On Friday, September 12, a large group of UVic students gathered outside the UVic McPherson Library to party. Now, that’s usually pretty normal—socializing in colossal groups is part of post-secondary culture. But at this point in 2020, it’s not normal. Or at least it shouldn’t be.
According to UVic’s student newspaper The Martlet, there were over 100 people at two different gatherings that night. After the police broke up the one on campus, the debauchery-hungry students headed down to Frank Hobbs Elementary, where they began playing basketball, smoking weed, drinking, and climbing up on the roof. Apart from the drinking in public and trespassing, sure, that’s normally fine.
It’s also normally fine for me to go see Tommy Lee doing somersaults out of the roof of Rogers Arena at a rock concert. But I’m not special enough for exceptions to be made for me right now. No one is.
UVic’s student-residence contract was amended this year to include the new public health rules that prohibit gatherings of over 50 people and to make it possible for the organizers of large, unsafe gatherings to receive fines of up to $2,000. I’ve been a student for long enough to know that a $2,000 fine would probably break the bank for many students; getting a ding on a university record may actually be even worse.
So, if for no other reason than that, be smart. We’re all having a pretty tough time right now, whether at home or at work, and many of us aren’t able to see people we love. It’s behaviour like recklessly gathering in an abnormal way (it used to be normal, but not now) that’s going to keep us here for even longer.
You’re not supposed to feel good right now. I certainly don’t. Four-month-old macaroni that tastes like cardboard from the tailpipe of a VW Bug is currently thawing out in my fridge. Pour half a bottle of Frank’s RedHot on top, and, yum, you’ve got fuel for a day’s worth of studying from home in a pandemic.
I celebrated seven years free of drugs and booze this past weekend, so surely the party-goers out there can go six or seven months without rebelling.
But let’s be real. Sometimes, for whatever reason, it seems like you just can’t follow the current orders. Although there weren’t any reports of Camosun students at the UVic student gatherings, Nexus is a student-media outlet, so there are probably a few readers out there who would do such a thing. But here’s the thing: you can’t. You need to do things differently for now.
So, sure, have a few drinks with your pals, outside, in your core group of six. Blare some tunes into the wee hours. Get rid of some fury. Everyone is in the middle of some weird kind of reality we’ve never really seen before—a smoke-hazed one, at that—so let’s all help each other out of the haze as soon as humanly possible by being smart and half-decent.
Live your life the new way. The old way is abnormal now.