Are Ezra ‘darties’ overrated?

With homecoming just around the corner, Laurier students are getting emails and seeing posters reminding us to be respectful during “unsanctioned street gatherings,” better known to our first years as mattress and couch sacrificing ceremonies. 

Based on last year’s St. Paddy’s bringing out crowds of 30, 000 people, combined with the media response to Ezra’s Labour Day shenanigans, it would be reasonable to expect that the response to anything similar happening at homecoming could be strong and unforgiving. But honestly, who cares? 

It seems that over the last few years, Laurier parties have become synonymous with Ezra Avenue. As fun as the idea of meeting up with your friends in the frat boy ghetto is, it’s overrated. And I’m not so sure that its exponential growth is a great thing, and here’s why.  

Lately, the infamous Ezra has become more of a staple to the party culture of the whole province rather than Laurier alone. St. Paddy’s doesn’t discriminate, but homecoming is meant to be all about Laurier’s school spirit.

With that being said, why do you need your 20 high school buddies from York taking the GO bus down just to pass out before noon? You probably don’t. Laurier is a friendly school – and that probably means you have lots of friends here. That’s not to say that your friends can’t come visit for hoco, but if they’re crashing on your floor just so they can rage on the street, it kinda defeats the purpose of coming together as the Laurier community. 

In addition to the fact that the majority of the Ezra crowd comes from halfway across the province, the damage to property on the infamous street is definitely a concern. I don’t live on Ezra – and thank God for that. The aftermath of these school pride extravaganzas usually results in mile-high piles of Somersby cans and mickeys of Smirnoff. To be honest, I find that pretty gross. 

Obviously with a large crowd, it’s difficult to put your cans and bottles in the place where they belong – but that’s not the only issue. Many students have their lawns trampled, roofs climbed, and cars dinged in the process of our collective chugging, and it’s especially important to remember (during homecoming and year-round) that respect of other people’s safe places and personal belongings is key to staying golden. 

It’s also important to remember that students aren’t the only people who are a part of the Laurier community. The other residents, many of whom are young families, who live only a block behind Ezra Ave often have to deal with the aftermath of our party antics, like road closures, visible drug use, and tens of thousands of publicly intoxicated people. 

Also, the purpose of homecoming is for alumni to come back and be able to show their families their experience. If a mom or dad has to explain to their child why people are being pulled off the street on stretchers, what kind of example are we setting for future students?

In my experience, on both hoco and St. Paddy’s weekends, I dragged friends to my dumpy apartments from 2 hours away just to half-ass day drinking before giving up and napping. Call us lame, but “dartying” with tens of thousands of inebriated strangers was not our favoured scene. Does that mean we’re doing it all over again this year? You betcha. I guess for now, this is what being a Golden Hawk is about – but that doesn’t mean it needs to happen irresponsibly.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go to Ezra at all this year, or not bring your friends over, for that matter. I’ll still be doing the same, but I personally don’t understand all the fuss. I would personally prefer to save my dancing shoes for the bar instead of having them soaked in vodka and vape juice after coming back from Ezra. But if this infamous “darty” is a part of the Laurier identity for now, we should all keep a bit of courtesy in mind when partaking.