Picnic protest: MUN students serve up PB&J sandwiches

Students served up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches outside Memorial University Thursday afternoon in St. John's as a sign of protest.

"This is about showing that students cannot afford a tuition hike right now. We can barely afford to eat as it is," student Shelby Thomas said.

"And even though our administration doesn't think that they should be eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, this is all students can afford."

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During a recent interview, MUN vice-president (academic) Noreen Golfman defended the university's spending on events and dinners for potential faculty.

"We're not feeding them peanut butter sandwiches, we are doing what professionals do," she said.

Thomas was quite shocked by Golfman's comments.

"Hunger is a big issue. Student food banks are a really big thing on our campuses," she said. 

On May 11, the MUN board of regents will hold a meeting where there will be a "vote on tuition fee hikes proposed by Memorial's senior administrators," Memorial University's student union stated in a release.

The picnic, it said, is to "highlight the realities of food insecurity amongst students and the impact fee increases will have on this growing issue.

"Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, peanut-butter-free peanut butter will be provided."

Thomas said students — especially international students — won't be able to afford to attend MUN if tuition goes up.

"Students come to Memorial for the main reason [of] the low tuition. They're promised a low tuition when they come here. That's how they recruit students, is our low tuition. So to hike that up is breaking a lot of promises."