MUN is rethinking Ode to Newfoundland at convocation. The process is leaving some cold
An ad hoc committee has met over 30 times in 2024. A decision is yet to be made
It's been over two years since Memorial University made the decision to drop the Ode to Newfoundland from its convocation ceremonies, a controversial move that saw small protests in retaliation.
Since then, an ad hoc committee has been meeting to "investigate, consult, discuss and consider," including the Ode at future ceremonies.
The committee first met on Jan. 19th. There have been 29 meetings since, amounting to over 32 hours in an ongoing consultation process.
Robert Bishop, a MUN alumnus and former member of the Board of Regents, calls that concerning, and wants the committee to disband and disagrees with the university's decision to drop the Ode.
"This is just another waste of time," he said. "I defy anybody to read the minutes of the 29 meetings … and say this is a good and wise use of university resources."
Bishop said he recently received an email asking alumni if they wanted to participate in consultations. He said he responded with a willingness to participate, but hasn't gotten a response.
In a statement to CBC News, MUN communications manager Chad Pelley said that alumni who expressed interest were chosen at random to achieve a broad pool of perspectives.
Those who were not chosen to participate will have access to an online survey in January to share their perspectives, which everyone, including the general public, will be able to access.
Pelley said a report of the committee's findings will also be available in early 2025.
However, Bishop says he read through the committee's meeting minutes, which are available online. He claims anyone who expressed an opinion against the removal of the Ode was excluded from the consultations. He says the university is dragging out process so that people lose interest.
Committee members on the decline
The committee began with 14 members. The last meeting only had nine. Four students and Craig Purchase, a member of MUN's senate, are no longer on the committee.
"It becomes more evident each week that the ad hoc committee is, in the end, wasting my time as the outcome is functionally set," Purchase said in his resignation letter dated May 13.
"No one was appointed to the ad hoc committee with any specific expertise on this issue, except those that represent the group that wanted the anthem removed.… In five months of meetings, there has been no progress towards the initial goal."
CBC News requested an interview with Purchase, who declined, pointing to his letter.
Purchase also alleges that some committee members are shutting down any dialogue that doesn't help their cause, and that he dreads going to committee meetings as he said some members called him racist and dismissed his suggestions.
"I lose too much sleep because of this matter, and thus for my own mental health and the ability for me to excel at other aspects of my job, I am stepping down," he wrote in the letter.
The meeting minutes also detail conversations about difficulties replacing student committee members.
Devon Budden, director of advocacy with MUN's students' union, says the removal of the Ode doesn't resonate with most students, and it's not an issue they feel passionate about.
Budden put forward a motion in September, calling for the committee to disband. He argued the work was taking too long and that efforts should go toward more important matters.
He said there is important decolonial work taking place in the committee, but the Ode is only a small part of the equation.
"I think we would have liked to see a bit more of a comprehensive, targeted effort at, you know, ways to make this campus better for everybody," he said.
Decolonial consideration
Berty Leamon, a Mi'kmaw alumnus and organizer with the Canadian Federation of Students, says the point of the conversation has been lost.
"Instead of it having been more thoughtfully done, it's just sort of been thrown into the public discourse without that public education," Leamon said.
Bishop argues that everyone should feel included in the Ode, as it references landscape, weather and connection to the land, but, Leamon says, that argument lacks any sense of decolonization.
They said the Ode does not mention Labrador, therefore it doesn't represent Labrador, the Innu and the Inuit, and that Mi'kmaq and Beothuk never willingly chose to be part of Newfoundland and Labrador due to colonization.
Leamon says the amount of time the committee has committed to the issue is worth it, considering "the scope of the issue of truth and reconciliation and Indigenous rights and representation, as well as safety and inclusivity for students."
'Diversity washing'
For Ahsan Kaleem, an international student and the Pakistani Student Association's graduate liaison, the removal of the Ode from convocation doesn't make ceremonies more inclusive and is a form of "diversity washing."
Kaleem says diversity washing is a term used "when organizations are doing cosmetic actions just to look more inclusive, but there isn't much achieved in terms of inclusion."
Inclusivity doesn't require removing things, but adding more things in, he said, adding that would go over well as more international communities begin to settle in Newfoundland and Labrador.
He said the international student community should've been consulted before making the decision, and that he hasn't seen the committee attempt to reach out.
"It's not that difficult for the university community to send such emails to us," he said.
Kaleem says the university should be doing things to actually help international students.
"Students right now are struggling to just pay their rent, make ends meet. So it's not a conversation that the students are having," he said.
Additionally, Kaleem said, he doesn't think the anthem should be removed.
"I feel like this province embraced me, and I embraced it back."
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