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The University of Guelph campus in May, 2020. The university’s president and vice-chancellor said the school was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the events over the weekend.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
The University of Guelph says it hopes to prevent future unsanctioned homecoming events after off-campus street parties spiralled out of control on the weekend, leading to multiple arrests and sending about 60 people to hospital.
Videos circulating on TikTok, Instagram and other social-media platforms showed thousands of people packed on to Chancellors Way, a street lined with off-campus student housing complexes in Guelph, a city of about 145,000 northwest of Toronto.
Some footage captured partygoers throwing bottles, scaling buildings and being subdued by police officers in riot gear.
Rowdy off-campus parties during the University of Guelph’s homecoming weekend are nothing new, but this year’s gathering was “significantly larger” than in the past and caused more public safety problems, the Guelph Police Service said in a statement Monday.
“Officers responded to incidents involving objects being thrown, people climbing buildings and other structures, as well as reports of shoplifting and vandalism affecting nearby businesses,” police said.
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The pandemonium overwhelmed Guelph General Hospital, which treated approximately 60 patients for intoxication, lacerations and head injuries from thrown bottles.
“Homecoming-related visits place significant pressure on critical hospital resources,” Alex Folkl, the hospital’s chief of emergency medicine, said by e-mail.
“This weekend, our Emergency Department was stretched beyond capacity. Had we also experienced an influx of seriously ill patients or even a small multipatient trauma event, there was a real risk that we would not have been able to provide every patient with the timely level of care they required.”
Guelph is one of several Ontario cities that have struggled to contain drunken off-campus parties during homecoming, a university celebration that welcomes alumni and students to sanctioned events, and usually revolves around a football game.
In 2023, Queen’s University in Kingston announced it would move its homecoming events to mid-October for the next three years − timing that coincides with a fall break when many students leave campus. Queen’s went as far as cancelling homecoming for several years before that to curb wild unsanctioned keg parties.
Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo and Western University in London both held homecoming events on the weekend, but police and hospital officials in those cities didn’t report the same level of chaos that engulfed Guelph.
In London, where unsanctioned homecoming parties have raged in the past, police on Saturday afternoon declared the site of a traditional street party to be a “nuisance party” and directed people to leave.
“Those in attendance complied with directions from police without incident,” Sergeant Sandasha Bough of London Police Service said by e-mail.
Rene Van Acker, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Guelph, said the school was “deeply disappointed” by events on the weekend.
“We are clear that this cannot happen again,” he said in a statement released Monday.
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Dr. Van Acker’s statement suggested some of the troublemakers had no connection to U of G.
“We are seeing a concerning trend in which individuals who are not U of G students, including students from other communities, travel to take part in unsanctioned gatherings and are among those involved in property damage and other disruptive behaviour,” he said.
However, Dr. Van Acker acknowledged that some U of G students engaged in “unacceptable behaviour.”
He said that the university would take unspecified action against students who violated university policy or broke the law.
Cam Guthrie, Guelph’s outgoing mayor, told CBC Radio on Monday that this year’s homecoming led to more problems than in the past.
“It’s been pretty clear that it was probably the worst amount of issues that we’ve ever experienced in the history of homecoming parties,” he said.
Mr. Guthrie later said in an e-mailed statement that he was encouraged to hear that police and the university have pledged to take action against individuals who broke the law or violated university policies.
The Guelph Police Service, meanwhile, said it is reviewing its response to the weekend’s events and expects to strengthen planning for future large gatherings.
Police already co-ordinate with the U of G, the municipal government, bylaw staff, the fire department, paramedic services and others to prepare for unsanctioned homecoming events in Guelph.