Students are gravely concerned about a round of cuts at Memorial University to the tune of $20-million for this fiscal year.

MUNSU says it is especially disappointed in the elimination of funding for the Harris Centre, which produced the annual Vital Signs report, a deep dive into the needs of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The union says MUN should first look at reducing what it calls a “bloated” administration. It says they recently created a new position of vice-president with a salary of over $200,000. It also says cuts to the faculty will negatively affect students.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Federation of Students NL branch says Newfoundland and Labrador is different from other provinces. Nicolas Keough notes that they have several universities whereas this province has one. He’s calling on government to order a freeze in tuition fees instead of allowing MUN to increase costs to students.

He says it comes down to government understanding that this province needs to have a university instead of a situation where students leave NL for higher education.