Saskatoon police say off-campus party got 'very big, very quickly'

University students celebrating the first week of school may have gotten a little too rowdy.

Alyson Edwards, a spokeswoman with Saskatoon police, said three calls came in Thursday from concerned neighbours complaining about partying and a large group of people at a home.

“We had reports from neighbours at one point that there were at least 150 to 200 people at that location,” Edwards said.

“It’s larger than we would normally see for a house party.”

The party took place in the 100 block of Coldspring Crescent on Sept. 8—days after the University of Saskatchewan kicked off fall session—and the first complaint was made to police around 5:30 p.m.

“We received the third call just around 7 p.m.  Our officers attended and organizers said it was breaking up at that time and they were going to another event,” Edwards said.

The following day, officers received a report from a neighbour who said her vehicle has been vandalized. Since then, party organizers have agreed to pay for the damage and have fully cooperated with police.

“I believe they went around to neighbours and apologized. So it’s a situation that got very big, very quickly,” Edwards said.  

No one was arrested in connection to the event, but police confirmed there was a medical concern for one woman and MD Ambulance was notified.

While complaint calls for parties are not unusual, Edwards said typically there are policing plans in place for large events.

“We do get calls like this where, perhaps, they were expecting smaller numbers and … in the day of social media and word of mouth, you often get more people than you were expecting.”
 
The shenanigans caught the attention of the University of Saskatchewan. The school said it got word a large get-together resulted in several emergency calls and four people being taken to hospital.

“What was reported to us was that a large group of students were bussed to a private home and things got out of control,” said Patti McDougall, vice-provost at the University of Saskatchewan, on Saturday. 

McDougall said it’s believed the party was hosted by students involved with the College of Agriculture and Bioresource.

The university issued a statement Friday to students, stressing they will not tolerate unsafe behavior that threatens the community. 

“The bigger picture is not this one event,” McDougall said. 

“We’re coming to understand that alcohol and substance use is threatening the success of students and the wellness of students.”