DSU rehires same security contractor for DalFest after alleged assaults last year, adds new safety measures

The Dalhousie Student Union is adding new safety and accessibility measures at DalFest this year but keeping the same security contractor that some students allege assaulted and berated them at last year’s festival.

Students also reported long lines, being denied entry and being cursed at by security. The 2025 festival was the DSU’s first time running an event of that scale, according to William Jones, last year’s DSU vice-president of finance and operations, in a September 2025 interview with the Dalhousie Gazette. The DSU estimated over 1,000 students attended. 

Related: Students reportedly assaulted by security at DalFest

DalFest will hit the quad on Sept. 11 at Dalhousie University’s Studley Quad. The festival will be headlined by the Beaches, with Halifax-based Neon Dreams opening the show. 

The DSU is making changes it hopes will alleviate wait times, overcrowding and accessibility issues, but rehired Shadow Security, the contractor employed for DalFest and SnoFest last year.

Shadow Security operates security for events and celebrities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Their parent company, Shadow Group, did not reply to repeated requests for comment by the time of publication. The DSU did not receive any official reports regarding security following SnoFest, the union’s winter festival, last year. 

Anjali Seshadri, DSU president, declined to comment on any actions taken by last year’s DSU administration regarding the allegations. She says the DSU has had conversations with Shadow Security, instructing them to de-escalate conflict and avoid physical altercations. Security has also been instructed to contact on-site DSU staff if incidents arise.

Two students reported being assaulted by Shadow Security guards to the Gazette last year. Lola Brimacombe, who was a first-year student at the time, said security pulled her hair and shoved her out of line, and Jack Lafferty, another first-year student at the event, claims a security guard pushed him and his friend into a fence and kicked his friend’s finger.

Students also told the Gazette they waited for hours before security pushed them out of line, cursed at them and closed entry gates.

DalFest was previously organized by the VPFO, but Seshadri says the responsibility has been moved to a staff role. 

This year the DSU is implementing a new check-in system to separate first-year and upper-year students and stagger their entry, says Seshadri. She says this will ensure everyone can get into the event smoothly. Additionally, the entry points have been updated to improve wheelchair accessibility.

The Dalhousie Medical Campus Response Team, a student-run volunteer first aid team, will have a tent on the festival grounds for students to access, alongside a tent from Sex Education Resource Centre and a Care Hub run by Dal Student Health and Wellness.

“If there are particular emergencies, we’re there to help,” Seshadri says. “You can reach out to security or to one of the tents that are in the festival grounds area.”    

Last year’s festival was on Sept. 5 and headlined by rapper BBNO$. Jones said the DSU, security, medical staff and event organizers received no official reports from students regarding the event, but the DSU was aware of the allegations. 

“We take the safety of our students extremely seriously,” Jones said to the Gazette at the time.

Seshadri says students should report any issues with DalFest security to the DSU. 

“In the end, we’re here to listen to students … You’re always free to reach out to us if you have any complaints or you notice anything that went wrong. That is something we take seriously, and we would be internally looking into.”

Seshadri declined to say how much the DSU paid to Shadow Security to staff Dalfest this year, saying the contract details are confidential.