet of paper like I’m holding.

JC: No, it’s a 3 by 4 feet pink slip.

AG: So, it’s a giant pink slip.

JC: It is a giant pink slip. So, the pink slip had the following on it, it said that Dr. Vianne Timmons failed to secure sufficient public funding for Memorial University, she also misspent of the existing public funds on lavish salaries, office renovations and administrative bloat, exploiting international students by differential fees, saddling students with mountains of student debt, failure to develop a university budget that does not double tuition fees and ensure accessible education for all.

AG: Alright so you listed what you believe are the president’s shortcomings. Was this kind of a disruptive thing? Were you there with blow horns and blasting messages or was this, what kind of protest was it?

JC: So, President Timmons at the beginning of the event presented her speech and students took the stage right after that and presented the pink slip. It was very peaceful, there were no words exchanged.

AG: But you weren’t invited to the stage?

JC: No, we were not invited to the stage. We were invited to the event yes.

AG: Okay, so you got up there on stage. So, this sounds like a stunt like a typical protest stunt, right?

JC: It is a protest, yes.

AG: What was the reaction? What happened?

JC: Well, after we got there the university administration threatened to remove us from the stage using Campus Enforcement to which we said yes we are open to it but no actions were taken but then we left very peacefully once the event was concluded and once we came out we were met by the Chief Risk Officer at MUN who threatened to kick students out of university committees because of the actions that we just did.

AG: Now it just so happens that there was someone there, like everywhere with a phone and so somebody decided to record. I think we have some of that, so I’ll get Ken to share that with the listener.

Greg McDougall: MUNSU next Thursday… with committees it’s not happening, I’ll find other students who want to be involved with it, you are silencing other students’ voices… We worked with you very hard… offered up open dialogue to set up a meeting with us. This was not a positive way forward…

Ely Pitman: Maybe you should take 24 hours to think on it.

GM: No, I actually already emailed in terms of those meeting and stuff going forward. We’ll involve students but we’re not going to work through that anymore.

Isabel: There’s no change without direct action and disruption, there’s never been.

GM: But the point was made from being up there, you could have asked tough questions.

Student: We’ve been asking tough questions; the answers haven’t been there!

GM: In a public form like this?

Isabel: We’ve asked for a personal meeting with Timmons and never got it, it is not an escalation at any point.

GM: I’m just stating that you are silencing students’ voices. We allowed it and we respect protest.

Isabel: You’re pricing students out, there’s no one or the other – it’s not a silencing of anybody.

GM: As a student protest is part of it, bringing forth that, that’s a very important message to share about the cost of education and access to it like that is the role of the student unit, union and it is fully supported by this university but it’s finding positive paths forward.

Isabel: How do you think we have ever gotten any wins with education? Tuition was doubled at this university in the late 90s and students didn’t get that reversed by asking for it politely. That’s not what happened. Also, we did no harm by anyone by coming here. We just disrupted the meeting, we brought our message here and this is the only way to be heard at a public forum.

GM: You only serve to silence other students voices.

AG: So, can you describe, I mean I seen it, who’s the Risk Officer?

JC: Greg McDougall.

AG: So, Greg McDougall comes out and he says you’re going to be disinvited from some committees or something?

JC: Yes, so apparently there was some university committee that was going to get striked next Thursday and he said he’s not going to invite the union anymore but he’s going to open it to the general student body and like the thing is all students at Memorial are the union, we are over 10,000 strong and so there is no way of kicking students out of university committees.

AG: Okay we’ll see what happens with committees, but it sounds as though that’s a direct consequence of whatever happened on the stage with the giant pink slip, right?

JC: That is correct, and I would also like to mention that President Timmons on multiple occasions has inspired students to protest, she also mentioned that protesting is a student right and that is contradictory to that statement.

AG: I think he was saying that too though in what he was trying to say to the students who were there, right? Were you there when this happened?

JC: I was there, yes.

AG: So, what’s happened with the relationship?

JC: Well, the relationship with the university admin has not been good since long because tuition fees doubled, tripled for local students here at Memorial and so that’s where the relationship was actually damaged and so this is our way of being disruptive at getting our voices heard.

AG: What do you actually want from them? The president has done what the president has done so tuition has gone up, I suspect you are realistic, and you don’t expect that to roll back do you?

