Queen's cancels fall homecoming as safety concerns reach 'critical point'

The event will be replaced by a "homecoming-styled" reunion in May 2009 and 2010, said a letter sent to the university's alumni.

The problems stem from an informal street party whose timing coincides with the fall homecoming, but is not sanctioned by the university.

During the Saturday of the recent September homecoming weekend, about 8,000 mostly drunken revellers took over Aberdeen Street in the university's student village. An estimated 300 police officers, including four riot squads, were on hand to maintain order. The final police tab was about $300,000.

Tom Williams, the school's principal and vice-chancellor, said in the letter that university staff, students and police have been working to contain the "volatile" situation.

"Despite our best efforts, the situation has worsened," Williams wrote.

"Concerns for safety have been mounting steadily and are now at a critical point."

The most recent gathering was "the largest yet and resulted in an unprecedented number of police charges, arrests, violent incidents and injuries," he wrote.

Police made nearly 140 arrests this year and laid almost 700 liquor charges.

Williams wrote that the decision to cancel fall homecoming events was not easy, but noted the university's reputation is at stake.

"I have seen first-hand the joy that alumni feel in returning to campus in the fall, and I have joined in the excitement of the halftime parade at Richardson Stadium," he wrote.

"I am calling on you now to make this sacrifice, because I am persuaded that something very precious is at risk: our hard-won reputation."