During MUNSU’s 2025 election, Blake Colbran, Director of Student Life, drew a vision of a Memorial campus reignited.
Colbran is one of MUNSU’s executives, the heads of the union voted in at the end of the Winter semester.
His campaign promised students that in the coming Fall, Memorial would see our student life become more similar to that of other institutions: homecoming, a reinvigorated campus bar, and increased funding for clubs and societies.
However, students have yet to see these policies fulfilled, despite them being the primary platform on which Colbran was elected.
With only a month remaining in his term, we asked Colbran where these promises went.
Colbran wanted Memorial to have a homecoming. Yet, at the end of the day, he said it came down to money and burnout: “Fall Welcome took a lot more to prep for than I thought…and by the time Fall Welcome was done, the capacity and budget for other big events were gone.”
He wasn’t prepared for the scale of an event like homecoming. “MUNSU Student Life is basically just me and one other person,” said Colbran, and “Homecoming is not a MUNSU thing; it would be a multi-stakeholder; you would need Varsity, MUN Student Life, and MUNSU Student Life.”
If Colbran were re-elected—with this year’s experience and connections—he believes he could ensure homecoming’s success.
Colbran’s other proposals, according to him, were “slapped down” by other members of MUNSU’s board.
As Director of Student Life, a lot of Colbran’s ideas cost money—money MUNSU doesn’t have; in recent meetings, MUNSU has confirmed an over $200,000 dollar deficit for the coming year.
Colbran says that he wanted to increase club and society funding, but the budget wasn’t there, and the change was ultimately squashed.
Regarding the Breezeway, this year’s Fall Welcome marked two of the most profitable nights in campus bar history: September 12th’s Nick Earle concert and September 19th’s Silent Disco.
However, under his purview, there was no Winter Welcome Week, which, according to Colbran, was primarily due to the Breezeway’s closure and repairs, regarding a burst pipe.
Colbran plans to run again for Director of Student Life in the coming election. However, his priorities have shifted slightly.
According to him, “MUNSU doesn’t need more ideas; it needs implementation … I think it would be a much better use of time to take the cool ideas that clubs and societies are already doing, and then help them take them to the next level.”
