TO: The Hon. Susan Holt, Premier of New Brunswick

The Hon. Jean-Claude D'Amours, Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour

The Hon. René Legacy, Minister of Finance and Treasury Board

Members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

RE: Collective Opposition to the Privatization of Mount Allison University

Dear Premier Holt and Ministers,

We, the undersigned alumni and friends of Mount Allison University, write to you today with a unified voice to express our opposition to the proposal currently under consideration to withdraw provincial operating grants and privatize Mount Allison University.

As graduates who have benefited from the world-class education provided by the university, we view the "independent model" not as an innovation, but as an abdication of the province’s responsibility to its citizens. Mount Allison is a public resource; it is not a commodity to be offloaded to the private sector to balance a provincial deficit.

Our opposition is rooted in three fundamental principles:

Education is a Public Good, Not a Private Luxury: Transforming Mount Allison into a private entity will inevitably lead to tuition hikes that would price out the very students the university was built to serve. A quality education should be accessible to all students who can meet the admittance criteria, not those who come from the wealthiest families.

Economic and Social Stability: Mount Allison is the heartbeat of the Tantramar region. Privatization introduces market volatility that threatens the livelihoods of faculty, staff, and the small businesses of Sackville. A stable, publicly-funded university is an essential pillar of New Brunswick’s rural economy.

The Philanthropic Social Contract: For generations, alumni have donated their time, expertise, and money to Mount Allison under the explicit understanding that it is a public trust. These contributions were never intended to subsidize a private enclave or an elitist institution. They were investments made to ensure that a world-class education remained a publicly accessible right for all qualified students, regardless of their socioeconomic background. Severing the tie between the Province and the University is a breach of that faith; it devalues the institution's mission, ignores the intent of its donors, and fundamentally shifts Mount Allison from a pillar of the Canadian federation into an exclusive, private commodity.

Our Collective Resolve:

As alumni and friends, our relationship with Mount Allison is lifelong. We are donors, mentors, and ambassadors for the province. However, our continued support for the institution is predicated on its identity as a public, accessible, and community-focused university. We cannot, in good conscience, support a move that turns our alma mater into an exclusive private enclave.

We call upon the Government of New Brunswick to explicitly reject privatization and reaffirm its commitment to Mount Allison through stable, predictable public funding.

We would like to affirm this is a subject we will take into account when voting in the next provincial election. Canadian alumni and friends residing outside the province will keep in mind that currently, they are still able to donate to candidates in New Brunswick elections.

The eyes of the global Mount Allison community are on Fredericton. We urge you to protect this institution for the generations of students yet to come.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned Alumni and Friends of Mount Allison University: