In 2003, Queen’s Homecoming spilled into the streets. Beer cups passed between strangers, alumni lingered for conversations, and Johnston St. pulsed with student energy. Chris Ball, ArtSci ’03, remembers standing outside his house with seven roommates, handing drinks to passing graduates and collecting high-fives in return. Two decades later, that same street told a very different story.
This past fall—on Queen’s 99th Homecoming—Ball explained the streets felt much quieter. “There weren’t many students around. The student village was bizarrely quiet whereas I remember during my homecoming and one’s prior it was buzzing with people partying the Friday and Saturday morning,” Ball said in a statement to The Journal.
On Dec. 6, 2023, Queen’s announced its Homecoming dates for the next three years—all scheduled during Fall Term Break. Since then, the decision has accumulated heavy criticism from both students and alumni. After 2025’s Homecoming, criticism’s spilled into local media coverage in The Kingston Whig-Standard and sparked heated discussions across Reddit, where members of the Queen’s community questioned if Alumni are no longer wanted at Homecoming.
For many current and former Queen’s students, the reason behind the date change seems obvious: to curb student partying—a motivation Ball understands all too well. “I understand that the Administration doesn’t want Aberdeen to happen. They cracked down on keg parties after my first year at Queen’s. They made it harder to buy kegs, get special event permits, and have parties,” he said.
For Ball, the shift in dates has done the opposite of what the University may have hoped. “This, ironically led to Aberdeen getting bigger each year because when people are afraid to throw their own party they just consolidate at a known quantity. The antidote to one out-of-control large party is many smaller parties dispersed across the student village.”
Ball argues the new scheduling hasn’t reduced partying—it’s simply changed where and how it happens. “I am frustrated because if the reason that [they’re] doing Homecoming during reading week is to avoid a big party it doesn’t seem to work since ‘Faux-Coming’ seems to be a thing now,” Ball said. “Students returning the next weekend to party but not have that connection to Alumni.”
The Journal asked the University questions regarding the topic of upset alumni and students, rationale for the change in dates from 2023, and how they plan to connect alumni with students—but all remained unanswered.
Instead, the University wrote: “Homecoming is a Queen’s tradition that brings together alumni, students, and community members to celebrate the university’s legacy and lasting impact. This year, more than 3,000 guests—including 65 reunion classes marking milestone years—returned to campus for a weekend of celebration. The program featured open houses, a Saturday football game, and the Fall Harvest Gathering, which invites the Kingston community to join in the festivities.”
The statement further read that, “the event took place on the third weekend of October, consistent with past years. Homecoming dates are set several years in advance through close collaboration with the City of Kingston, hospitality partners, and Ontario University Athletics to ensure a Gaels home football game—a signature highlight of the weekend’s celebrations.”
For students and alumni, however, the shift wasn’t just a scheduling change—it disrupted one of Queen’s most meaningful points of connection, one that meant far more than missing out on a couple of beers. “[Homecoming] is, without a doubt, the biggest highlight of our weekend to meet current students and talk to them about what Queen’s meant and means to us,” Ball said.
“We’ve provided advice and, on several occasions, people connected on LinkedIn after. We’ve given Pep talks to teary students not sure they’re smart enough and told umpteen stories about the old days (landlines, they were a thing!).”
Those moments of informal mentorship, students say, are exactly what now feel most at risk. “We’re also losing those connections with alumni. I might be drinking a beer on a lawn, but I’d bump into an alumni from my program. They’d give me really good career advice or a hopeful outlook, now that social intergenerational mixing is dying. I think the move also made it more dangerous for students,” said DJ Campbell, Sci ’25, MASc ’27, in a statement to The Journal.
For Campbell, a tried-and-true Queen’s student—whose attended five Homecomings since 2021—the change represents more than inconvenience. He sees it as another sign that Homecoming is being reshaped into a business model, where revenue and optics are beginning to outweigh student experience. What was once a weekend rooted in tradition, connection, and belonging now feels, to him, increasingly transactional—less about celebrating Queen’s culture, and more about managing it.
Campbell argues that universities have shifted from public institutions focused on educating citizens into profit-driven businesses. As government funding declined over the past few decades, universities began operating more like private enterprises, treating students as paying customers who purchase not only a degree but a branded campus experience, according to Campbell. He explains how alumni, in turn, function like investors who want reassurance that the institution they supported still holds its value.
“So, when students party on Aberdeen, they hurt the brand image that the University’s trying to sell to donors. I don’t think they are stopping the party because it’s morally wrong; they are stopping it because it’s bad for business,” Campbell said.
A research study conducted by Seaton Hall University titled “The Impact of Being Named the Top Party School on the University Rankings and the Academic Profile of a University,” findings demonstrated that “the title of top party school in the nation lowers the overall ranking and peer ranking of national universities in USNWR and the academic quality of students enrolling at the school.” However, the research found “that being named the top party school has no effect on freshman acceptance or retention rate but does slightly increase the percentage of alumni who give to their alma mater.”
“Every dean would agree that alumni are one of the most important stakeholders and resources for their university,” said Thomas Bieger in a Global Focus article. Further, “current students at institutions benefit from the mentorship opportunities and improved job placement rates that engaged alumni bring. And institutions are able to partner with alumni to meet financial goals for scholarships and other campus developments,” said Jim Chase in an EDUCAUSE Review article.
While the University acknowledged Homecoming’s importance to alumni, highlighting initiatives such as Fall Harvest donations to support students, the date change may ultimately reshape how alumni connect with Queen’s and its student community in the years ahead.
For alumna Meredith Briglio, Sci ’05, that uncertainty already weighs heavily. She’s unsure whether she’ll continue attending future Homecomings if they continue to fall during Reading Week. “I hope I won’t have to make that decision, and that the administration will change the timing of events in future years,” Briglio said in a statement to The Journal.
According to the 2020 report from the Voluntary Alumni Engagement in Support of Education (VAESE), “68 per cent of higher education institutions have seen an increase or no change in alumni requesting not to be contacted by the institution, with a 15 per cent increase in those asking to be added to the “do-not-contact” list since 2015.”
As Queen’s adjusts the timeline of Homecoming, the report provides context for broader discussions around maintaining consistent alumni contact before and after students graduate—an issue reflected in Briglio’s uncertainty about attending future celebrations.
After attending Homecoming in 2008, 2013, 2023, and now 2025, Briglio noticed a palpable difference in this past fall’s Homecoming experience. “One of my favourite memories from past years [that was noticeably absent this year] included walking around campus and the student housing area [just off campus] when current students would notice my GPA [jacket] and stop me to ask about my time at Queen’s,” she said.
“We would chat about what has and hasn’t changed about our experiences. Sometimes we would discuss my professional journey from an Applied Science graduate to a Lactation Consultant, or my personal journey.”
Briglio thinks students really enjoyed engaging in these conversations, too, but explains that she didn’t have any encounters like those this past Homecoming. “Engaging with students means having impromptu conversations with them. Hearing them ask, “What was Queen’s like when you were here?” “You were in the Bands too? Were you on the executive?” Having the opportunity to chat with current students and hear how different their experiences are from mine all those years ago,” she said.
But while Briglio reflected on what those exchanges once meant to her, students who began at Queen’s in 2023 or later haven’t experienced a Homecoming that aligned with their time on campus—requiring them to stay or return to campus during reading break in order to connect.
For Grace Powell, ConEd ’27, the new Homecoming timing has turned what could be a casual campus encounter into a trade-off with her reading break, shrinking the time she has to rest while trying to meet alumni.
“I’ve been at Queen’s for three years, and I attended homecoming in first year, and second year, but didn’t come back early to celebrate homecoming in third year,” Powell said in a statement to The Journal. “[…] This year [2025], I didn’t come back for homecoming so as to not cut my reading week visit short, but I did last year [2024] and interacted with alumni in the bar, on the street, and at the football game, it makes it so much more fun, it’s something different!”
Powell empathizes with the loss alumni feel with the change in dates and the inability to interact with students. “Homecoming isn’t about football, it’s about partying with the alum, and I can’t imagine how disappointed they are to return to Kingston and find the streets dead.”
“I had two women who graduated in 2000 who used to live in my house who came by over homecoming and I gave them a tour of the house, we exchanged stories and memories, and they were so happy to be able to come and relive that and talk with me—but that was the only alumni interaction I had over homecoming in 2025, it was on the Sunday when all the students came back from reading week and these two women stayed in Kingston all weekend for the chance to be able to come back to the home they lived in 25 years ago,” Powell said. “I could’ve talked with them forever.”
Powell’s story of a rare, meaningful exchange reinforces what Briglio observed across campus that same weekend.
Though she noted it was only an estimate, Briglio said she walked across campus after the football game—past Tindall Field, around Victoria Hall, by Ban Righ, and up University Ave. to the JDUC—and saw only about five students outside.
Seeing so few students on campus, Ball said, made him realize just how much the change in Homecoming dates has disrupted the traditions that once brought alumni and students together.
