Rob Binkowski is a third-year criminology and criminal justice student who says while there is nothing wrong with the universities asking game-goers to party responsibly, “ultimately students have to be held responsible for their own actions.”
Panda Game—an annual football match between the Carleton Ravens and the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees—is a time-honoured tradition of celebrating university spirit through sports, drinking, and notoriously lively parties.
However, for Ottawa citizens in the vicinity of Lansdowne Park and the university campuses, these parties often result in property damage, noise complaints, and general disturbances.
In Sandy Hill, a neighbourhood directly adjacent to the U of O campus, a group of residents demanded action against the allegedly destructive and disturbance-inducing parties that follow Panda.
Much like last year, police presence is planned to be raised in afterparty hotspots in an attempt to keep damage to a minimum.
Celebrations following Panda have caused trouble in the past. Residents in the Glebe and Sandy Hill have reported damage caused by students from both universities, which has resulted in an attempt to educate game-goers on safe partying practices.
“Dealing with a day of excessive partying is a small price to pay to live in a lively city with a healthy amount of entertainment.” – Rob Binkowski, third-year criminology and criminal justice student.
Recently, Carleton and U of O have teamed up to combat inappropriate behaviour at this year’s Panda Game through a video promoting “safe partying”. While this is a good effort, off-campus student activity should not be attributed to the school, nor should it fall on Carleton to enforce laws and regulations.
While there is nothing wrong with Carleton and U of O asking game-goers to be responsible, ultimately students have to be held responsible for their own actions.
While it is unfortunate that some residents have to deal with the repercussions of poor choices by students—and such actions certainly should be dealt with to the full extent of the law—major events and the disturbances that come with them are a part of living in a city with a sizeable youth population.
Partying students do have a responsibility to obey the law and city ordinances, but it is simply not realistic for residents living in a lively city to demand absolute peace following a major sporting event.
While the property damage issue is clearly a step beyond the line of partying, this issue should be attributed solely to the perpetrators, instead of lumping all students into one homogenous, destructive group.
All that being said, what is the way forward to minimize damage to local residents while not infringing on the rights of students to organize and partake in social events?
In my perspective, there isn’t much that can be done beyond what Carleton and U of O have already implemented. As has been done in previous years, police presence should be raised in hotspots, any individuals caught breaking the law should be held responsible, and complaints of residents should be handled with the due process that they usually receive.
However, leniency should be given to smaller issues such as noise complaints, public intoxication and other minor offences that result in little harm.
It would also be unfair to all the students not breaking the rules to be assumed guilty for the actions of a few bad eggs. Partying itself is not a criminal offence. Dealing with a day of excessive partying is a small price to pay to live in a lively city with a healthy amount of entertainment.
File photo.
