On Nov. 5, a group of 30 individuals gathered in the Student Union Building (SUB) parking lot and loudly threatened one another with golf clubs and baseball bats.
It was not clear if they were UFV students, but they were a part of a student-organized event. The altercation came after the fire alarm was pulled, resulting in the evacuation of the building.
In a statement to The Cascade, UFV said they are “very concerned” about the incident and will be investigating in addition to working with the police.
Besides a statement to the on-campus newspaper, which, let’s be honest, only a small portion of the student population reads, UFV appears to have not found it necessary to inform the student population of the incident or the actions being taken. There has been no official statement released to students and no information posted online informing students of the altercation.
This is not the first incident in the Fall 2019 semester. On Sept. 24, a group of people were chased on the Abbotsford campus with blunt weapons. One was sent to the hospital with minor injuries. In a released statement, UFV said the attack was targeted and there was no further danger to UFV students, faculty, or staff. It was unclear if any of those involved were UFV students.
While there has been no direct connection made between the two incidents, the parallels are concerning: both involved groups of people racing around in sports cars, waving around blunt weapons, and yelling aggressively at one another.
This is not said to invoke fear in students, or to escalate relatively isolated incidences. No one has been seriously injured, and the Abbotsford Police Department and university are investigating the situation. But the university’s lack of response is in itself concerning.
These incidences are of general public interest, if only so students and staff are aware of potential problems. A statement was released regarding the first incident, but not for the second incident, nor the broken car windows that occurred the day after the second incident in a parking lot on the Abbotsford campus. UFV said in a statement to The Cascade that the issue of the broken car windows was being looked into.
Safety is a general expectation for students studying at a university. Altercations on campus and the actions being taken by the university regarding those incidents are something students should be informed about.
While crime in Abbotsford has generally been decreasing, along with crime rates in the rest of Canada, we are still in an area of concern. In 2018, Abbotsford and Mission had the fourth-highest homicide rate per capita, with six homicides in total. There was also an increase in incidents in breaking and entering, theft of under $5,000, and sexual assault.
UFV has a functioning emergency alert app, numerous social media accounts, and the ability to send out emails to everyone at the university. There is no excuse for failing to inform the student body of on-campus incidents.
Not talking about something does not make it go away, and an informed student is a safer student.
