'The more you try, the more we prevail': Western students defiant at FOCO celebrations

An online video shows Western students defiantly speaking out against university administrators for their attempts to curb booze-fuelled celebrations at "fake homecoming," an unsanctioned, drunken street party that saw an estimated 11,000 students pour into the streets over the weekend. 

• FOCO: Western students fighting for their right to party

The comments were captured by a film crew from Western TV during this weekend's festivities on Broughdale Avenue, an enclave of student rentals south of campus where thousands of purple-clad revelers partied in the street under the watchful eye of local law enforcement on Saturday. 

The video was published online Sunday and depicts a number of scenes, which include students urinating outdoors, making lewd sexual comments or sounding off to the school administration's attempts to curb unsanctioned homecoming festivities.

The following excerpt has been edited for taste and brevity:

'The more you try, the more we prevail:' Western students defiant at FOCO celebrations

7 years ago

Duration 0:42

'The more you try, the more we prevail:' Western students defiant at FOCO celebrations

"Thank you for giving us two homecomings," one woman tells the camera. "I really appreciate it and so does all of Western."

"We're still going to do this," said an unidentified reveller wearing a flamingo duct taped to a hard hat and a Western University flag draped over his shoulders like a cape. "We're still going to do this no matter what you say."

"The more you try, the more we prevail," another student tells the camera.  

The subject has become a thorny issue for school administrators who have made numerous attempts to shed Western's party school image.   

"I was disappointed in the actions of the some of the students," John Doerksen, Western University's vice-provost academic, told CBC News. "Clearly this doesn't represent the values we aspire to as an institution." 

"Fake homecoming" or FOCO, as its known by its internet shorthand, began as a protest by students in 2016 after Western's administration moved the date of the university's officially sanctioned homecoming events from September to October.

The hope was — according to administrators — that moving the date from late September to late October would not only curb the amount of partying by students, but would also be more in tune with the time of year Western had historically scheduled its homecoming celebrations. 

Doerksen said it was "disappointing" that a move meant to stop the number of alcohol-fuelled street parties in September backfired on the school's administration. 

"Our students have a great deal of school spirit and I value that, but I think we want to demonstrate that in ways that respect the community in which we are located." 

"We have a large gathering where the safety risk is quite high," Doerksen said. "I know that's my concern." 

Doerksen said school administrators will be meeting in order to come up with a new strategy to deal with a student party that seems to be growing larger and wilder every year. 

London Middlesex EMS responded to a number of alcohol-related calls during the event, as well as a number of reports of pedestrians being struck by vehicles in the Richmond Street and Broughdale Avenue area. 

EMS Deputy Chief Al Hunt said there were so many revelers in the streets on Saturday, paramedics were forced to park ambulances on adjacent streets and even cut through backyards in order for paramedics to get to people in medical distress.

"You couldn't get anywhere near it, there was just so many people on the streets," he said. 

London Police estimate the crowd at Saturday's wild street party was 11,000 and while officers laid a number of charges, a spokesman said a tally would not be available until Tuesday. 

"The hope is the numbers for that will be compiled tomorrow," Const. Matt Hopkins said Monday.

In terms of future iterations of the unsanctioned event, the University Students' Council, Western's student union formally asked school administrators to move homecoming celebrations back to late September. 

"Students really do want homecoming at the end of September when there aren't exams and they can take part in the celebrations," USC president Tobi Solebo said. 

"Homecoming is currently scheduled for late October for the next few years," he said. "What exactly those next few years look like is hard to say, but hopefully we will be able to find a middle ground."