While visiting New York this summer, Aaron Busi, founder and managing director of Connect@UO, got an invitation to attend his friend’s intern mixer, which is made up of a group of student interns looking to connect. Busi met students from various prestigious schools, including Georgetown University, Brown University, and Stanford. He walked away with a new idea: recreating something similar at the University of Oregon.
“I had never been in that environment of talking to other really ambitious students in a networking space and just getting to know their background and what they’re really passionate about,” Busi said. “That’s where this whole networking organization comes from.”
A couple of months later, Busi founded Connect@UO on the University of Oregon campus.
Connect@UO was created to help students grow their networking skills, professionally and in a social manner, as well as giving students the opportunity to connect with students they wouldn’t think to connect with.
“Networking is beyond business. If you’re an English major and you know how to network, you’re going to further your career. Every major should know how to network properly,” Busi said.
On Oct. 5, Connect@UO hosted its first event: a performative male contest. A “performative male” curates his image to best fit the stereotype of a woke man, often in an exaggerated manner to appeal to a progressive woman.
“I brought a lot of my girlfriend’s stuff, her keychain (and) cassette tapes,” Harvey Parsons, winner of the contest and a sophomore at UO studying history and archaeology, said. Parsons decided to join after seeing an ad for the event on TikTok, which boasted over 17,000 views.
Rising to fame in August of 2025, performative male contests have invaded big cities and our social media feeds. Contests have been held in places like Alamo Square in San Francisco, Cal Anderson Park in Seattle, college campuses and in various other countries like England and Canada.
Men came armored with tote bags filled with women’s literature books, carrying matcha lattes, Beabadoobee vinyls and even Labubu doll keychains. There were over 30 contestants, and 20 of them made the final cut to participate.
“I wasn’t expecting to win at all,” Parsons said. “That was probably the best event they could’ve done. It brought so many people; they were able to promote their organization and they gained a decent amount of followers on Instagram and TikTok.”
Connect@UO’s Instagram went from a few hundred followers to over 500 following the event. Since its launch in July, Connect@UO plans on hosting more fun events like this contest, but plans on adding more events that focus on building networking skills and new connections.
Their next event will take place on Oct. 27, where students will get the chance to hear from a variety of student organization leaders of all majors. The event will be followed by a mixer, where students will get to meet students of all majors and make connections in an organic way.
“I think coming out of COVID for people our age, it can be hard to communicate properly. We’re doing networking events but also these side events with the whole purpose of building community and helping people connect,” Busi said.
If going to an alumni networking panel feels intimidating, or if students want to expand their network, Connect@UO can be a great way to feel more in touch with UO’s community and get started on building their careers early.
