Two face criminal charges following massive Dalhousie homecoming party

Halifax police have charged two men with assault following a large homecoming party near Dalhousie University on Oct. 1.

Halifax Regional Police said Friday in a news release that Jordan Samuel Oszlak, 19, and Luke Lockhart Slipp, also 19, have been charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest. Oszlak is also charged with assaulting a police officer with a weapon, while Slipp is charged with causing a disturbance.

Three thousand to 4,000 people gathered around Larch Street, Preston Street and Jennings Street, in neighbourhoods adjacent to Dalhousie’s campus, for the party. The release said some people “engaged in dangerous and criminal behaviour.”

That included fights in the street, a stabbing and a fire in the street started with debris from hurricane Fiona. Some officers were punched, kicked, spit on and hit with projectiles, according to the release.

The release said police issued 112 tickets for violating the Liquor Control Act and 10 for noise bylaw violations.

Police are continuing to investigate the stabbing of a 19-year-old during the parties.

In an email, Dalhousie University spokesperson Janet Bryson said the university would take the information released by police into account for Dalhousie’s internal investigation and for deciding what consequences students who were involved would face.

However, she couldn’t comment on whether Oszlak and Slipp were students because of privacy legislation.

“While several individuals and organizations consistently arose as prominent figures in hosting and organizing the event, none were current Dalhousie students,” she said in the email.

Kristian Curran lives in the neighbourhood where the party happened. He asked regional councillors to implement a nuisance bylaw at the Halifax regional council meeting on Nov. 15 in response to this year’s parties.

In an interview, he said he and one other person speak for a community of 14 houses in the neighbourhood. He said it’s great that the investigations are continuing.

He said it remains to be seen whether the tickets and offences will deter people from having a similar party next year.

“We do appreciate and value the support that police have provided, but as a community, we are hoping to have a different approach that avoids a party of that nature in the future,” Curran said.

Student union response

Dalhousie Student Union president Aparna Mohan said the update is very unfortunate.

“We’re very sorry about the experiences that our law enforcement had with students and with people generally on the day of this homecoming party,” she said.

However, she said this year’s party reinforces the Dalhousie Student Union’s advocacy for more community involvement in planning and co-ordinating Dalhousie’s homecoming events.

In a statement on Nov. 3, the student union called for an on-campus, Dalhousie-sanctioned homecoming party.

“One of the reasons that our responses to homecoming thus far have failed and not been as successful as they could have been is because the narrative has been very toxic, to be honest, and very focused on identifying who is to be blamed. And with the dynamically evolving details and so on, it’s clear that everyone has a role to play,” Mohan said.

Mohan also said that although police experienced harms, they also contributed to harms. She said there should be space to talk about that as well.