To the general public of the city of Guelph,
As a fifth year University of Guelph student, I am so sorry. I would like to apologize for the behaviour of a small portion of my peers, who took it upon themselves to celebrate 2015’s homecoming in such an unfortunate and disrespectful manner.
It saddens me a great deal to read letters to the editor in the Guelph Tribune, complaining about the destruction of homecoming, or to see social media posts by other students condemning the student body for the terrible behaviour witnessed two weekends ago. Though I myself, of course, am not responsible for any of this disrespect, I feel a certain level of shame in being associated with the same barrel of a few bad apples—but there is something important you should remember.
You have been exposed to a few very rotten apples, but they’re not so much in a barrel as they are a bad harvest among the whole orchard. A huge majority of U of G students are law-abiding, civic-minded, respectful, hard-working citizens who like me, I imagine, are embarrassed and ashamed at some of the conduct experienced.
Though it is easy to focus on the widely publicized ‘incidents’ earlier this month, what isn’t reported is the fact that, despite thousands and thousands of participants, Homecoming 2015 was a relatively uneventful production. The majority of us obeyed liquor laws, kept our voices down, kept our car keys on the shelf once drinking, and threw our trash where it belonged. In fact, the rest of us are just as annoyed and dismayed at the behaviour of the minority of our peers, not just at homecoming but on any major occasion, or even a regular weekend.
The reality is that Guelph is a university town. Students contribute a lot, not just in dollars to the local economy, but in time and energy to charities, support to fellow citizens, and in a general desire to make Guelph the best place it can be. You won’t find these people breaking beer bottles on the sidewalk or screaming at 3 a.m.; you will find them in hospitals, club meetings, animal shelters, and at fundraisers. You will find us studying hard in the library, cleaning river banks, and raising money for children’s literacy. We vastly outnumber a few bad apples, and we sincerely hope you are able to remind yourselves of that when tempted to brand us all hooligans and give up on us entirely. There are regular citizens in Guelph who commit crimes every day and are in no way associated with the university. I can guarantee you that we students think no less of our great city because of them, and can only hope you’ll grant us the same understanding. Just as the student who assaulted a campus police officer was actually an out-of-towner, the other offenders this month are not reflective upon the U of G community. There is no ‘us-versus-them’. Guelph is a ‘we’ town. Please remember that.
Sincerely,
A student both ashamed and proud,
Carleigh A. Cathcart