To serve well on the Memorial University Board of Regents, candidates must both have an idea of where MUN came from and where it is going. In other worlds, what makes Memorial University special, and how can we preserve that?
1) Local Social Experiment
Put simply, Memorial University (College) is a uniquely Newfoundland social experiment. In the early days, its primary purpose was to upgrade the credentials of teachers in Newfoundland as the republican government fought illiteracy. After World War One, it became a way to provide locals with a cost effective way to an education, with the additional intent of stemming the brain drain of professionals away to other countries.
Pre-Confederation, few thought Newfoundland could support a full fledged university past the basic Arts and Sciences formations given at that time. Joey Smallwood made the decision to gamble on a full-fledged higher education institution that produced doctorates. This endeavour has progressed in fits and starts, and it wouldn't be until 2022 that a campus would be built off the island in Labrador.
In the past century, Memorial has expanded and taken on a pivotal role in the social, economic, cultural, and political life of Newfoundland. The majority of our social workers, businessmen, artists, and politicians have passed through its doors.
Anyone governing MUN needs to respect this history and purpose, while building for the future.
2) Bottleneck University
Memorial's influence on the fabric of Newfoundland society aside, it is geographically limited. For Newfoundlanders, it has always been the cheaper at home option. For first generation native students like myself, MUN was the only place we knew. Mainland universities attract those with the funds and academic habitus to aim for more reputable or specialized degrees. When my richer white friends would discuss going to university A, B, or C, I would nod my head dumbly. MUN was the only university name I knew.
Despite this, MUN has become known outside of Newfoundland for the quality of its education. When I did my BEd here in 2005-6, there were also many mainlanders who had come to take advantage of the affordable but good quality 1 year teaching degree. Considering that NAFTA later ratified the acceptance of teaching degrees across North America, this means a cheap, one year MUN Teacher's Certificate is a key to a professional career all over North America, and in many cases, the world.
Whereas Memorial's student body was largely locals when I started in 1989-96, when I returned in 2004-6 I was happy to see faces from all over the world, in addition to other parts of Canada. I made friends with engineering students from China and Nepal, ESL students from Korea and Taiwan, and was surprised to notice the ATM in the TSC had replaced the French button with 中文 or Chinese. Newfoundland's renowned isolation and hospitality conspired to make it a welcoming place for foreign students, as it would during 9-11.
MUN is thus both a welcoming place for people from abroad, as well as a leg up for people from here.
3) Inferiority Complex
However, due to Memorial's historical and geographical isolation, MUN has always had an inferiority complex. Just as the College was created to upgrade the credentials of Newfoundlanders, there has always been a feeling that MUN alone cannot create professionals, but needs help from abroad. For many students, a MUN degree is the start of a career that will be continued elsewhere, or a choice imposed by finances. Ironically, Memorial University PR often boasts about MUN alumni who succeed abroad, testifying to the value of an education here. I myself have a BEd and MA in English from Memorial, which allowed me to get my PhD in Global Society Studies at Doshisha University in Japan, then transition to associate professor in Kobe. The teaching methodology, analytical skills, and communication ability imparted by Memorial University faculty over the years has served me well.
This inferiority complex also extends to faculty. Even when I was an undergrad, many of the professors were from the UK, and even some local professors affected an English accent. Although MUN has had wonderful professors from overseas, we have also had mismatches who have done fraudulent research, as well as instructors who refuse to accommodate the special needs of students. (To be fair, I've also had terrible local professors as well, who were inept in teaching or made advances on students around me.)
This inferiority complex has become increasingly visible in the executive, with the expensive headhunting used to find new leadership, and the disastrous result of this practice which has led us to the current crisis. For example, the former president may have come from Labrador, but her degrees were all obtained from universities in Canada (Mount Allison & Acadia) and the US (Gonzaga University in Washington). A look at previous presidents shows a growing preponderance of foreign educated academics.
Kachanoski (University of Alberta, University of Saskatchewan)
Loomis - pro tempore (Queen's University)
Campbell - interim (Memorial, University of Toronto)
Meisen - (Imperial College, California Institute Technology, McGill University)
May (Memorial, McGill University)
Harris (Memorial, University of London, University of Virginia)
Although the limited offerings at Memorial University necessitates that foreign educated executives are hired, and many bring skills and experience that have added immeasurably to Memorial's standard of education, MUN needs to grow out of the belief that foreign + expensive is inherently better.
