Welcome to Brock! You’ve got 60 years’ worth of history to catch up on, but don’t worry— here’s a summary of all the most important events that have occurred in the past few years.
You may remember in March 2020, a little incident literally stopped the presses and ended our 56 years of print, all of which can be found in our new digital archive.
Although we haven’t been in physical print since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Brock Press has continued to bring news to students as a digital paper.
For your sake and ours, let’s go through all the big stories at Brock that are being printed for the first time to get a better understanding of where Brock University is right now and what that means for students.
2020–2021: Where we left off
On March 17, 2020, the Ontario government declared a state of emergency which saw Brock University and every other non-essential public centre in the province shut down. Brock University rapidly suspended face-to-face classes and residence students were given 2 days after the state of the emergency to move out of their dorms. International students who couldn’t go back to their countries were given accommodations.
On July 15, BUSU and the GSA both agreed to reduce ancillary fees for students to mitigate student financial stresses. Bus pass fees, advocacy fees and BrockTV’s budget were also reduced by 25-50 per cent.
BUSU President Asad Jalib reminded students to “stay safe and be smart.”
In early 2021, BUSU made large investments in mental health services and access to menstrual products.
In February 2021, BUSU held an election and former VP of Finances and Administration Rafay Rehan became the new BUSU President.
Brock went into a Stage 1 lockdown after a COVID outbreak led to 22 individuals being infected by noon on March 27.
Emma Kirwin signed off for the last time as Editor-in-Chief of The Brock Press and Noah Nickel takes the reins.
Over the summer of 2021, the Ontario government pulled $400 million from OSAP, leading OUSA to successfully “wage war” against the clawback. The Ontario government paused its clawback on OSAP indefinitely.
Brock returned to in-person classes on campus for the 2021 Fall term. The residence move-in and month-long BadgerFest also commenced in September 2021. Of the 14,000 members of the community that completed Brock’s vaccination declaration process, over 99 per cent are vaccinated.
Despite the complexity of hybrid learning, students generally felt optimistic about returning to campus.
“Having the opportunity to be back in person has been quite beneficial to my studies so far,” said David Osorio, a first-year kinesiology student in 2021.
However, some controversy arose over the need for mandatory vaccinations on campus. Students also criticized BUSU and Brock’s responses to the issue.
2021–2022
In September, BUSU hosted an online town hall for students to ask questions and get to know the local candidates ahead of the 2021 Canadian Federal election.
In November, the Zone Fitness Centre reopened with social distancing restrictions.
The Niagara region voted to integrate all municipal transit systems into one regional transit authority, making student bussing a much simpler process.
Brock’s president announced that due to the omicron variant, Fall exams after December 16 would be cancelled and Brock would switch back to online learning until January 30.
The Ontario government announced all Ontario schools would resume in-person learning on January 17. This led to a short panic where students frantically raced to get accommodations near campus or drop out of their programs.
In January 2022, the Sociology Student Association created the BIPOC caucus to promote awareness, education and support of social justice, community building and healing for racialized students.
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2022 BUSU Sexual Assault controversy
On February 12, a document was anonymously posted to the r/brocku subreddit accusing the then-current BUSU VPFA and presidential candidate running in the February BUSU election of sexual assault. Screenshots showed the VPFA claiming they would abuse their power to get a woman from Niagara College into Brock.
On February 13, BUSU made a statement about the situation on Instagram denying all allegations, telling students to stop “harassing” candidates and recommending students review candidate profiles to get a better understanding of “the changes that they want to make.” This Instagram post was deleted a few hours later after massive student backlash.
On February 14, BUSU posts a new statement apologizing for the last statement not being supportive of survivors of sexual assault. The presidential election was postponed and the VPFA with sexual assault allegations was put on a leave of absence.
On February 15, a sit-in at Union Station was planned by @brockusafehaven the following day and a “Letter to BUSU” was posted protesting BUSU’s conduct regarding the sexual assault allegations.
Allegations of former BUSU president Asad Jalib sexually assaulting a 19-year-old with another member of the Sigma Chi fraternity came out at the same time.
BUSU made another statement on February 24 agreeing to an external investigation into the allegations after a significant push from Brock students. The investigation only followed the VPFA’s sexual assault allegations, not the former BUSU President’s allegations.
On March 31, the investigation of the controversy concluded that “allegations of sexual violence against the VPFA were unfounded.”
It was discovered that some students with connections to BUSU participated in a “smear campaign” against various members of BUSU which led to a political “bushfire.”
There was also evidence that BUSU deleted several comments on their Instagram posts regarding the investigation.
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Starting March 1, BUSU began offering free breakfast to students as part of the Food First Program every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
On March 31, a student running for BUSU President by special nomination uploaded a self-promotional video to r/brocku, claiming they would “guide us out of the political failures.” The self-nomination failed to get the necessary signatures.
With little promotion from BUSU, Faten Darbaj was elected president of BUSU with only 9.7% of the vote on April 7.
Brock maintained mask mandate and vaccination requirements into the 2022 Fall term.
