It's almost amazing that I received these two emails only one day after I put up the
previous website of my Life at Queens.
Below these two letters you can read my response.
Dear Alumni,
I am writing to tell you about a difficult
decision that I have made with respect to the Fall Homecoming. As many of you know,  Homecoming weekend for the past 4
years has been the occasion of a large and growing unsanctioned student gathering on Aberdeen
Street - a small street located off campus in the student village. Numbers associated with
this event have ranged from 5,000 to 10,000. This year's event was the largest yet and
resulted in an unprecedented number of police charges, arrests, violent incidents and
injuries. Since 2005, the University
community, including faculty, staff, students and alumni, have worked in collaboration
with City of Kingston officials and law enforcement agencies in an effort to contain this
volatile situation. Despite our best efforts, the situation has worsened. The unsanctioned
gathering has come to be seen by many as a "tradition" whose timing is
associated with Queen's Homecoming. Concerns
for safety have been mounting steadily and are now at a critical point. After broad
consultation with faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents and groups who comprise the
Queen's family, the Town/Gown Aberdeen working group, the Police, the hospitals, Fire and
Rescue and legal experts, there is broad agreement that a new course of action is
required. I have therefore reached a very
difficult decision: the University will not be hosting its Fall Homecoming Weekend for a
minimum period of 2 years, beginning with the Homecoming of Fall 2009. This decision has not easily been reached. I have
seen first-hand the joy that alumni feel in returning to campus in the fall and I have
joined in the excitement of the half-time parade at Richardson Stadium. I will feel the
loss of these experiences very personally and in an effort to continue this time-honored
and valued tradition the University will hold a homecoming-styled Spring Reunion Weekend
in May (May 22 -24) 2009, that will include class reunions, MiniU and the Tricolour Guard
dinner. Queen's alumni are an invaluable
source of strength for this University. Your loyalty is what sets us apart from many
others. I am calling on you now to make this sacrifice, because I am persuaded that
something very precious and fragile is at risk: our hard-won reputation as a University
that defines standards of excellence that respects the neighbourhood in which we live, and
that cares about each member of our learning community.
I welcome your input on how to make the spring event the best possible
occasion for alumni.
Sincerely,
Tom Williams
Principal
and Vice-Chancellor
***********************************************
Dear Queen's Alumni, 
By now you will have heard about Principal Tom
Williams' decision to move Queen's official Homecoming activities from the fall to a new
Spring Reunion Weekend for 2009 and 2010. www.queensu.ca/principal/news/homecomingletter2008-11-18.html As representatives of Queen's alumni, the QUAA was
provided an opportunity to feed into the Principal's broad consultations on the issue.
Many of you also provided your direct feedback to the Principal. I appreciate that you
took time to do this, so that your comments and suggestions could help inform the final
decision. While the QUAA Board is
disappointed that the persistence of the unsanctioned Aberdeen Street gathering has
overshadowed Homecoming, and continues to put the safety of students and Kingston
residents at risk, we respect Principal Williams' decision to move official Homecoming
activities to a new Spring Reunion Weekend for 2009 and 2010. Queen's alumni value excellence as well as
tradition, and the QUAA Board will work with the University to ensure a positive Queen's
experience when alumni return for the Spring Reunion Weekend. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome as
the University works to round out the program for the Spring Reunion Weekend this coming
May 22 to 24 2009.
Sincerely,
Sarah J. Renaud, Artsci'96
President,
Queen's University Alumni Association
--------------------------------------------------
Howdy,
I find it humorous that I received these two letters perhaps ONE day after
I had upgraded and put up new content  to my webpage queens.kenax.cz. I
changed the content to match queens, as it served a different purpose before. The article
writes about my experience at Queens when I was going there from 1984, how I took three
years off, and how when I came back I was disappointed to find all this pressure against
the university’s spirit. How it had become more boring. And now I read this. Rather
appalling. My second time around at Queens I heard stories from a social worker how the
city police would round up the students and throw them into jail. When she mentioned she
was a social worker (while in jail with the rest of the students) they immediately
released her, perhaps because of the threat that she was smarter and knew she could do
something about it. My second year back, during Frosh Week we were all standing casually
on the lawn drinking beer, not screaming or anything, and for some reason a policeman kept
coming up to me instructing that we had to disperse. He eventually started pissing me off,
the student renter of the house of the front lawn appeared through the crowd and asked me
to leave (the cops kept warning they would fine whoever the owner was 2,000$ for a noise
violation), so I asked if I could finish my beer first. He said yes, so I swigged it down,
threw it on the grass (without breaking it),  stepped onto public property (the
sidewalk), and stared right into the cop’s face and said, “Now what are you
going to do about it.” At which point he grabbed me (illegally, because he had no
grounds, and I knew he was supposed to read me my rights etc. first) and together with his
three buddies were trying to force me into the car while kicking me like a pack of dogs.
