Needless to say, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t like all of the other holidays throughout the year for Laurier students. It’s not like any other party day, either.
St. Patrick’s Day is unique in its ability to cause mayhem and push boundaries of good decisions — but why?
A lot of it comes down to social psychology; it’s a crowd mentality of wanting to have the experience.
There’s an annual FOMO that comes from St. Patrick’s Day. Even people who don’t often drink can feel they have to buy into the Ezra experience because it’s a cultural discourse in Laurier society.
St. Patrick’s Day on Ezra seems like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s an opportunity to let loose and grasp at the last bits of adolescent freedom we have.
Especially for those in their final year, the future is uncertain. There is no guarantee that we’ll ever have any opportunity to go ham like we do on March 17 ever again.
It’s worth noting that a lot of the people sharing the statistics on Ezra for this year are alumni, looking back and wishing that they were there.
Ezra must seem like nostalgia and, if it’s getting bigger every year, that you’re going to miss the best party yet if you’re not there. However, is quantity really better than quality?
For those who did go to Ezra, it was difficult to move. A lot of people seemed to be having a lot of fun, but a lot of people were badly injured.
It’s terrifying that we were expecting to have to report on someone’s death due to St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans.
Is the day worth it for some laughs and memories with your friends and a fear of missing out?
As a sober person, it’s almost cringe-worthy to watch some of the decisions people make.
Whether it’s because of the crowd, the alcohol or some combination of the two, we feel invincible when we don our cheeky green shirts and step out onto Ezra.
There are videos of people jumping off of roofs. People are sitting on balconies just to take selfies. That’s not even touching on the people who overextend their alcohol limits.
For what? A thrill? To fit in?
A large number of people who partied on Ezra this year didn’t even go to Laurier or the University of Waterloo.
There was an interesting video released by Western TV in which Western students paraded around Ezra asking questions — and they were hard pressed to find any Laurier students at all.
It’s great that all of the partying happens in one area. The police are able to survey one massive party better than hundreds of small parties.
But the hype around Ezra has now invited outsiders into our university bubble.
Though there is nothing wrong with visitors, the lure of naive and vulnerable young adults seems to draw in some of the wrong kinds of people.
Reports of sexual assaults spike dramatically after St. Patrick’s day, every year. It seems that everyone knows someone who was robbed. There were even people robbed at gunpoint this St. Patrick’s Day.
Fuck.
This isn’t some Laurier cultural event any more — it’s everyone from everywhere who knows this is a wild time.
That changes the dynamic of the whole city, too. Getting into the bars on Friday was next to impossible because there were more people than Waterloo’s local economy could handle.
It used to be an embarrassment for administration, a poor representation of the Golden Hawks, but now it’s not even Laurier we’re worrying about: it’s all the people we’re inviting in.