Noah Nickel signed off for the last time as Editor-in-Chief of The Brock Press and Holly Morrison takes his place.
2022–2023
BUSU and the GSA aimed to bring student life back to campus with one of the biggest BadgerFests in history.
“Our BadgerFest events have been planned specifically for the students of Brock as an opportunity to meet new friends, have fun and get to know campus,” said Faten Darbaj, 2022 BUSU President.
Brock’s Campus Store returned to accepting in-store customers after three years of online-only orders.
Brock attempted to overcome the spike in STIs among university students in relation to lifted COVID-19 restrictions.
Despite the joyous attitude of more students returning to class, many students faced significant financial problems.
In October, anti-women atrocities in Iran sparked a Solidarity Rally for Iranian Students at Brock University.
Temporary study booths in the Rankin Pavilion near the Tim Hortons got some mixed reactions from students.
On October 27, in response to the Sexual Assault controversy, BUSU held a referendum to:
1) Turn BUSU executive roles into hired positions without elections.
2) Turn BUSAC into an advisory council without administrative powers.
3) Increase the Board of Directors to 13 members.
BUSU also committed to greater transparency and all Board meetings are now supposed to be recorded and uploaded to BUSU’s YouTube channel.
BUSU pressured students to vote “yes” on the referendum with a caption that read “we need you [the students] to ratify these bylaws so we can move forward with a better way to support student.” Despite vocal opposition from the students, the referendum passed, ending 58 years of democratically elected student presidents at Brock.
BUSU President Faten Darbaj resigned on November 2.
“I decided to resign because the environment is extremely toxic and corrupt,” said Darbaj in a statement on her Instagram story.
“They wanted me out & I tried fighting it, but at the end of the day I’m not able to do my job serving the students when my time is being consumed by fighting off bullies and constantly trying to prove myself.”
BUSU made no comment on Darbaj’s resignation.
In March 2023, Brock launched their LINC program to help entrepreneurial student start-ups reach their full potential.
BUSU held a referendum on March 30 to approve changes to their new student centre plan. The referendum failed to meet quorum and did not pass.
On May 1, BUSU hired James Maxwell-Barillas, former Sports Editor for The Brock Press and Chair of BUSU, to be the new president.
Brock announced masks will no longer be mandatory as of April 23, 2023.
Over the summer, Brock Dance club faces allegations of bullying a dancer, telling her to “get off the stage” and creating an unsafe environment. The dancer provided an exclusive interview to The Brock Press on her experiences.
Holly Morrison signed off for the last time as Editor-in-Chief of The Brock Press and Haytham Nawaz takes the mantle.
2023–2024
The Brock Press Board voted to become a workers’ cooperative, partly in response to the abuses of a former non-student Business Manager, bringing us back to our student-run and worker-owned roots but now as an incorporated organization.
BadgerFest, Community Fair and Clubs Carnival all aimed to be even bigger than last year and were a massive success to students.
The conflict in the Middle East ignited tensions at Canadian universities and student-led solidarity rallies at Brock.
In November, a photo posted on r/brocku of a slideshow presented by Chabad at Brock in a series of workshops about antisemitism was called “Islamophobic” and criticized online. It was revealed in a Press’ exposé that hurtful comments were made by a Chabad at Brock presenter that targeted a Palestinian student.
In November, Brock’s President Lesley Rigg declared an unprecedented $37 million operating deficit, representing roughly 10 per cent of the institution’s budget. The deficit is caused by the PC Party of Ontario’s policy to eliminate free tuition for low-income students and put provincial debt onto the backs of colleges and universities. The Ontario government’s reinvestment in post-secondary did little to mitigate the deficit.
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2024 BUSU President scandal
In January 2024, BUSU President James Maxwell-Barillas was fired for “discriminatory comments and not fulfilling his duties.” An employee at BUSU says a 16-page report was written up on the chronic behavioural problems that got the president fired.
BUSU does not make the report public or officially acknowledge what caused Maxwell-Barillas’ removal.
The Maxwell-Barillas allegedly had a reputation for misconduct and there were rumors of anger issues and inappropriate comments made by the former President.
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In February, the Canadian government announced a cap on the number of international students allowed in Canadian universities. This led to uncertainty among Brock’s international student community and Brock’s financial situation.
Brock cut funding to its MRP stream graduate programs and students spoke out in their defence. After a letter from CUPE 4207 is sent to the Board of Trustees, some MRP programs are restored.
In April, OPRIG at Brock also experienced defunding, but promised to continue their activist work in the Niagara region.
In June, Brock for Palestine protested Brock University’s Convocation and sent a letter to Brock’s President with a list of demands to “acknowledge and condemn Israel’s genocidal acts.”
In May, BUSU hired a new executive team including current BUSU President Anusha Pahuja. BUSU deleted their Instagram announcement of this rehiring after the VPSS resigned in July.
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And now you’re caught up! Hopefully, this brief recap will help you to understand just where Brock is right now.
What the future holds is up to you. If you don’t like the news, go out and make some!
