[11] The name honored Wilfrid Laurier; while the former Prime Minister of Canada had no local connections,[12] the university retained its WLU nickname.

The Brantford campus is centered around a cluster of historic properties in the downtown area, which have been thoughtfully restored for university purposes.

These include a former Carnegie library, Brantford's 1880 post office, a mansion dating back to 1870, and a 1950 Odeon Theatre.

The Milton campus, as outlined on WLU's official webpage, was aligned with a program offering focus on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM).

However, due to budget constraints imposed by the conservative government, the plan for this STEAM-focused academic venture, along with expansion on other separate campuses for Canadian universities, was subsequently canceled.

[15] In November 2017, the university became the subject of a free speech and academic freedom controversy for censuring a teaching assistant, Lindsay Shepherd, who used a three-minute recording of a debate involving Jordan Peterson about the compelled use of gender-neutral pronouns in a communications class.

[33] The registrar's report for winter 2016 indicates that the six most popular majors at Laurier, across the entire university, were (in order): business, communications studies, psychology, criminology, economics, and biology.

The music faculty boasts two performance spaces, the Theatre Auditorium and the Maureen Forrester Recital Hall (named after a contralto and former chancellor of Laurier).

[2] Students are able to enjoy co-op opportunities with dozens of companies, including KPMG, Ernst and Young, PepsiCo, Scotiabank, Unilever, and Manulife Financial.

It houses faculty scholarship, theses, dissertations, online journals, and an archival collection of The Cord dating back to 1926.

In 2010, it was named an "outstanding business school" by The Princeton Review, which acknowledged that "We are pleased to recommend Laurier as one of the best institutions students could attend to earn an MBA".

[49][50] Originally the "School of Business & Economics," it was renamed in September 2015 after Mike Lazaridis, co-founder of Research In Motion, and former Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

[54] The Lazaridis School offers a part-time MBA program in downtown Toronto at the St. Andrew's Club and Conference Centre.

The majority of the University's faculties reside at the Waterloo Campus, including Business, Arts, Science, Music, and Health.

Residence Life currently operates the following communities: Global: Thinking Global, Acting Local, Innovation: Entrepreneurship, Languages and Literatures, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science, Singer and Songwriter, The Reel World: English and Film Studies, and Vimy Hall: War, Memory and the Canadian Military Experience.

Also in an effort to partner better with the community and make the building more welcoming, faculty and staff held such events as the Political Coffee House Series, several all-candidates debates and the Expressions of Social Justice Festival.

[61] In April 2018, the provincial party then in power announced a funding plan ($90 million) for the MEV[62] that would accommodate a satellite campus of the university and also of Conestoga College, a recent partner in the project.

Construction was expected to conclude in Q3 of 2021; in the meantime, Laurier would offer credit courses in rented premises, commencing in September 2019.

[63][64][65] In October 2018, the new Conservative government, elected in June 2018, withdrew the funding before any construction had begun, citing a greater than expected provincial deficit, effectively canceling plans for the Milton campus.

[67][66] A Laurier news release said that the university would continue working with the town and other partners to find an alternate solution to fund the campus.

[75] On November 13, 2004, the Golden Hawks football team won the Yates Cup against the McMaster Marauders at University Stadium in front of a record crowd of 8,175.

In 2008, both the men's and women's curling teams won the inaugural CIS Championships and represented Canada in China at the 2009 World University Games.

The women's team repeated as CIS Champion's in 2009 in Montreal and went on to represent Canada in the Karuizawa International Curling championships where they claimed first place.

The Athletic Complex houses three Gyms, two squash courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a rock-climbing Wall, and Aerobics/Weight Rooms.

[79] The song was revived in 2005 by the WLU Alumni Choir and the words were adapted to reflect the change from Waterloo College to Wilfrid Laurier University.

Wilfrid Laurier University Students' Union's Arms, Supporters, Flag and Badge were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on January 15, 2003.

[2] Among the notable alumni are Carolyn A. Wilkins, the first woman appointed Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, Paul Heinbecker, Canada's Ambassador to the UN (2000-2004), Bill Downe, CEO of Bank of Montreal (2007-2017) and stock exchange founder Brad Katsuyama, the central character in Michael Lewis's Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt.

Wilfrid Laurier is home to a vibrant and growing Greek life, with each group having a large focus on philanthropic endeavours.