Over the Halloween weekend, crowds amassed on the UVic campus for a party that resulted in major property damage.
According to Saanich Police, at its height, the Halloween party had over 400 in attendees and officers were on campus as part of their patrols.
“Despite a no-guest policy for residences between October 28th to November 1st, large crowds of several hundred students—including what appeared to be large numbers of people from off campus and non-UVic students—gathered outdoors near our residence buildings on the weekend,” said UVic’s Associate Director of Public Affairs, Kirsten Lauvaas in a statement.
“Efforts to keep our entire UVic community safe are placed in jeopardy when behaviours such as this impact what we are trying to achieve.”
An instagram account named ‘Vancouver Island’s Finest’ (@sendszn.vic) posted several videos from the weekend and is calling for more submissions by attendees of this year’s party.
In the videos, students and other young adults can be seen climbing signs, observing damage to the Wilson building’s bathroom, behaving belligerent and potentially hurting themselves by falling off infrastructure they had climbed on.
The Instagram account that posted these videos also posted a series of videos earlier in October, depicting a similar party in the same area on the UVic campus, which actually occurred last Halloween, in 2021.
A social media post made this morning showed these videos as if they all happened this year, but upon closer inspection, they were indeed depicting a halloween party from last year.
The students who are identified will be at the mercy of UVic’s Non-Academic Misconduct Policy.
UVic’s Non-Academic Misconduct Policy refers to:
- Theft, damage or destruction of property
- Unauthorized entry or presence on university property
- Fraud or impersonation
- Disruptive or dangerous behaviours to self or others
- Unlawful possession or use of alcohol that violates the university liquor policy
- Use or possession of illicit drugs
- Other activities that result in criminal charges or conviction or a court judgment
According to UVic, the university is investigating the incident along with Saanich Police, as the university has no jurisdiction over the attendees that were not students.