Ball said that the change in Homecoming dates has disrupted more than a decade of traditions, leaving him uncertain about how to maintain them without the chance to connect with current students. He explained that for his year and group of friends, one long-standing tradition involved contacting the residents of their old Johnson St. house each September to ask if they could host a “pancake kegger.” “They’re free to invite as many people as they want, and we invite our friends too. We bring in the beer, griddles, pancake mix, etc., and we pay for someone to clean up the house after. We’ve done this in 2013, 2018, 2023,” he said.
For alumni like Ball, these disruptions aren’t just about missing traditions—they reflect a broader shift in how students are included, or excluded, from Homecoming festivities, according to Campbell.
Police presence, “Fauxcoming,” and the UDSI
Changes to Homecoming—marked by increased police presence, the creation of Fauxcoming, introduction of the University District Safety Initiative (UDSI), and a decline in fines—have reshaped how students experience the weekend and how the administration engages with them, according to Campbell.
He criticized the FOCO (Faux-homecoming) format, saying that the daytime schedule offers no events beyond a heavy police presence to manage crowds. He noted the absence of traditional attractions like the football game, lunchtime food trucks, or an alumni parade. “I think the students feel like their belonging has been criminalized,” he said, adding that the prevailing message seems to be: “We want your tuition and alumni donations, but we don’t want you in the same room.”
In recalling his past Homecoming experiences, Campbell explained how many more students and alumni were visible on campus, in the streets, and at backyard parties. He attributed this partly to the police being more reactionary at the time, which allowed large gatherings on streets like Aberdeen without as many proactive restrictions.
He says that the shift has sparked frustration among students, who were determined not to miss out and organized FOCO on a separate weekend once classes resumed. Campbell noted that this idea was inspired by Western University, which had started its own FOCO a few years earlier. “I thought, wow, the administration just created two weekends of strain on the city instead of one,” he said.
“Between 2023 and 2024, the proactive measures started to ramp up, and there was a clear decrease in the size and length of parties in Aberdeen and in backyards. Several people I know got heavy fines, which directly discouraged them in future years to host or even go to other parties,” Campbell said. “Now we have the UDSI, and the vibe has changed from celebration to containment. The fences, police presence and monetary penalties are now the norm.”
READ MORE: UDSI in effect across triple party weekend lineup
Campbell points to a growing disconnect between the experiences of students and the image the University is trying to project. “It’s clear there’s a distinct tension between the party school image that Queen’s is famous for [which attracts students] and the prestige image that the University wants to sell [which attracts donors]. The University is trying to gentrify the event. Students and Alumni aren’t celebrating the same thing anymore.”
Students gathered on Aberdeen to celebrate Homecoming on Oct. 14, 2017. PHOTO BY: DILLON KWAK ‘The Queen’s Journal’.
In 2024, The Journal reported a notable decline in Homecoming and FOCO violations, with 73 recorded incidents compared to 135 the previous year. The drop is even more striking compared to 2022, when 92 monetary fines totalling $44,000 were issued, including 66 related to LLA charges.
READ MORE: Homecoming and ‘FOCO’ violations decline with increased police presence
Aberdeen Street, long known for unsanctioned Homecoming parties, was also closed during the 2024 Homecoming and Fauxcoming. The closure was part of upgrades to the main water system and ongoing construction for a new apartment building, which extended over the weekend of October 18–20.
Aberdeen St. in 2023. PHOTO BY: ‘The Queen’s Journal’.
READ MORE: Queen’s Homecoming’s iconic party street closed temporarily
In 2025, Homecoming and Fauxcoming saw a further decrease in fines of over 30 per cent from 2024. According to a media release from the Kingston Police, in total, 49 tickets were issued over the homecoming and FOCO weekends, continuing a downward trend with 73 tickets in 2024 and 135 in 2023.
Aberdeen St. looking south from the construction site on Johnson St. in Kingston at 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. PHOTO BY: Bill Hall ‘The Whig-Standard’.
READ MORE: HOCO and FOCO Fines Fall for a third year in a row
Taken together, these changes—from heavier policing and the rise of Fauxcoming to the introduction of the UDSI and fewer fines—have fundamentally altered both the student experience of Homecoming and the way the university interacts with its community, Campbell said.
Homecoming during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic
Campbell’s first year at Queen’s began in a blur of empty lecture halls and Zoom screens, as the world shuttered its doors and the COVID-19 pandemic rewrote the rules of university life in 2020.
“So, in my first year, instead of Aberdeen St., it was Zoom reunions. The administration had logically shifted from “Welcome Home” messaging to “Stay Away” to prevent super-spreader events,” Campbell said.
He believes this led to the idea that official Homecoming activities—like alumni networking and fundraising—could happen completely independently from the unofficial student events. By 2022, Homecoming was set up for conflict due to the grassroot possibility of dividing alumni and students, according to Campbell.
