News of tens of thousands of dollars in spending on a forum held at the Fogo Island Inn is going down like a lead balloon among MUN Faculty in the midst of a labour dispute with the union.
The forum was part of a four-day Arctic Forum that was hosted by the university as part of a partnership between MUN, Norway’s University of the Arctic and the Shorefast Foundation. The forum started in St. John’s and moved on to a three-day stay at the Fogo Island Inn.
Monday has been set as the strike deadline for unionized faculty members hoping to reach a deal with the employer.
MUNFA tweeted out their dissatisfaction over the latest news yesterday, indicating that 100 tenure-track positions have been left vacant because the university doesn’t have enough money to hire instructors.
Member of MUNFA’s executive and professor Luke Ashworth says while he can’t comment on the specifics, it does speak to a larger issue when it comes to the way in which administration spends its money.
He says MUN has a problem with “administrative bloat.”
“We now have a situation where for every senior executive position at MUN we have two faculty,” says Ashworth, “while faculty positions have been cut.”
(Rob Greenwood)
Memorial University brass did discuss moving last fall’s Arctic Forum due to the cost of the Fogo Island Inn. But they say the move was nixed by the Shorefast Foundation, which operates the high-end hotel.
MUN, a Norwegian delegation and Shorefast are partners in the Arctic Forum, but Shorefast founded it.
Memorial ended up dropping at least $100,000 on the event at the Fogo Island Inn from November 4 to November 6 of last year.
MUN VP Rob Greenwood says money was top of mind for the university, but the location was very much locked in.
He says to be honest, they did give serious consideration to moving the event but noted Shorefast “invented it,” adding it’s not like MUN dreamed up a workshop and then looked for a place to hold it.
Greenwood says Shorefast also made it clear that moving the event was a non-starter.
(Via the Fogo Island Inn on Facebook)
He says they could’ve had a similar event not on Fogo Island, but that wasn’t something that Shorefast, as the founding partner, would consider.
Greenwood says in the end the decision was made to “honour the partnership” with Shorefast, and the fact that they founded the forum.
That’s of little solace for many MUN students and faculty who were shocked to learn of the spending amid rising tuition and looming strike by professors.
The education critic is slamming revelations that Memorial University spent $100,000 for a weekend at the Fogo Island Inn last fall. Barry Petten calls the spending “outrageous.”
“Is that why you increased tuition…to pay for these trips?” asks Petten, who asserts that the University is “out of touch” and that that type of spending has to stop.
