The issue with students going to Hull and returning to campus has been ongoing for many years at Carleton and Safety dealt with this during that time. The number of underage students increased in recent years simply because of the double cohort.
The effects of the double cohort are leaving us now and the problem is coincidentally reducing in its severity. I would not say that this is any more serious in terms of alcohol abuse that it has been in other years.
The town across the river has accumulated many nicknames over the years including: Dirty Hull, Sketchy Hull, and the Big Dirty. Hull has traditionally been the place to visit for those who may not be of age here in Ontario and often students head over during the weekends to have a good time. Some of these names date back to the 1980s when it was dubbed the crime capital of Quebec, but is the problem getting worse?
An account from Tim Wong, a first-year journalism student here at Carleton sounded straight out of a movie as himself and a few friends were having some good fun one Saturday night and after leaving a club, they saw two small groups of young men get into an altercation which resulted in one man getting stabbed. This of course, left Tim and his friends in shock as one of his friends claimed that they were “definitely not coming back to Hull.”
Carleton students Alena Peters and Angela Brock said they believed that they felt safer while in Montreal than they did while on an outing in Hull. This is not without good reason as their story involved spontaneous fighting constantly breaking out at a club. In addition, a group of ten males attempted to cut in line to get into a club and yet another fight broke out and as a result, Alena was punched in the back. To this day, both girls have not and say they will never go back to Hull again after their experience.
Another problem that Hull faces is the lack of police responsibility. Tim had said that while there seemed to be lots of police around that night, the stabbing occurred within sight of an empty police car with no officers to be found nearby. Another story and perhaps one of the most disturbing ones is of another Carleton student, Jane (name changed at her request) and her friend. Jane said she was sexually assaulted and harassed by a disturbed man in a club. While attempting to get her coat from the coat check, Jane said she phoned the police. No officers showed up and Jane had to receive a ride home from the bouncer of the club, she said.
The Gatineau police did not wish to comment on either of these incidences where their officers failed to show up. As the problem may originate in Hull, the Carleton Housing Department has said that generally there has not been a visible increase in violence occurring from intoxicated students. While this bodes well for Hull’s reputation and the safety of Carleton students on campus, the students’ accounts show that Hull can still be risky.