tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post3512902605799776245..comments2023-10-25T07:29:40.789-02:30Comments on UNCLE GNARLEY: MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OVERDUE FOR AN OVERHAULDes Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02566013585647491614noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-71220223668522172102017-01-08T19:23:12.286-03:302017-01-08T19:23:12.286-03:30excellent article,there must be a way to sent this...excellent article,there must be a way to sent this to ALL NL MHA"S.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-22492054262238952122016-06-14T17:40:57.211-02:302016-06-14T17:40:57.211-02:30Well, until CNA is rolled into MUN...Well, until CNA is rolled into MUN...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-48367190191394179772016-06-14T14:12:00.613-02:302016-06-14T14:12:00.613-02:30It is interesting that Karl didn't discuss the...It is interesting that Karl didn't discuss the impact of CNA becoming a degree granting institution. This may reduce the number of NL students attending MUN starting 2018.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-2422626899029455452016-06-14T11:47:43.029-02:302016-06-14T11:47:43.029-02:30If he is, maybe he has insight into why Loyola Sul...If he is, maybe he has insight into why Loyola Sullivan was one of the first of Williams' many cabinet ministers to pack their parachute and jump.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-73974168673085960562016-06-14T11:32:15.431-02:302016-06-14T11:32:15.431-02:30I strongly agree the Empire needs to be reigned in...I strongly agree the Empire needs to be reigned in!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-67817066361539311912016-06-14T11:29:36.410-02:302016-06-14T11:29:36.410-02:30I'm wondering if Karl Sullivan is the brother ...I'm wondering if Karl Sullivan is the brother of Loyola Sulivan, one time Finance Minister under Ex Premier Danny Williams government?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-60244308978948671922016-06-14T09:28:33.640-02:302016-06-14T09:28:33.640-02:30MUN has recently had a huge expansion in administr...MUN has recently had a huge expansion in administration positions and has bureaucracy that is totally out of proportion to enrollment. In the 1970s, professors would take on admin duties in return for reduced teaching duties that semester. Now these positions are held by permanent, well paid staff. It is an empire out of control and hell bent on expansion because the local population is too small to allow for continuous expansion.<br /><br />I would like to hear from some older professors that can give concrete examples of point 7 in the article above. Many current professors have told me that the bureaucracy is impenetrable, who describe committees everywhere that remove individual accountability (they joke about the definition: at least six legs and no brain) and an explosion in VP positions and useless departments. Even trivial things like photocopying your own class notes now require special multi-part forms.<br /><br />The empire needs to be reigned in.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-84377514711385188902016-06-14T09:13:03.937-02:302016-06-14T09:13:03.937-02:30Sounds like you have embraced the 'victim'...Sounds like you have embraced the 'victim' mentality Bruno. I suppose one can find self-importance in that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-40736856073027581382016-06-13T23:50:22.107-02:302016-06-13T23:50:22.107-02:30If you're referring to the Core Sciences Build...If you're referring to the Core Sciences Building, it's being built because the alternatives are either to spend more than $400 million to upgrade the existing facilities, or for MUN to cease offering virtually all laboratory-based Science programs. While not diminishing the importance of the other projects you mention, I think it's evident that the Core Sciences Building is of critical value to the province.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-4103295776663927992016-06-13T21:07:50.784-02:302016-06-13T21:07:50.784-02:30While I disagree with much of what Karl Sullivan h...While I disagree with much of what Karl Sullivan has to say, I do accept the overall point that MUN needs a fundamental rethink, which in my view should be carried out by an independent and highly qualified commission or commissioner.<br />I note that no mention is made of administrative bloat, which seems excessive to many of us, nor to the fact that MUN's President is paid more than his equivalent at the University of Toronto. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-76963869632779752662016-06-13T20:48:45.455-02:302016-06-13T20:48:45.455-02:30I recommend readers see SIR ROBERT BOND PAPERS blo...I recommend readers see SIR ROBERT BOND PAPERS blog to day....about a discussion this evening at the Harris Centre on the cause of our bankruptcy in 1934..... and Hollett's view that the problem is with ourselves, not any institution..... that as a people we are afraid to question those in power.