Ka-boom

And what point does your head start to feel like it's going to explode over all this MUN shit? Honest to God. This is gone beyond silly and into full on retarded.

First, MUN issues these pair of releases. Those releases, among other things contradict large swaths of what the premier and the minister of education have already said.

Because that alone isn't enough controversy, we have this extra bit of craziness, where Deanne Fleet disagreed with parts of the statement. Disagreed to the point that she stepped down as a member of the Board of Regents (she serves on the Board as an elected alumni rep). Which leads to another question. As Fleet is currently running for reelection, will she serve again if she gets enough votes? God only knows.

But hey, good on her for taking a stand and deciding to resign rather than be complicit in what she sees as a distorted version of the truth that some within the Regents are trying to spin. I wonder if she will be the last to walk?

So let's see how it looks right now. The premier certainly appears to have been distorting the truth. The education minister distorted the truth. And the Chair of the Board of Regents appears to have distorted the truth.

Hmmm, what do the three of these people have in common, I wonder?

Anyway, what we have here is a considerable mess. At this point getting anything resembling a straight answer or credible narrative is likely impossible. So let's move forward, shall we? What needs to be done to get things back on track and restore some confidence to things.

1. Education minister Joan Burke needs to resign. She can be shuffled somewhere else or put to the backbenches. But her credibility as education minister has been severely broken.
2. Regents chair Gil Dalton needs to step down. The faith in the ability of the Board of Regents to act independently of the government and in the best interests of the university has been damaged with his actions and Fleet's allegations. A new chairperson is required.
3. The Board of Regents search committee should approach Dr. Campbell and ask him to reconsider his decision to remove himself from consideration of MUN President. Furthermore, an apology from the premier for any damage to his professional reputation over this racket would certainly be an appropriate gesture.
4. In the fall sitting of the legislature an amendment of the Memorial University Act should be made eliminating any possible interference from the current or future provincial governments when it comes to the hiring of presidents.

This is a mess, make no mistake. It's a big one and it's obvious people are lying and not doing very good jobs of covering for it. So let's try and fix this bloody thing and actually get MUN a president before this thing becomes a bigger national joke than it already is, shall we?

Last Five
1. Make a little noise - Joel Plaskett Emergency*
2. One step beyond - Madness
3. If I should fall behind (live) - Bruce Springsteen
4. On a day like today - Keane
5. So called friend - Texas