Memorial University has about $450 million dollars-worth of deferred maintenance, but the institution’s newly chosen president says it’s an issue that is not unique to MUN.
Dr. Janet Morrison will take over as President and Vice-Chancellor of Memorial University on August 11.
She comes to the province after serving as the President of Sheridan College in Ontario.
MUN’s student union and the Faculty Association have both been calling for the university to catch-up on deferred maintenance, and addressing infrastructure that they say is crumbling around them.
Dr. Janet Morrison and MUNSU Executive Director Nicolas Keough (VOCM News)
The provincial government’s latest budget set aside $70 million over the next eight years for deferred maintenance, but MUNSU and MUNFA say it doesn’t go far enough.
Morrison says she did a tour of the St. John’s campus with students and vows to “engage with students to learn about their lived experience.”
“Deferred maintenance is a challenge across the broader public sector and certainly at universities across Canada,” she told reporters.
“It’s always interesting to hear from students about what really matters to them, about spaces and places where community is made manifest, where they feel like their sense of belonging is attached to.”
MUNSU Executive Director Nicolas Keough (VOCM News)
Memorial University’s Student Union says it’s cautiously optimistic about the incoming president.
Nicolas Keough says that current morale within the student body is “horrible”.
He hopes that trust between the university leadership and the student body can be rebuilt.
“(So far she’s been) student-centered, which is something that I believe Dr. Morrison is, honestly. I haven’t seen her in the role, so I’ll reserve all my judgment for then, but I think that she’s willing to take the time to listen, to really work collaboratively with us,” he said.
“I think that she knows that’s the way to have a functioning university and a successful university.”
