Description: Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador (MUN), is drawing some heat for spending close to $60,000 of its funds on a conference at the luxury hotel on Fogo Island. MUN defends the move, noting that it booked the rooms at $350 a night, versus the $2,875 cheapest listed rate the hotel normally offers. MUN’s faculty association, currently in negotiations for a new collective agreement with the university administration, did not appreciate the optics. And a PC Member of the House of Assembly, Barry Petten, stated the university adminstration was “out of touch.”

Date:  January 29, 2023

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/arctic-forum-mun-costs-1.6730039

Discussion points:

1) Are you a Memorial student or do you know any students at MUN? What is the reaction to this type of spending by the administration?

2) In addition to the negotiations at MUN, a number of other Canadian universities are facing labour issues, including strikes, at Cape Breton University for example. How does a strike impact student life?

3) Chapter 4 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making opens with a vignette about accounting at Western University in London Ontario. Do the financial statements for your university contain any disclosures around unusual or controversial expenditures like the one at MUN?