JC: We do, so you know back in the late 90s tuition fees also doubled, students organized, protested got us a tuition fee freeze which is how Memorial had the most affordable tuition in the country for 22 long years and so after the tuition fees went up, we protested this November 2nd we marched to the Confederation Building. We made our stance clear to the Government. We met with the Government and every time in those meetings the Government says that Memorial was going to raise tuition anyway, they came to the Government proposing that and the Government approved it. Whereas if you go to the university admin, they say that the government cut funding and so tuition fees are going up.

AG: Right, so you’re getting explanation from both sides blaming each other.

JC: Exactly, it’s a lot of back and forth and students are tired of it.

AG: What’s the solution here?

JC: The solution is to provide free accessible education so that everyone can have access to education.

AG: So, what are you studying at MUN?

JC: I study business.

AG: Okay, so you study business, you’ve seen the balance sheet of the province, you think that they can afford to have free tuition in this province? Really?

JC: This is an investment if you think about it so.

AG: We would have to restructure the entire finances of government though, wouldn’t we? Like no tuition people pay nothing.

JC: See tuition at Memorial only makes up roughly 20 percent of Memorial’s budget, rest of it comes from research investment and external funding.

AG: And government funding?

JC: And government funding, yes. So, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador historically committed to free education before and so we believe this is possible again and we’ve been advocating for it since very long and we are hopeful.

AG: So, what will MUNSU do next, it sounds as though you’re not going to be welcome at these committees. What’s next?

JC: Only time can tell but will have an active presence on campus, we will have an active presence on all the Senate committee that we are currently on, and we will continue to advocate for students in all those spaces.

AG. Right. I did hear in that video somebody urging the officer, what’s his name again?

JC: Greg McDougall.

AG: Yeah, to take a breath and think on it for 24 hours.

JC: That was Ely Pitman our Executive Director of Student Life.

AG: Alright, I get the feeling that your points of view aren’t going to change if you wait 24 hours?

JC: See students have been voicing these concerns for long. It’s not about 24 hours for us. This been coming since last year. And there’s no way of stopping us, students will get what they deserve.

AG: Okay Jawad, I appreciate you coming in. Thank you very much. That’s Jawad Chowdhury, Executive Director of Advocacy for Memorial University’s Student Union… The students making their point, they’re still angry about increases in tuition and they want a break on the price, maybe as much as Jawad said free education, at the very least rolling back to where it was.

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.

Twitter.

Students protested funding cuts and tuition hikes by presenting Memorial University President Vianne Timmons with a pink slip on December 2nd, 2022. A video shows that after the peaceful protest Chief Risk Officer Greg McDougall confronted members of the MUN Students’ Union who were involved in the protest. Many have taken to social media to express outrage over McDougall’s conduct.

Political Science Professor Russell Alan Williams states “This is really disheartening. Student participation and dialogue about things like huge tuition hikes does not have to be positive. If you think students are too critical, you don’t just replace them.”

MUN Students’ Union Resource Katherine McLaughlin says, “I’m so disgusted at @MemorialU – ‘professionalism’ and ‘positive dialogue’ are weapons used to silence criticism and dialogue. Admin has shown over and over that you either need to support their capitalist pursuits or be silenced, reprimanded and removed. SHAME.”

Student Bruce March states that “The right to peaceful protest and demonstration is of critical importance in a healthy democracy. @MemorialU has shown their blatant disregard for this right in trying to shut down and silence dissent. Its one thing to disagree, it’s another to crack down on opposition.”

Historian Lori Lee Oates states, “If he thinks NL students are going to be quiet and ask for things politely offline, he doesn’t know about the history of student activism in NL.”

Salt Pages NL states, “Change does not happen without direct action – the efforts of MUNSU come from a long tradition of student protest and have been made necessary by the administration’s refusal to listen.”

Nick Gushue says, “It is absolutely key that the University Admin is focusing on civility politics as a way to shift the debate from accessible education to being polite. The Union must be allowed to voice the concerns of the student body through protests like this.”

User @clnewf states, “This is absolutely DISGUSTING!!! This is the type of administration we have at @MemorialU one that puts down students and their union for PEACEFULLY protesting and speaking on behalf of students about the accessibility and cost of tuition!! Be ashamed of yourself @vianne_timmons.”

The Canadian Federation of Students Newfoundland and Labrador states, “MUNSU has shown that in the face of skyrocketing tuition, their voices will not be silenced. Despite the Administration’s best efforts, they will continue to protest and advocate for #accessible and #affordable education for all. The students united will never be defeated!”

