Scathing audit says MUN ignored asbestos, mould in favour of overspending on laptops and a tractor
Computers and heavy machinery were purchased using student fees, auditor general report says
Memorial University's campus renewal fee was designed to pay for the institution's most pressing deferred maintenance projects like its asbestos-riddled tunnel system and mould.
But a scathing auditor general report released Tuesday says MUN used the funding to hand out computers and even heavy machinery to its staff.
Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general, Denise Hanrahan, noted the university used $10 million earmarked for campus renewal on 196 laptops and a $45,675 tractor for Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook.
Typically, the campus renewal fee is included in student tuition, but the province temporarily offset it in 2023.
In her latest report, focused on Memorial University's facility management, Hanrahan decried the school's weak policy environment, poor space management practices and questionable deferred maintenance procedures.
"In fact, I feel Memorial has a serious facilities management problem," Hanrahan said.
Deferred maintenance
Many of MUN's buildings are over 60 years old. As of March 2024, they have $481 million in deferred maintenance liabilities altogether.
The report found that one liability — exterior lighting infrastructure costing $208,000 — was 37 years past its action date when it was removed through reassessment.
The campus renewal fee is the only dedicated funding source to address the nearly half-billion dollar deferred maintenance liability. When paid by students, the fee generates $7.8 million annually for infrastructure projects.
Hanrahan said the funding collected by the fee is insufficient, and said MUN couldn't specify what was or was not an eligible expenditure from the campus renewal fee fund. Deferred maintenance liabilities are not budgeted separately.
The university spends nearly $10 million on routine maintenance every year, but Hanrahan said the sum doesn't go very far.
"We know [the school] needs to spend significantly more than that," Hanrahan said.
Campus growing, students declining
Despite Memorial's need for improvement, the university's footprint is growing. Between 2012 and the fall of 2023, MUN expanded its facilities by 1.3 million square feet, while its student population decreased by 1.4 per cent.
Hanrahan said MUN has more space than it needs.
"[MUN] wants to continue to renovate and replace space that was already been replaced, such as the Science Building," she said.
MUN's new Core Science Facility, which cost $347 million, opened to students in September 2021. It is double the size of MUN's old science building, but it doesn't have one shared classroom or laboratory.
The facility has a utilization rate of 16 per cent.
Other classrooms across Memorial's St. John's campus are used for 40 per cent of the available daytime hours — an underutilization of 40 per cent based on the benchmark, according to the report.
Labs were utilized 22 per cent of available hours, an underutilization of 38 per cent. Many of the classrooms are controlled by faculty.
The report found that Memorial didn't know the total space it occupies. Hanrahan said these rates have not improved since the report concluded in March 2024.
"When you have unutilized space, there is a cost. All that space is still lit, it's still heated, it's still available," Hanrahan said.
Considering loan
The findings of Hanrahan's report speak to the larger deferred maintenance issue post-secondary institutions are facing across the country, according to Memorial's vice-president of administration, Lisa Browne.
"I know misery loves company sometimes, but this is something that many of us are really trying to look at — the changing landscape for universities," Browne said.
"There's a lot of change afoot, and the deferred maintenance aspect is certainly a big one for us."
MUN president Neil Bose said the university plans to give up some of its vacant space. Right now, the St. John's campus is in an in-between period, he said. The university is also in a deficit.
"In time, yes, the space of the campus will reduce," Bose said.
Hanrahan has issued nine recommendations for MUN's facility management. School officials have agreed to implement them over the next couple of years.
In the meantime, MUN brass said they're looking at getting a loan from different levels of government to improve the university.
Bose said the campus renewal fee will not be increased for students.
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