News

H yde Street 2015 has been a success, despite the media coverage in the days after the event. “It was in general a good fun event,” the proctor said. “Most people that went enjoyed it.”

The proctor spoke of the media taking “excessive delight in highlighting the few problems” that occurred at Hyde Street. Media have tended to concentrate on the damage to the ambulance vehicle rather than the fact that there were very few other issues, according to the proctor.

“Nobody was on roofs, there were no thefts or burglaries … no assaults, no fires, no glass … where are all the problems they were screaming about?”

He said when you take into consideration the previous years of Hyde Street, “it is a world away from what it was.” Each year is getting better as “the expertise and skills of all the parties that are joining in the running of it grow. It will just continue to get better.”

“The media loves numbers, and they will trumpet the fact that 12 people got arrested … but out of 3,500 … I think only half of those were students.”

Six students have been in the proctor’s office regarding their behaviour at the event, and one more student is expected. These were students who “transgressed enough to be taken away by police.” The students will face no further charges from police; they will be given community service by the university — “a number of community hours will be done.”

The number of students who ended up in the proctor’s office was “pretty similar” to the last two years. Before 2013, “the numbers go up quite a bit,” with around 25 students being arrested. “Once again, the majority [were] not students.”

This said, “There has always got to be a question asked, is [Hyde Street] a necessary thing … do we count up the dollars and balance it against a day’s fun for students?” He said it doesn’t help this when “people attending the party … do something silly and get locked up.”

The night which followed the event was very much “a standard Saturday night.” If anything, “the rain made it a little quieter.”

In other news, a data projector which was stolen from the university last year has been recovered in a student flat. A visit was made to the flat, and the students admitted they had taken it as “a bit of a prank.” The students apologised, and the proctor pointed out “the degree they were hoping to get would be seriously offset by a burglary charge.”

“People who still have [stolen items] from last year, don’t think it’s been forgotten … all of those road signs in the flats, we know that they weren’t there when you arrived.”