Memorial University names new president as school faces ‘horrible’ morale

Janet Morrison speaks with Memorial University Students' Union director of external affairs Nicolas Keough in St. John's, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Morrison will assume the positions of president and vice-chancellor of Memorial University beginning in August. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN’S — Officials at Newfoundland and Labrador’s only university named a new president Wednesday, two years after the school’s former head was removed amid questions about her claims of Indigenous heritage.

Janet Morrison is currently the president and vice-chancellor of Ontario’s Sheridan College, and will begin her new role at Memorial University in St. John’s in August. The university is grappling with crumbling infrastructure, financial shortfalls and low morale, but Morrison vowed to tackle the problems by building trust and community among the administration, students and staff.

“Being the only university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador really offers this unique opportunity for students, for faculty and staff to cultivate shared purpose,” she told reporters during a press conference in St. John’s.

“There are challenges, there are absolutely challenges, I won’t shy away from that,” she added. But many of those obstacles, including tight finances and decaying buildings, are plaguing universities across the country, she said.

Memorial University has campuses in St. John’s, Corner Brook and Labrador, and a student body of roughly 18,000. The school has had a temporary president since 2023, when former president Vianne Timmons was removed from her role after a CBC News investigation cast doubt on her claims of Indigenous ancestry.

The past few years have been difficult for the school. The administration announced a hiring freeze in December to deal with budget shortfalls, driven by a decrease in enrolment. A report from the province’s auditor general in January found its campuses had about $481 million in maintenance work outstanding.

The university’s student union has posted videos to social media showing waterlogged ceiling tiles crashing to the ground in classrooms and elaborate assemblages of tape, tarps and buckets catching fluid leaking from rusty pipes.

In 2023, the auditor noted that Memorial paid its administrators more per student than other universities of similar size, and that there was high turnover among members of the school’s highest ranks, many of whom were hired by expensive private firms.

Nicolas Keough, a spokesperson with the union, described morale among Memorial’s faculty and staff as “horrible.” Keough was on the committee that chose the new president, and he said he was encouraged by Morrison’s vow on Wednesday to build trust between the administration and the school’s students and faculty.

“It’s something that we’ve been desperately wanting, desperately asking for, and it was my Number 1 priority when looking for this new president,” he said. “I think this could be a real turning point in terms of morale, in terms of the overall university experience.”

The government increased funding for the school in the latest provincial budget, and Keough said he hopes Morrison will keep advocating for more money.

Justin Ladha, chair of Memorial’s board of regents, said more than 50 people applied for the president and vice-chancellor job. Morrison will be appointed for a six-year term, subject to renewal for another four years, said a news release Wednesday.

Her annual salary will be $485,000, which “aligns with the median salary for Canadian university presidents and Memorial’s previous president’s salary,” the release said.

Morrison said her late father visited Newfoundland regularly, and he would have been thrilled with her new position. “I think the warmth, the generosity that I’ve already experienced in the province really resonates with the values that my parents instilled in all of us,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2025.