Tickets issued, arrests made

University ‘disappointed’ with unruly student behaviour

Wolfville residents want more action to curb loud, destructive public gatherings following a raucous Acadia University Homecoming Weekend.

Video shared on social media showed large crowds of unmasked students roaming through the town’s residential streets.

Concerned Wolfville resident Angie Jenkins said she is used to lots of students partying on the weekends and it usually doesn’t bother her for the most part. However, she was concerned by the large, unruly gathering that occurred on Homecoming Weekend.

“We want our students to have fun and have parties and to celebrate and be together, it’s not about that, but when it gets to that level, it’s too much,” she said.

At the peak, she said, there was probably 300 people in the crowd and she found the experience somewhat “frightening.” Streets were blocked, and emergency vehicles would have had a very hard time getting through, especially later in the evening, Jenkins said.

She said the first concerning thing she saw on Oct. 16 was a young man who appeared to have facial injuries being taken away in an ambulance. Jenkins said a crowd had started to gather by then and she noticed an increasing police presence with several cruisers.

“Throughout the day, things just seemed to escalate,” Jenkins said.

By the time it got dark, she said, there were huge crowds of students in the streets, and they weren’t wearing masks or social distancing.

Several students who were approached in downtown Wolfville on Oct. 18 declined the opportunity to comment on the weekend’s happenings.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

Bob Lutes is a community member who represents concerned residents in weekly Teams meetings with representatives of the university, the Acadia Students’ Union (ASU), the RCMP and the Town of Wolfville.

He said the best thing they can do moving forward is to keep communicating and focus on what can be done to help address the problem of rowdy student gatherings.

“The main thing is to keep the conversation open and to be respectful,” Lutes said. “I think students have some belief on what residents think when in fact we’re very supportive of students, we’re just not supportive of the stuff that crosses the line.”

He said they recognize students want to have gatherings and activities. One thing that was suggested recently is for the university to hold more on-campus events to attract students during times such as Homecoming Weekend.

Lutes said in recent years, there seems to be more of a problem with large parties with up to 300 attendees. Crowd control becomes “virtually impossible” in these

Wolfville Mayor Wendy Donovan would like to see more on-campus activities for Acadia University students held during times such as Homecoming Weekend. situations, he said.

He said there is a lot of regular party activity on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. One of the most difficult things to bring under control is partying taking place during the summer, when the university has less of a role to play and student accommodations are often sublet to others.

“The less you have invested in the community and the further away you might come, the less you really care about what you did while you were there."

NO DEFINITIVE ANSWER

Wolfville Mayor Wendy Donovan said she wishes she had a definitive answer when it comes to addressing the problem, which has been ongoing for a long time as it has in many university towns.

Donovan said she recalls from her days as a student at a larger university that there were always a lot of events for students happening on campus during times such as Homecoming Weekends. More on-campus events, such as concerts, for example, could help improve the situation for residents.

Donovan said there seems to be a real interest on the part of students to gather on the streets, and there are several major streets running through the campus.

She said she believes the town and university have looked at closing down some of these streets for parties, but the liquor control board was not in favour. The mayor would like to revisit this.

“The partying and open alcohol is on our streets, so if there was some way to move it off of residential streets and into streets on the campus, that would please me,” Donovan said.

UNIVERSITY RESPONDS

Acadia University communications director Sherri Turner provided a statement on behalf of the university. Acadia and the ASU worked with local and provincial authorities to provide safe, on-campus programming for students over the Homecoming Weekend.

“The university is deeply disappointed in the conduct of those students who gathered noisily in the streets and engaged in property damage,” the statement read.

The university “condemns unruly behaviour” and “extends apologies to neighbours in Wolfville who were troubled or inconvenienced by the disrespectful attitude of some students. These actions are inconsistent with Acadia’s values.”

Acadia University will work with the town and the RCMP to investigate the weekend’s activities. Acadia students who broke laws, bylaws, or COVID-19 health and safety protocols will be sanctioned and disciplined by the university.

The students’ union and the Acadia-Wolfville Good Neighbours Group had previously co-ordinated student and local volunteers to conduct a community cleanup on Oct. 17. The university said turnout was excellent, with students and university leaders working alongside residents to help clean up.