The three of them were behind my back trying to get my arms close enough together to
handcuff them, while kicking me and trying to get me into the car. I hollered what a bunch
of weak wankers they were, and soon enough the whole street was full of curious students.
They threw me into the booze can for the evening, and needless to say I came back the next
day, pressed charges for excessive force, took the whole damn police force to court and
won. The social worker had also explained how the chief of police had once even begged the
major for permission to open fire on the students.
Yes, I agree there are some drunk assholes who throw bottles against
residential homes, as I’ve seen this myself. But generally I found the congregations
rather peaceful. Once I was walking to my house carrying a closed six pack of beer and a
police car pulled up and said some nonsense that I could be fined 105 dollars for exposing
my beer to the public. It had to be hidden in a paper back. What, are you all still Quaker
oats over there in Ontario? For the past 15 years I’ve had the pleasure to live in a
civilized society like Europe, where you are allowed to walk the streets with a beer, and
often a joint, in your hand and no one would raise an eyebrow. Where even Disneyland Paris
was forced to sell beer and wine, because the adults refused to take their kids there if
they couldn’t drink and enjoy themselves while their children played. Where even
McDonald’s sells beer.  But you don’t see people
staggering the streets and breaking property. Perhaps because your society is so repressed
and anal that whenever you do offer an event like this everyone goes berserk and out of
control. It’s pathetic. And why cannot you organize some event in a stadium? Speaking
of stadiums, when I came back they were getting all antsy pantsy about preventing any
alcohol into the stadium, feeling up my crotch like I was trying to smuggle something into
the US. So everyone had to get loaded and wasted at their house before going to the
football game, and try to smuggle something between their cracks anyway. In a civilized
continent like Europe, they casually sell beer in the stadium, and people casually drink
it. Yes, there are hooligans, racist idiots who often spoil things for the rest of us. Who
often collect like packs during times of unemployment and unrest and follow some Hitler.
These idiots should be thrown in jail and educated. Anyone breaking a bottle or getting
out of control should be thrown in jail and educated. These system-wide measures are
perverse and I am against them. The reason there was violence in the streets is probably
because the police are there in typical brute force and trying to disperse everything. In
the days of old, when the smaller wanker Kingston population would complain too much
against the students, the principle had the balls and paid everyone’s check for one
month in two dollar bills. That showed the city how much revenue they get from this
university and shut them up pronto. There is nothing wrong about drinking beer in the
street,  but there is everything wrong
about a police force whose chief must be some uneducated idiot who hates students and gets
into everyone’s face, when they’re just trying to have a good time. I believe
the correct approach to this is to educate the students about not throwing beer bottles or
destroying private property (even though I’ve witnessed that myself on only one
occasion during my five years’ stay at your university), explaining to them that it
is stupid behaviour, that it damages the university’s relationship with the town, and
that any such behaviour will be not tolerated and those guilty of it will be quickly and
justifiably escorted to the booze can for the evening. And then they can pay for the
damages. The students should be educated about the importance of a good relationship with
the town, and that if they do see someone behaving that way, they should approach them and
explain to them why it is stupid. There should be well marked student constables
supervising the behaviour to show some sign of force, with the occasional policeman on
patrol, with a couple of squad cars waiting. To send a mild message of intimidation that
such behaviour will not be tolerated. But not a big show of force by a bunch of brutal
cops with hardons for a fight. These events can be organized with civility, if you can
manage to educate the people properly. Everyone on your continent just sits in front of a
TV watching all that violence and stupidity, while many people in Europe read. That is
another root of the problem. You always seem to take things to the extreme. Honestly, in
my five years that I went to your school I saw only one idiot destroy property or get out
of control, and that policeman did not have the right to get in my face when it was 8 o’clock
in the evening, when there was still daylight, and we were just standing on the lawn,
casually talking and drinking beer from a plastic cup (on private property, and certainly
not loud enough to break any noise violation). The problem is that he was obviously given
strict orders from the wanker chief of police to get into my face, and he was all wound up
and stepped past the law. He was remorseful and downcast in court when I gave my speech,
and I almost felt sorry for him because I imagined what pressure he was under. But no
excuse. He above all should set an example and stay within the confines of the law. I am
so glad I am off your continent and living somewhere civilized (at the moment on the
Turkish side of Cyprus, in Muslim territory, where people are relaxed and no one raises an
eyebrow when I enjoy the sun and walk the streets with a beer in my hand). Have a good
day, Karel
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