Memorial campus was supposed to be independent by fall 2008, but isn’t yet
In April 2007, the Newfoundland and Labrador government announced that Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, a campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland in Corner Brook, would become an autonomous university by the Fall 2008 semester.
In April 2008, the provincial government announced that it was setting aside $500,000 for the implementation of a new governing structure for the college. Otherwise, it appears that little headway has been made toward fulfilling the pledge of full university status. Last summer, the minister of education announced that Grenfell’s planned autonomy would have to be delayed to a later date.
This issue has been the subject of some debate in the province, along with questions about Memorial University’s autonomy to govern its own affairs and the minister of education’s involvement in Memorial’s stalled presidential search process. As the CBC reports, faculty and students at Grenfell are raising questions about their delayed independence.