“Many people aren’t aware that the Fall term reading week was only introduced in 2018 as a brief two-day break. The Fall Term Break Task Force gathered extensive student feedback calling for a longer break, which was implemented immediately,” he said.
Consequently, in 2022, the next available Homecoming was scheduled during reading week, effectively breaking the implicit understanding of a student-alumni-based Homecoming between students and the University, Campbell said.
READ MORE: Queen’s HOCO is more than a party
For Campbell, the clash between official scheduling and student expectations is more than just a calendar conflict—it’s a reflection of how Queen’s continues to navigate its dual role as both a hub for alumni tradition and a home for current students.
As Homecoming evolves in a post-pandemic world, he says, finding a balance that honours both communities will be key to keeping the spirit of the weekend alive.
Unsustainable student labour during Homecoming & Fauxcoming
Changes to Homecoming dates aren’t just reshaping the weekend—they’re also placing significant demands on the students who help make it happen, according to AMS President Jana Amer.
Amer said the new Homecoming schedule has stretched student leaders thin, forcing them to navigate both official events and student-organized alternatives. “Scheduling Homecoming during Fall Reading Week has added strain on student leaders who end up supporting both the “official” Homecoming and then a student-driven “Fauxcoming” once students return and are actually in Kingston,” Amer said in a statement to The Journal.
She noted that while Queen’s reported over 2,000 alumni and guests registered for Homecoming, many of those attendees told student leaders they were disappointed to find the campus quieter than expected—only to learn that students would be celebrating the following weekend. “That undercuts the alumni–student connection that the University and advancement are trying to create,” Amer said.
Beyond the disruption to students and alumni, Amer highlighted a final concern: the strain on students’ capacity and the unsustainable workload required to manage both Homecoming and Fauxcoming events.
“A two-weekend model stretches the same student leaders; commissioners managing harm-reduction activations; AMS services working to open for alumni on weekends they’re usually closed; band and Athletics volunteers; and students coordinating with the City and Queen’s across two demanding weekends during midterm season,” she said.
“Running food-truck harm reduction, cleanups, socials, and safety messaging twice within eight days drains people and forces student staff to choose between using Reading Week to rest or returning early to work on Homecoming,” Amer said. “That isn’t sustainable student labour.”
For Amer, she explained that the AMS will be bringing back three main feedback points from students to the University Advancement office to return Homecoming to one non-reading-week weekend. “So, (1) students are actually present, (2) alumni actually see students, and (3) the AMS, Queen’s, and municipal partners only have to run one full harm-reduction and coordination operation instead of duplicating it a week later. City and University officials have publicly acknowledged that,” Amer said.
Amer emphasized that addressing these points could help restore Homecoming to a single, coordinated weekend, easing the burden on students, alumni, and organizers alike.
Solving students’ concerns
One possible solution to address student concerns, Campbell said, is returning Homecoming to a single weekend outside of Fall Reading Week to reduce student stress and eliminate the need for Fauxcoming.
“The move to reading week Homecoming has been a net negative for the student community. The University has forced us to choose between resting/seeing family and missing the biggest event of the year. It gives everyone FOMO [fear of missing out] rather than relieving it, resulting in the need for FOCO,” Campbell said.
For Ball, a solution can be simple.
“My suggestion would be for the administration to encourage clubs, faculties and teams to have parties, but to make it clear that shutting down an entire street isn’t possible,” he said. “I’d also say that this isn’t a unique problem to Queen’s. Colleges in the United States have been navigating how to handle parties ever since College Football Tailgating became a thing. There’s a solution to be had.”
Campbell, Ball, and Powell highlight that Homecoming works best when students are present on campus.
“I think Queen’s should return to having Homecoming when students are present. I’m sure they think that without students they’ll lessen its negative impact on the community, but I don’t think their strategy of putting Hoco during reading week works,” Powell said. “We will always have Foco anyway.”
“I think to move forward, we must accept that the current strategy of prohibition has failed. When you ban this high-demand activity without an alternative, it doesn’t stop; you just make it more dangerous and less regulated,” Campbell said. “I think Queen’s should shift to harm reduction and crowd engineering.”
***
Homecoming’s shift to Fall Reading Week, combined with increased police presence, the creation of Fauxcoming, and the introduction of the UDSI, has created a weekend that looks very different for students, alumni, and organizers.
Alumni said official events felt quieter than expected, students organized alternative celebrations to maintain traditions, and student leaders reported heavier workloads managing both weekends.
While Homecoming dates from 2027 onward have yet to be announced, it remains to be seen whether Queen’s will keep the celebration during Fall Reading Week or return to a weekend when students are on campus.
Tags
Alumni, Homecoming, students, University
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