Profs question school’s financial viability
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The Memorial University Faculty Association (MUNFA) is urging caution and asking more opinions before the university makes a final decision on a proposed law school.
“We’re always hopeful. I think it’s a reasonable request to make,” MUNFA president Robin Whitaker told The Telegram this week about a letter sent by MUNFA’s executive committee to the board of regents.
“I think the people who want this to happen should also want there to be widespread support for it.”
The proposal for a faculty of law was endorsed in November by the university’s senate and recommends a postgraduate law program with seats for 100 students a year, with an eventual 18 permanent faculty members.
It would have an annual operating cost of about $9 million.
According to the proposal, it is anticipated that funding for the faculty will be provided through a differential tuition rate competitive with those at other law programs across the country. Without grant support from the government, the annual tuition would be about $30,000.
The proposal will eventually be voted on by the university’s board of regents.
The MUNFA executive said it’s not opposed in principle to the creation of a faculty of law, but has serious concerns about the proposal and about the process it has taken so far, and pressed the board to give it tough scrutiny.
“The board of regents has its own job to do,” Whitaker said.
“They have to be stewards of the university finances. We urge them to take their job seriously, as I am sure they will.”
MUNFA raised concerns about the ramifications of funding a law school, given the university’s fiscal constraints.
“The board of regents can certainly demand, consistent with its mandate, all necessary information and analysis pertaining to the financial viability of the proposed faculty of law,” MUNFA’s letter stated.
“The board can also require evidence of wide and robust consultation with the university community and key stakeholders in the province prior to moving ahead with the present proposal. We sincerely hope the board will consider these suggestions. We believe they are critical to making a sound decision, and to the generation of a strong plan for a new law faculty, should the decision be positive.”
MUNFA cautions that university senate approval included an amended condition that the new faculty be cost neutral.
Without government grants or other funding to offset the $30,000-per-year tuition, it won’t be competitive with other Canadian law schools, MUNFA argues.
But Whitaker also said some faculty members have expressed concern for how offsetting that tuition could affect other programming, given the finite pots of money to draw on.
“More generally, in view of the tight financial circumstances presently faced at this university and in the province as a whole, we feel it is incumbent … to proceed exceedingly carefully with new ventures that pose considerable risks, even as they promise potential benefits,” the letter states.
Memorial University associate director of communications Paula Dyke said a full proposal will be submitted to the board of regents sometime this year, but not for the upcoming board meeting in March.
MUN is working on a revised budget to allow for lower tuition fees, and is doing an extensive market survey, Dyke said.