Rhea Rollmann says, “Always nice to see finely-shod chaps earning $178,000 a year in publicly-funded salaries tell students to find “positive” ways to talk about the cost of education.”

Alicia Poole states, “LOL so only students who agree with the university administration’s plans to continue to decimate post-secondary education accessibility in the province are able to participate in these conversations? What sort of institution is this becoming? Certainly not one which respects base-level democratic participation or the opinion of students, whom the university is designed to serve (in theory, ofc). As an alumni and current PhD student at @mcgillu, given the cuts to education and student support, this response to student protest, and lack of negotiation with @MUNFaculty, I am embarrassed and losing hope that there will be jobs at @MemorialU to return to that support good research and (which requires) a diverse student body who feel that post-secondary education is within their reach without taking on significant debt. I hope that administration, including @gmmcdoug and @vianne_timmons are able to take the space to see how damaging and harmful their actions are to the future of the province.”

User @GreatAuk709 states, “I am an alumnus @MemorialU and view this action by your risk officer as completely reprehensible.  He and others involved in threatening and demeaning these student representatives should be held accountable and forced to resign. Shame on @memorial.”

Travis Perry says, “And without ignoring the very serious issues of admin interference in governance, it should be pointed out that the Chief Risk Officer is one of the only people not wearing a mask in this video. Governance is not the responsibility of the CRO but managing the University’s response to the ongoing COVID pandemic is. Pretty easy to see where @MemorialU admin stands on the health risks for members of our community, particularly those who are most vulnerable.”

Paul Foote says, “As a @MemorialUAlumni I find this quite disturbing. Protest and demonstrations have been a fundamental element to constructive exchange and discourse throughout academic institutions forever. It’s clear that our institution has lost its values for thoughtful expression of ideas.”

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.

On December 2nd, 2022, several students protested funding cuts and tuition hikes by presenting Memorial University President Vianne Timmons with a pink slip. After the peaceful protest, Chief Risk Officer Greg McDougall confronted members of the MUN Students’ Union who were involved in the protest. McDougall seemed to be trying to portray himself very sternly to the protestors. He failed.

McDougall did not look comfortable in the video. In fact, I think he looked insecure. His body language in front of the students may have shown how he really felt. My analysis is that, in addition to crossing his arms, he even crossed his legs at one instance. Also there were points where McDougall seem to be biting his lips, holding his hands and walking away from the conversation at the same time. 

I have researched what those mannerisms usually mean and here is what I found that, in my opinion, may be applicable to the situation:

Regarding holding his own hands, on changingminds.org under hand body language, it states, “hands may also hold the self, such as when people hold their own hands, typically for comfort. Wringing the hands indicates more extreme nervousness. Holding the self can also be an act of restraint.” 

Tutorialspoint.com states that “The standing leg cross is a body gesture of defiance, defensiveness and submission.”

According to psychmechanics.com, during a conversation cross-legged body language “can indicate a withdrawn attitude.” And people tend to talk in shorter sentences and reject more proposals.

In my opinion, his communication wasn’t the only instance that day in which McDougall tried to appear one way but come off another. McDougall seems to have wanted to dress up for the event, and I commend him for the effort. However, I would say he also failed in that task. My criticism of his fashion choices would be that he was wearing a jacket and pants that are clearly not the same set. And I don’t think dark shirts look good when worn with a suit. Yet, if I was going with a dark shirt color, I would definitely not pick a tie that is a lighter color than the shirt. And I wouldn’t wear a tie that is broader than the lapel of my jacket. However, I think the worst fashion faux pas was wearing brown shoes with a dark outfit. And I especially disliked that the shoes appear to be square toed and not have any laces.

I think Greg would be more confident and look great in a good suit and with an openness towards a wide range of protest methods. Come over to the light side of the force, Greg!

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.

Jennie Massey.

When I served on the MUN Students’ Union Executive, I had encounters with administrators in which they tried to align students with their views. 

The below is a quote from the meeting minutes of the student union Executive Committee:

“Concerns were raised about having regular meetings with Director of Student Life Jennie Massey and Ancillary Operations Director. It was noted that Jennie Massey in particular had attempted on numerous occasions to convince the executive to align themselves with her personal goals and that she made inappropriate proposals in meetings. It was suggested that the executive should not meet with her on a regular basis as the meetings were not productive and seemed to only forge overly close relationships with administrators with whom the union should retain more distant, arms-length relationships since their goals and interests did not often align with those of the students’ union.”

