On Mar. 17, St. Patrick’s Day, some students participated in a food fight in Leonard cafeteria.
Residence and Hospitality Services Director Bruce Griffiths said he hired extra staff this year to patrol the cafeteria on St. Patrick’s Day.
In 2007, a St. Patrick’s Day food fight caused $4,300 in damages.
Griffiths said there were no major damages this year, but students continued a dangerous trend of throwing cutlery, glasses and furniture along with food.
Participating in a food fight is a disgusting display of entitlement, and unacceptable behaviour for university-age students.
The food that was wasted could have gone to people on campus and in the Kingston community who struggle to pay for food on a daily basis.
It’s disappointing that the food fight this year was, as in previous years, a planned event; first-year students should not see this type of activity as an annual event or something to be proud of.
There are reports that cafeteria staff felt physically threatened and some students were injured when cutlery or glass was thrown around.
Instead of Queen’s shouldering the burden of cleaning up the mess and paying for the damages, individual students who are involved in food fights should be fined, or have their meal plans taken away.
Queen’s must use a combination of preventive education, such as having dons talk about the issue to their floors, and strong consequences to send participants a zero-tolerance message.
The University must also question whether food fights are a result of too much or too little freedom in residence.
But, ultimately, first-year students who ask to be treated like adults must first act like them.
The University has a tendency to deny a problem exists with the hope it will go away, but it must step in before more serious injuries occur. Although Queen’s may be able to justify its inaction on the Aberdeen Street party because it occurs off campus and involves people unconnected with the University, the Leonard food fights can only be blamed on Queen’s students.
It’s discouraging that these students felt no shame in exercising their privilege at the expense of others. We can’t stomach the idea that this could turn into a tradition.
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