(PS: On a lark I applied to be president at MUN through its Borden employment system for executives. I was unsurprisingly turned down.)
4) The Irony of Being The Only Shop In Town
Canada has over 100 universities, with 1/3 of the top ones in Ontario alone. All of Newfoundland and Labrador has only one. MUN's status as the only institution of higher learning in the province comes with a number of benefits and drawbacks.
First, on the good side, it is indelibly linked with Newfoundland society, culture, & economy, as mentioned. The University of Toronto may bear the city name, but could be transplanted just about anywhere on the continent. The same could not be said of Memorial. Memorial still relies on the local populace to provide paying students, and has added international students in the ESL and Engineering programmes to fill the coffers even more. It also added NL government funding to this income, until recently.
On the downside, this means events like the housing crisis also hits MUN students harder. I have heard from sources at MUN that student housing is already booked up for fall. If MUN cannot do more to address situations in the community, it will have to pay the price if people choose to go elsewhere.
To put it bluntly, MUN can no longer depend on a captive student body anymore. Memorial is no longer the only choice for less fortunate Newfoundlanders - trades have (fortunately) lost their stigma, and many Newfoundlanders rightly choose a trade that very quickly pays for itself. When I did my teaching internship at Gonzaga HS in 2005, I was told "Don't tell them university is the be all and end all." I assured them that, compared to my friends and family in trades, I was lagging far behind and would tell students the truth of the situation.
After decades of oil money flowing into the pockets of Newfoundland families, many more are also choosing universities elsewhere in Canada, or even abroad. Moreover, with the advent of cheaper air travel, Newfoundland is no longer 'the Rock' or minimum security prison it used to be jokingly referred to during my salad days in the 90's. Rare is the Newfoundlander who hasn't lounged on a Florida beach these days.
The loss of government funding to offset Memorial's tuition freeze shows that Newfoundland has had enough of a MUN that puts profits before people. Add to this the fact that university enrollment is dropping worldwide, and a course correction seems in order. In Japan where I taught university for 15 years, and where smaller private universities dot the landscape of islands not much larger than our province, falling enrollment was a constant concern of faculty meetings. The total number of universities, which had ballooned in the rapid economic expansion of the 60's and 70's, and became bloated during the 80's, was projected to drop by half in the next decades as some smaller institutions amalgamated, were absorbed by larger ones, or disappeared outright.
Memorial's question should be, "If the only shop in town closes, what then?"
5) The Changing Meaning of Value
When Joey Smallwood inaugurated Memorial University in 1965, he created the only free post secondary education in North America. By the time I enrolled in 1989, then again in 2004, government funding had become spotty and incoherent. Even in the early 2000s, the values of MUN could be seen to change. While foreign students were welcomed, when I worked at The Writing Center (2004-5), some told me of being scouted in China to enroll in engineering at MUN, where they were told their English was sufficient to study at Memorial. Upon arrival, they were re-assessed and told they'd have to take extra ESL classes and exams, incurring more expense and costly re-adjustment of their plans. By 2013, CBC was reporting on the extra 'special' fees levied on foreign grad students.
MUN has seemingly gone from valuing its charges to charging its students to create value for the institution. Although tuition does need to increase to match inflation and expenses, this needs to be tempered with what the market can bare, and what will keep students coming through the doors. As the sole institution of higher learning in Newfoundland, it is in all our interests to put Memorial back on the right path, leading from its storied past to a brighter future.
Conclusion
MUN is both a common good of the people of Newfoundland as well as a shining example of Newfoundland culture.
Source
Furey Says MUN In Chotic Situation
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/furey-mun-tuition-1.6821928
History of Memorial University College.
https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/extension/id/2916/rec/34
HE Enrollement: Decline or lost opportunity?
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/higher-education-enrollment-inevitable-decline-or-online-opportunity
Past Presidents of MUN
https://www.mun.ca/president/about/past-presidents/
Staggering Fees For Foreign Grad Students
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/staggering-fee-targets-foreign-grad-students-1.1386566
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