The passage above shows an example of a time when Massey tried to align students with the views of the administration. Massey’s Mentee Ladan Mowlid, disclosed information about my disability to the media.

I filed a complaint against Ladan, and she was found to be in violation of MUN’s own Student Code of Conduct. I believe the disclosure was in an attempt to smear me.

MUN’s treatment of me as a MUNSU board member, journalist, and writer has been that of a smear campaign.

Massey has since moved to Western University, where she works as Associate Vice-President (Student Experience). In this position, she banned students from holding on-campus leadership positions in November 2020 including on the student council, due to mistakenly not following her stringent, rapidly changing COVID rules. The student council at Western stated that the administration misinterpreted the Student Code of Conduct and overstepped their authority.

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.

Student protesters. Photo credit: Brian Callahan.

On December 2nd, 2022, students at Memorial University served president Vianne Timmons with a pink slip at her report to the community event.

Photo credit: Ben Cleary.

Photo credit: Ben Cleary.

Photo credit: The Muse.

Photo credit: The Muse.

ATIPP.

A recently obtained ATIPP request reveals all emails sent/received by Memorial University Vice-President (Advancement and External Relations) Lisa Browne regarding Ode to Newfoundland from October 1st to 25th, 2022. See ATIPP files 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.

A recently obtained ATIPP request reveals all emails sent/received by Memorial University president Vianne Timmons regarding Ode to Newfoundland from October 1st to 25th, 2022. See ATIPP file 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.

MUN President Vianne Timmons.

A person concerned about Memorial University’s removal of the Ode to Newfoundland at Convocation ceremonies wrote the following email, obtained through ATIPP, to President Vianne Timmons on October 21, 2022:

…proud of the University and its base in and commitment to this place… Yet today I find myself embarrassed by and embarrassed for an institution that seems to lack any depth of understanding of where it came from and what it stands for.

The decision to eliminate the Ode to Newfoundland from convocation ceremonies at Memorial University (emphasis on Memorial) is held out as a move to inclusion when in fact it is incredibly divisive. It shows and appalling ignorance of, indifferent to or (hopefully not) an active hostility to, the constitutional, social and cultural history of Newfoundland and Labrador. Composed in 1902 and adopted as the national anthem in 1904, the Ode has been sung over the freshly dug graves of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from all communities, across Northern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Italy, the very people Memorial was created to honour. It was sung in the 1920’s at the opening of the moving Royal Newfoundland Regiment memorials across Europe and more recently at Gallipoli in Turkey. It’s been sung throughout Newfoundland and Labrador in school assemblies and concerts, music festivals and official events such as the opening of The Rooms. If you want inclusion, I suggest you find a recording of the grand finale of Festival 500 when it was sung by a choir of hundreds of individuals and groups from around the world joined by the capacity audience. We all know at least the first and last verses and some of us even know the second and third verses.

President Timmons’s response:

Thank you so much for emailing me with your concern. We are always changing convocation protocols to make it as students centered as possible. We have students from many places, with many beliefs and views. Our new Strategic Plan calls on us to be inclusive and student centered.

We want every student to feel that Convocation is their convocation. This is important for us to do as a university. I know that you and others may not agree with our decisions, and I welcome your views.

I hope you will still see Memorial University as your university, one that listens and focuses on all students.

Response to Timmons:

Hi Vianne,

Thank you for your response but it is clear that you really don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, my concerns and those of many others who you will undoubtedly hear from in the coming days. I have had several contacts from… in the past 24 hours and the response is universally negative to this change in policy.

Of course, convocation is and should be student centered but I fail to see how the singing of out former national anthem and current provincial anthem in any way takes away from that admirable aim. What you have done is to effectively move toward being “The Anonymous University of Nowhere in Particular.” Is that really what you want? To take away all the distinctive features of Memorial and its history? Do you really think that Newfoundland and Labrador’s culture and Memorial’s significant part in it, is something to repress and dismiss in the belief that non-Newfoundland and Labrador students have no interest in it? Do you really think international students are those from other provinces are offended by the pride that the people of this province have in their culture and their university?

I’m sorry, but Memorial is becoming… more and more like the numerous bland and faceless state colleges in places like the U.S.

As you call tell I am not taking this lightly and I will continue to oppose this heavy-handed cultural vandalism.

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.