| Last week, I sat down with Vancouver Island University’s interim president, Dennis Johnson, to talk about the state of the university. The institution is in a fiscal crisis, with dropping enrolment and tuition revenue leading to multi-year deficits and program cuts.
Under the previous president, interview requests to talk with senior leadership at VIU were routinely declined and, at best, reporters would get a short statement emailed to them.
Johnson told me that he wants to have a more open and substantive relationship with local journalists and his willingness to sit down for an interview is a good start.
You can read my interview with him below.
Thank you for reading,
Mick Sweetman
P.S. In case you missed it, our weekly arts and culture newsletter The Hub will now be published on Thursdays, just in time for the events on the weekend. You will receive our weekly Nanaimo This Week newsletter on Tuesdays with all of your community news.
|
|
 |
|
|
| I support The Discourse because... | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Your articles are clear, to the point and relative.”
— Carol J., from our newsletter survey.
|
| Support us
| |
| Q&A: Interim VIU president says he wants to ‘turn VIU around’
| Dennis Johnson sits down with The Discourse to talk about leadership, international students and finances. |
| Read the full interview
| | Council corner
|
At its meeting on Monday, Nanaimo city council approved changes to the city’s video surveillance policy, granted property tax exemptions to 176 properties that are places of worship, seniors housing, community care facilities and non-profits, directed staff to expand cleaning services in the South End neighbourhood, agreed with a proposal for a telecom tower on Northfield Road and passed a rezoning application for a property on Bowen and Boxwood Road to allow multi-family residential development.
There was also a presentation by the Island Corridor Foundation.
Coun. Paul Manly brought forward a notice of motion to name the park at 933 Park Ave. “Five Acres Farm Community Park,” which will be discussed at at future city council meeting.
|
| In other news |
👉 A woman was rescued by helicopter off the face of Mount Benson on Sunday after she slipped and injured her leg. Nanaimo Search and Rescue worked with North Shore Rescue to lift her to safety. The Nanaimo News Bulletin has the story.
👉 Turtles are getting busy at Diver Lake this year with the the Nanaimo Area Land Trust finding a dozen nests, including seven of the endangered western painted turtle. The Nanaimo News Bulletin has the story.
👉 The RCMP is calling on anyone with information about the 2024 homicide of Lee Harland, whose body was discovered near the train tracks by the Nanaimo Curling Centre, to come forward. Police say Harland was known to stay at homeless encampments in the area at the time of his death. The Nanaimo News Bulletin has the story. |
| Have your say
|
📣 The Regional District of Nanaimo and Mosaic Forest Manamgent have reached an agreement for the district to purchase 360 hectares of land known as Hamilton Marsh for $30 million. The Nanaimo Area Land Trust is trying to raise $250,000 from the community to help pay for the purchase. The public can ask questions about the purchase and see background documents on the project webpage.
| | Be part of it! |
🎉 Keep an eye out for more posts about our reporters' extraordinary work at @thediscourse.ca on Bluesky. You can tap the bell on our profile to get a notification when we post a new story.
You can also follow our journalists and sister publications in the Discourse Community Publishing network by clicking “follow all” in our starter pack.
You can also now follow us on TikTok and YouTube.
| | What did you think of this newsletter? |
⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
|
|
|
