Premier Wakeham says the books of Memorial University will not be balanced on the backs of students

Yesterday, MUN’s Board of Regents announced that the Harlow Campus, the Signal Hill Campus, the Johnson Geo Centre and the Ingstad building in St. John’s are up for sale.

Harlow Campus is the international campus of Memorial University, one of only two universities in Canada with a foothold in the United Kingdom. Established in 1969, it’s also a big part of the Fine Arts program at Grenfell Campus. Yesterday, MUN’s Board of Regents announced that the Harlow Campus, the Signal Hill Campus, the Johnson Geo Centre and the Ingstad building in St. John’s are up for sale. In May of last year, MUN announced that they needed to reduce their operating budget by more than $20M and the sale of these assets will mean a $3M reduction in costs however the potential revenue from the sale of each property has not yet been determined. At a media availability from Ottawa yesterday, Premier Tony Walkeham says this is something the Auditor General has called for. He says the books of the university will not be balanced on the backs of students. The Premier was asked if students losing the opportunity to attend Harlow are in fact paying a price but says he’s sure the board of directors are looking at all aspects. 

Academic programming and events at Harlow will continue until August 31st. MUN says net proceeds from the sale of this campus will be reinvested to ensure global learning opportunities are more accessible for students from NL.