<br /> Seems a good point of view. He comments also on the issue of Steve Marshall and Roger Grimes. I live on the street with Steve. Chatted briefly with him once, several years ago, so I little know him. Must agree with Hollett, and even if he could legally bar Rogers, it seems to belittle Steve Marshall, or so I think. <br />Winston Adams, Logy Bay<br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-78487134368708838482016-06-13T20:17:40.173-02:302016-06-13T20:17:40.173-02:30At the present time when we are closing most all t...At the present time when we are closing most all the libraries across the provinces to same 1 million dollars, MUN is tendering for the CORE building, budgeted for some 400 million dollars. And I guess they may not include furniture, future maintenance and new staff and their pension plans. This at a time when we are told we are headed for bankruptcy if there is not serious restraint. Corner Brook hospital, promised for the past 10 years and close to 100 million spent on design, is a project on hold. The St. Johns jail, and the the Waterford Mental Health hospital, built before the American civil war, is on hold, and not even a design done. As a MUN graduate, I have little information of the need and purpose of the CORE building. I am long of the opinion that MUN is an entity unto itself, where there is little oversight of the public dollars, much like Nalcor. Budgets is a question of priorities, and this post by Mr Sullivan largely reflects concerns I have had for years. <br /> As for Bruno's opinion, we are far removed from the 1960s when few had university education. And if university education was of such great value, why have so many been misinformed so easily on the value of the Muskrat Falls project. List, if you can the MUN graduates, and there are many thousands, who have been vocal on the risks of MF, and you will find a very short list. As a province we were as easily mislead as in Joey's day, when we were largely uneducated. We are not an informed society. Being informed is a civic responsibility, which is too much trouble for many.... as I see it. <br />I have a reason for not giving my name, which may be obvious.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-37519621056616123512016-06-13T16:27:29.114-02:302016-06-13T16:27:29.114-02:30There's a lot wrong with this cynical and narr...There's a lot wrong with this cynical and narrow-minded assessment of Memorial University -- not the least of which is the author's pervasive perception of MUN as nothing more than a jobs factory, when the reality is that a post-secondary education is so much more than that. <br /><br />But worst of all, to my mind, is that the author does not seem to understand the context in which MUN exists, and the ramifications of that context on the way the University operates. This is made clear by his shallow comparison of Memorial to Maritime universities such as UNB and Dalhousie. Granted, at first blush this may seem like a reasonable basis for comparison. But it ignores the fact that a student in, say, Halifax can live at (or very close to) home and go to any one of a number of institutions. A program not offered at Dalhousie may instead be offered at St Mary's, or Acadia, or Mount Saint Vincent... There is no inherent demand that a single university be all things to all students.<br /><br />On the other hand, Memorial University is the only university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. There is a longstanding expectation -- on the part of both the Provincial Government and (more importantly) the people of this province -- that MUN accommodate as many university-eligible Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as possible. As such, MUN has prided itself over the years on offering a tremendous number of options for undergraduate and graduate students. Under the program contraction touted by the author, the number of young people forced to leave the province in order to find their desired post-secondary program would swell to levels that, in my opinion, would be deemed reprehensible by the general public, and which would have potentially catastrophic implications for the long-term demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador.<br /><br />Now, the author is right that the number of students graduating from high school in the province is decreasing, which in turn impacts the number of university-eligible Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. But this is precisely why MUN has made such an effort to recruit out-of-province (Canadian and international) students over the last 15 years. Not only do these students provide the critical mass to retain some programs that might otherwise be at risk, but they also bring well-documented economic gains to the province, in addition to providing unquantifiable cultural benefits.<br /><br />Fundamentally, the author's position would not just trim the fat of Memorial University. It would diminish the institution to a pale shadow of its current self, would drive tremendous numbers of our young people out of the province (perhaps never to return), and would seriously undermine a vital cog in the economic and cultural engines of Newfoundland and Labrador.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-40243999786254776802016-06-13T15:25:51.506-02:302016-06-13T15:25:51.506-02:30The anon bashers abound. Lots of bluster but they ...The anon bashers abound. Lots of bluster but they must hide behind the keyboard for bravado.<br /><br />I have been banished from VOCM for what George Orwell called freedom--telling people what they do not want to hear. I wear it as a badge of honour considering that the hosts have been leading the attacks on all the informed critics of MF. They fuel the false NL nationalism that has allowed your oligarch(s) to manipulate the polity with xenophobia that has now led NL off the fiscal cliff.