The Corporatization of Memorial University (Ep. 1)
Former Provost and Vice President Academic Noreen Golfman gives us an inside look at how deeply entrenched is the idea that MUNL exists first and foremost to serve corporate interests and the economy.
The list of problems plaguing Memorial University seems endless. From decrepit infrastructure and asbestos contamination, to skyrocketing tuition fees, to MUNL’s punishment of student and education rights activist Matthew Barter, to the ongoing faculty strike.
Increasingly, it seems, people are noting that these issues don’t exist independently of one another. They are part of Memorial’s slide into corporatization, in no small part a result of government’s continual withdrawal of funding, coupled with corporate and other private interests’ increase in funding for programs and research that—let’s face it—probably wouldn’t exist if it didn’t serve someone’s bottom line.
But higher education doesn’t only exist to manufacture workers for today’s work forces. Historically—and especially here in Newfoundland and Labrador, where Memorial has a “special obligation to the people of the province”—post-secondary education serves a major public good: it equips individuals with the critical thinking skills we need to make informed decisions for ourselves and for our communities. It’s been linked to better job prospects, to better health outcomes, and even to longer lifespan.
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So, shouldn’t it be publicly funded, like elementary school and high school?
If we begin with the premise that post-secondary education is indeed a public good, and a right, then perhaps we can begin to address some of the overarching issues contributing to the crisis at Memorial University.
But it won’t be easy, our guest Noreen Golfman tells us.
Golfman worked her way up the ranks at MUNL and found herself in the position of Provost and Vice President Academic, a permanent position she held from 2017 to 2020. It was a turbulent time for the university, when fee increases and ongoing administrative bloat were met with student protests.
Inside the elite ranks of the university’s senior administration, Golfman tells us she was a dissenting voice about the direction MUNL was—and still is—headed.
The former professor and dean says changing things from the inside was futile.
But today, she says, there’s a glimmer of hope, evidenced by the solidarity being shown for faculty members on the picket lines.
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