For Immediate Release: March 11, 2026
St. John’s, NL – Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association (MUNFA) is raising serious concerns about faculty cuts impacting first-year courses. The University, which has seen a series of deep multi-year funding cuts, has recently revealed major projected changes that will see a number of contractual teaching staff lose their jobs.
Proposed plans include the elimination of seven (7) out of eight (8) contractual faculty positions in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics next year, with class sections of first-year math courses reduced by nearly half.
Most undergraduate students rely on successful completion of first-year math and statistics courses to progress in their studies. They are required for undergraduate students in a wide range of programs in Science, Engineering, Computer Science, Business and elsewhere. The number of students struggling to achieve a successful outcome in such courses has risen considerably since the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring instructors to adapt how these courses are taught.
Despite the clear need for focused and supportive instruction to improve student outcomes, the University plans to double first-year math class sizes to make up the shortfall. Faculty members warn that fewer classes sections and larger classes for these critical high-demand courses could have a detrimental impact on students’ experience, risking delayed academic progress and possibly driving attrition.
While Memorial’s Leadership has stated that restructuring and program changes would not result in job losses or negatively affect the student experience, the planned reductions in teaching capacity in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and across the University tell another story.
“These instructors have dedicated years, and in some cases decades, to helping Memorial students succeed,” said MUNFA President Dr. Lisa Moores. “Eliminating these positions will affect not only instructors, but also the students who depend on successful completion of these courses to move forward in their programs.”
Moores also noted the broader impact. Newfoundland and Labrador has an aging population and significant labour shortages in professions trained at Memorial. “If we want our young people to invest their skills and training in this province, the province needs to invest in them” Moores said, adding, “It is very hard to understand how any government facing those concerns would not be alarmed by the drastic cutbacks we’re seeing at MUN.”
MUNFA says these reductions reflect the growing consequences of years of reduced public funding for Memorial University. When it comes to the upcoming budget, Moores says there is one question on the minds of the faculty charged with educating Memorial’s students: “Is the new provincial government going to further the decade-long depletion of our only university? Or chart its own course, and return to treating education like an investment rather than just a cost.”
MUNFA has requested a meeting with government to discuss the upcoming provincial budget and Memorial faculty are urging government to proudly invest in the university to secure a sustainable future for Newfoundland and Labrador.
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For more information, contact:
Jawad Chowdhury (Organizing, Membership Engagement and Communications Coordinator)
Email: membership.munfa@mun.ca, Cell: (709)-351-2635.
