MUN would be dead in the water without oil and gas

Earlier this week, newly crowned Memorial University president, Vianne Timmons, stood with provincial politicians in asking the federal government to assist our province’s offshore oil and gas industry.

One comment she stated resonated with me: “If it’s important to Newfoundland, it’s important to Memorial University.”

While I thought this statement tugged on the heartstrings of Newfoundland’s sense of pride and patriotism, it didn’t strike some people in the same way.

These comments caused considerable controversy. An open letter started to make its way around, denouncing what she said.

After skimming through this letter, a lot of statements came to me as inaccurate. Probably the boldest accusation presented in it was that Timmons pledged “openended” support from Memorial University to the oil and gas sector.

This is perhaps one of the moat ludicrous remarks I’ve ever heard.

Saying that the university is supportive of the industry does not imply a blank cheque. Instead, this comment reflects the gratitude that the university has for the support that the oil and gas industry shows towards our beloved post-secondary institution.

Headlines surrounding this story were quite misleading.

Not all MUN faculty and students oppose her comments.

Although a counter-petition has garnered hundreds of signatures, skimming down through the signatories of the open letter paints a different picture. Most people who signed are affiliated with a few select faculties and do not encompass the views of the overall university community. All things considered, it is a bit ridiculous that media platforms imply that there’s universal opposition to the comments made.

The oil and gas sector has done a lot for Memorial University. Since the 1980s, companies have given countless business and engineering students life-changing opportunities through co-op placements. Through these work terms, businesses instilled skills into pupils that have transformed them from the students of yesterday to the leaders of today and tomorrow.

This statement is supported by the distinguished alumni that left the classrooms of our university to become titans in their respective industries.

To this day, companies from this industry are still making a difference to campus life at Memorial.

One great example was from December 2019 when Husky Energy contributed $1 million towards the Husky center of sales and supply chain management.

Through this investment, MUN’S business school will be placed on the map as a top school for business education in the country.

Another stellar example would be The Cahill Group’s support of the engineering faculty’s Paradigm Hyperloop project. This sponsorship is helping to allow engineering students from our province to compete on the world stage and be at the helm of innovation. After considering this, Timmons’ point of the University being supportive of the industry has its merits.

Without the offshore industry lending a helping hand, Memorial University would look a lot different today.