Sunday, October 12, 2025
Brock's Only Independent Student Newspaper
One of the only worker-managed newspapers in Canada

BUSU welcomes students to Brock with annual BadgerFest event

|
|

On Saturday, Sept. 3, BUSU’s BadgerFest event kept undergraduate Brock students engaged and excited throughout a week filled with fun events and opportunities.

BadgerFest has become a Frosh Week staple and is hosted each year by Brock University Students’ Union (BUSU), with sponsors such as Scotiabank and StudentVIP. The event is held to welcome both new and returning Brock undergraduate students, and provides a chance for attendees to meet new people and create friendships.

The weeklong festival, which was only open to Brock students holding a student card, had events tailored to accommodate as wide a range of interests as possible.

“[The] BadgerFest events have been planned specifically for the students of Brock as an opportunity to meet new friends, have fun and get to know [the Brock University] campus. They cater to a range of interests, from a community fair to paint party, bingo to live DJs at Isaac’s and more,” said Faten Darbaj, BUSU president in an interview with Brock News.

BadgerFest was a major part of Brock’s Welcome Week, which was aimed at making students’ introductions to Brock University as exciting as possible. This comes as Brock welcomes 2500 students to its residences during one of the largest incoming classes the university has ever seen.

According to the official BadgerFest FAQ page, BUSU ensured that the event prioritized inclusivity every step of the way, “BadgerFest is a fun event where people [of] different races, religions, cultures, belief systems, sexual orientations and walks of life come together as the Brock Community.” For more information on BadgerFest, check out the dedicated website BUSU has created for the event here.

More by this author

RELATED ARTICLES

Mapping MAMM #4: What the f*** is Canadian Literature anyway? 

Mapping MAMM is an ongoing series which gets into the research questions surrounding the Mapping Ann-Marie MacDonald Research Project. My previous articles have introduced the project as well as examined its cross-disciplinarity and ethics of care. In this fourth installment, I’ll get into the “fraught construct” that is CanLit. 

Late Night comedy in the face of censorship  

Jimmy Kimmel is a late-night comedy staple. Having been on the air since 2003, the comedian is perhaps best known for his viral videos, including “Mean Tweets” — where celebrities read hateful posts on X and his long running YouTube series “I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy.” Kimmel has always been a relatively tame figure in late night media. Though not as politically neutral as Jimmy Fallon, he is certainly not as outspoken as fellow late-night hosts Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, John Stewart or John Oliver. 

USA: Not fascist, just anti-anti-fascism 

The United States is not a fascist state. Elections still occur, courts still sometimes check executive power and journalists and comedians still speak out against the government. Within the remains of a democratic framework, on Sept. 22, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order designating “Antifa” — a composition of autonomous groups affiliated with political movements against fascism and other far-right extremist ideologies — as a domestic terrorist organization. Despite the lack of legal framework for this designation, the executive order purports that dissent against the Trump administration is a threat to national security rather than a legitimate democratic right

The war within: Pete Hegseth and the weaponization of U.S. military identity 

When Pete Hegseth — formally the U.S. Secretary of Defense, but ceremonially the Secretary of War — took the stage at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sept. 30, his first words carried the weight of an era. “Welcome to the War Department,” he said to a packed auditorium of generals, admirals and senior officers. “The era of the Department of Defense is over.”

Five activities to add to your fall bucket list 

If you’re looking for something fun to add to your bucket list this fall, this list of autumn activities is perfect for you. 

Brock’s Wellness Fair spotlights countless student services and opportunities  

The 2025 Brock Wellness Fair gave students the chance to explore a wide range of services, supports and community spaces available both on and off campus. From volunteer initiatives and interfaith opportunities to a variety of mental health supports and athletics, the fair displayed a growing list of opportunities for students to take care of themselves, connect with others and make Brock feel like home. 

10 years after TRC’s Calls to Action and Canada’s promises of reconciliation are still pending 

Ten years have passed since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released their landmark Final Report in June 2015. The Commission, established under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, spent seven years gathering testimony from over 6,000 Survivors to document the devastating legacy of residential schools. This led them to issuing 94 Calls to Action — a roadmap for governments, institutions and Canadians to repair harm and build a more just future. These Calls were never meant as symbolic gestures; they were concrete, actionable steps. A decade later, one question remains: has Canada lived up to them?

Buyback or backfire? Ottawa’s gun compensation program faces mounting pushback  

In late September, Ottawa announced an official gun buyback pilot program in Nova Scotia — the first step toward removing more than 2,500 models of legally purchased, now-prohibited firearms from licensed Canadian gun owners.