<br /><br />Bruno Marcocchiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08076165212559914463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-67153230599544653992016-06-13T12:48:40.235-02:302016-06-13T12:48:40.235-02:30Bruno...your assertion is way too simplistic. If ...Bruno...your assertion is way too simplistic. If you are suggesting that socialism is the way to prosperity and use Norway as the poster child for success then I assume it would be equally accurate to suggest that Venezuela's failed socialism is proof of the opposite? For example you neglect to mention that Norway is also among the most expensive countries in the world and is facing challenges as oil revenues dry up. In other words the story of Norway has not been written yet and much of its' success has been because of petro dollars.<br /><br />NL's post-secondary education system (MUN) has been around for decades and has produced thousands upon thousands of graduates yet where is this wonderful utopia you assert would be created. Your theory that a well-educated population is the best investment a nation can make is again way too simplistic. The education system here has been dumbed down and MUN produces plenty of teachers, social workers and liberal arts students that are hardly the economic engine for this place. Way too simplistic.<br />KeithAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-42058413180180148272016-06-13T12:37:21.556-02:302016-06-13T12:37:21.556-02:30I agree Bruno, Muskrat Falls is sinking the provin...I agree Bruno, Muskrat Falls is sinking the province of Newfounland and Labrador into complete chaos, while the orchestrators have made themselves multi millionaires.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-24816366342555792582016-06-13T12:26:46.267-02:302016-06-13T12:26:46.267-02:30Funny how you cherry pick Norway as justification ...Funny how you cherry pick Norway as justification for a bloated, over subsidized university. NL is not Norway. Norway is rich - NL is dirt poor. Bruno, you are quick to criticize all thing NL from your mainland sanctimonious perch. You have been banned from every talk show out there, but I see you have found a new venue to spew your left wing drivel. Nlers will decide how to tame the beast that is MUN - Not you!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-79569878055112133752016-06-13T11:56:47.390-02:302016-06-13T11:56:47.390-02:30The whole premise of this article is based on a de...The whole premise of this article is based on a defeatist attitude. Stop thinking like an accountant. If Memorial needs to reshape its vision, it should be doing in the context of thinking bigger. There are universities all over the US in towns with very small populations relative to the population at the universities. These schools depend on and entice students to come to them. And student do, even Canadian students. Students don't choose these schools because they are cheap, they choose them because they offer a high quality education in a location that doesn't cost them huge amounts of money in living expenses. Tuition is high but the cost of living is relatively low. St. John's offers a relatively low cost of living compared to many other large centres across this country and certainly across the world.<br /><br />Forget about the demographic of NL, the shrinking number of NL students and an emphasis on local students. This is just a recipe for the race to the bottom.<br /><br />As you say, "implementing more realistic tuition fees for non-residents is certainly required." I couldn't agree more. Charge the right fees to non-residents so that NL doesn't have to pick up the tab. Memorial will still be able to fulfill its mandate of providing a post secondary education for NLers and become an even more respected learning institution.<br /><br />Think bigger, think quality. Have the right vision and strategy to support it. We will all be better for it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-27046323125796615122016-06-13T10:59:14.111-02:302016-06-13T10:59:14.111-02:30Your problem is Muskrat Falls that continues to de...Your problem is Muskrat Falls that continues to destroy the future of NL in complete secrecy, not seniors health care or tuition. It is not one or another, both are threatened by unaccountable, unnecessary spending at MF.<br /><br />Bruno Marcocchiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08076165212559914463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-17891269196701580562016-06-13T10:32:30.297-02:302016-06-13T10:32:30.297-02:30Tell that to the poor old buggers who can't ge...Tell that to the poor old buggers who can't get their tooth pulled because the gov't cut their medical subsidy, choosing instead to blow taxpayer dollars on subsidizing bargain hunting foreigners & other Canadians.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235138415013046381.post-53020937940125684452016-06-13T08:16:45.237-02:302016-06-13T08:16:45.237-02:30This is the next step in the austerity being impos...This is the next step in the austerity being imposed on NL, beware.<br />A recipe that calls for the university to be focused on "provincial" matters is just wrong.<br /><br />What this right wing agenda will do is undermine NL's future.It is exactly the wrong formula for success. It is no coincidence that Norway, with no tuition for post secondary education, has the highest per capita income in the world. They understand that a well educated population is the best investment a nation can make. It ensures higher income tax revenues and a prosperous future. Raise tuition and the NL future dims. Bruno Marcocchiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08076165212559914463noreply@blogger.com