This is a cry for help from the Visual Arts students at Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus.

For the third year in a row, our courses have been cut from the roster. There are so few courses available for students taking third year level studios, that there are not enough slots for the students that need them. Last year, we organized on our own, for twelve hours, in the atrium of our building. We built a community based on clear communication and trust, and we got a few courses back for Winter 2025.

Now, we’re asking for help. Begging, even.

Despite all it’s issues and infighting, we love our program, and we want it to be here for future students to take. The way that policies and budgeting is going, we may not be around long enough for current students to graduate. Our studios are crumbling, eye wash stations have been out of order for 2 years, and classes are so packed it feels impossible to get work done properly. This is shameful for an institution entering its 50th year. We are not receiving the education that we are paying for, point blank.

Let’s breakdown the biggest issues, course availability and safety.

Third year studios that are currently available do not account for the students that need to take them, forcing students out of their specialties, and forcing them to take more time to complete their degrees. There are four studios in total available for students to take: 3110, 3210, 3850, and 3918. This seems fine at first, but when you look deeper, it becomes clear that this is insufficient. VART 3850 is a specialty class that works with the Rotary Arts Center and gives only 2 students the ability to work with the community for a semester and run workshops. It’s a wonderful course that is hugely beneficial to these artist’s future careers, but it should not be considered when planning courses for students to select from. Since this course only accepts 2 students a semester, it means that all students needing third year studios (except for those 2) will all take 3110, 3210, and 3918. With only 16 slots for each of these classes, that means only 16 students will have their required course load for the semester. This not only leaves out a good portion of the student body, but it forces students out of their specialties and into courses that they do not have the prerequisites or equipment for.

Our studios are crumbling. For as long as some students, and professors, can remember, the ceilings in our studios have leaked, and in some cases, destroyed the art that graduating students work an entire year to complete. The solution to this issue that we were offered? The student put up a tarp above their workstation, paid for themselves, and redirected the dripping water into a bucket behind them. Our eyewash stations have been out of order for 2 years, still on the walls, and replaced with eyewash bottles just laid on top of the machine without being properly attached to the wall. This leads to an increased risk of contamination and neglect, and as an extension, could do more harm than good when a student gets something in their eye in the studios. Student safety is not a priority in the Fine Arts building. 

We ask for the eyewash stations to be properly replaced, either by machines, or for the bottles to be properly affixed to the walls and replaced regularly, per manufacturer guidelines, to give students peace of mind in the studio and keep with the expectation of safety in the program. We also ask for VART 1911 (Fine Arts Health and Safety) be updated to instruct students on the use of eyewash bottles, and the new locations of these stations.

We ask for at least two additional third year studios be added to the roster, to give the students that were neglected the opportunity to succeed in the degree that they pay for. 

We ask GCSU and MUNSU to support us in our fight, as we recognize that this goes farther than our program, and this is a fight for our place as students at this university. Please organize with us and show the university that neglecting students is unacceptable in any program.

We ask the public to support us in our effort to make our University, and our community, a place that values students and artists.

We are prepared to organize and hold yet another sit in, demanding that the university allocates its budget appropriately to give students the education that they pay for.

Signed,

Concerned Visual Arts Students