Furey says MUN in 'chaotic situation,' promises to re-evaluate tuition freeze funding
Furey promised government support to increase stability at the university
Premier Andrew Furey said he is committed to re-evaluating funding for Memorial University's tuition freeze during a closed-door meeting with students, faculty and administration.
"I committed to looking at funding and to listening to all sides," Furey told reporters on Tuesday. "If funding is an issue causing instability currently, we do not want this institution to become more unstable and more uncertain."
The university has seen multiple crises in recent months, beginning with a nearly two-week-long faculty strike during the winter semester, which ignited animosity between administration, faculty, staff and students.
Earlier this month, Vianne Timmons was removed from her position as president and vice-chancellor amid public scrutiny after a CBC News investigation into her statements on her Indigenous ancestry and past membership in an unrecognized Mi'kmaw First Nation group.
"It is incredibly unstable over there now, whether with respect to the president issue or the temporary acting deans and executives," Furey said. "As a government, we don't want to introduce any further … instability into that chaotic situation."
In July 2021, Timmons announced MUN's 22-year-long tuition freeze would end after the provincial government announced it would phase out the $68 million it gave to MUN to maintain the freeze.
But according to Furey, it wasn't his idea to end the freeze — it came from MUN. He said the government made the decision to eliminate the funding for the tuition freeze and put it toward the province's student loan program.
"That pocket of taxpayer money that … people pay taxes for was set aside to freeze tuition. So if tuition is no longer going to be frozen, then we're going to make sure that we give that back to students," he said.
CBC News has asked the university for comment.
MUNSU, MUNFA call for more transparency
Furey didn't say if the provincial government will reinstate the funding for a tuition freeze, but said he's open to discussions.
Memorial University's student union has slammed the end of the tuition freeze — which saw undergraduate tuition fees more than double.
In an interview with CBC News, John Harris, the student union's director of external affairs, said the meeting was encouraging.
"What I hope we can see from that is that, you know, because they're not really married to this policy, that we can see a re-funding of the $68.4 million that will go into the tuition offset," he said.
In 2021, student union leaders criticized the secrecy surrounding MUN's decision to raise tuition — and Harris reiterated those concerns.
"What we had was a complete lack of transparency when it comes to those closed-door, cabinet secret meetings. We were not really given straight answers on how exactly this tuition raise has come about," he said.
Lucien Ashworth, an organizer with the university's faculty association who also attended the meeting, said the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association has welcomed a commitment to greater transparency at MUN from acting President Neil Bose and the provincial government.
"It was a strong commitment by all parties to greater transparency and collegial governance," he said. "This was … one of the four main issues during the strike. So I think this is a very positive move."
Barry Petten, Progressive Conservative education critic, wants the provincial government to wait for the result of the auditor general's review of Memorial University's finances before making further funding decisions.
"I'd like to see what the AG got to say about the overall running of MUN," he said.
MUNSU is holding a town hall meeting about tuition at the Breezeway in St. John's on Wednesday evening. Harris said Bose, Petten, NDP Leader Jim Dinn and a provincial government official have committed to being there.
With files from The St. John's Morning Show