- Carlington Wilmot/Freelance Photographer
Students enjoying the music at an Outrage session held at the Students Union, University of the West Indies, Mona, in St. Andrew, recently
Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter
CAMPUS LIFE at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, is many things to many people.
For some, it is a centre of intellectual interaction, where their minds get to exercise constantly. For others, they develop families away from home with clan-like loyalty which holds for the rest of their lives.
Still others achieve greatness when they strap on university colours for different sports teams, while a few launch their political careers on the smaller scale of student representation.
However, in addition to the sporting spectacles and daring disturbances which the campus is often associated with, it has become home to an increasing number of passionate party patrons.
MAJOR SHOWS
By admission of those in attendance, the scale of parties, compared to what it was during the 1980s and 1990s, is way larger.
The number of persons who have started to show up for sessions has risen sharply over the years, giving the university claim to being the next big 'Party Central' in Kingston.
The campus plays host to several dancehall events which have already made their names and enjoy enviable crowd support in a unforgiving market. This list of sessions has changed and, more recently, was affected by Hurricane Ivan.
Major shows on the roster are 'Ruption', 'Crazy Dress Fete' and the major stage show 'Spectrum' for Chancellor Hall.
There is 'Outrage' and 'Final Fete' for Taylor Hall and 'Hard Wine' for Irvine Hall.
Mixed with these larger events is a plethora of mini sessions on Irvine Hall, which begin at a mere $50 for admission, $100 toga parties at Preston Hall every now and again and the booze heavy free drink-ups on both Taylor and Chancellor halls.
Although extremely popular in the previous decade, these smaller and cheaper sessions have become rare and restricted because of changing university policies towards entertainment events on the Halls of Residence.
Originally, the campus parties were comletely planned and executed by the halls of residencs and, with the exception of Spectrum, were staged inside the halls' dining rooms.
Overzealous dancing, plus a few incidents over the years, caused damages to these structures, so the university's move to send them to the Students' Union was understandable.
CARLINGTON WILMOT/Freelance Photographer
Above and at right, students enjoying the music at an Outrage session held at Students Union, Üniversity of the West Indies, Mona in St. Andrew, recently.
Coinciding with this shift in policy came the shift in sponsorship structure, because the halls started to get co-promoters on board to offset the ballooning costs. Last year, for example, Spectrum, originally staged by Chancellor Hall, shared management duties with the Fifth Element Record Label.
While the smaller sessions have slacked off, the numbers which turn out for the bigger events at the Students' Union have shown no signs of decreasing.
GROWTH
Several factors account for the growth, according to those close to the action. For one, there are now more halls of residences and this means more students. Corporate sponsorship and extensive media coverage have also thrown the spotlight on some of these events and encouraged hundreds of both non-students and non-resident students to attend.
Depending on the type of show the strict 2:00 a.m. shutdown time may be extended and this hope, or possibility, gives party fanatics more reasons to head to the Students Union for these sessions.
Garth Williams, current Guild of Students' vice-president, acknowledges the increased party appetite on the campus, and concurs with the proposed factors.
"For one, we have the new Rex Nettleford Hall which houses 800 students. Having 800 more students naturally would increase the party numbers," he argues. "Additionally, the students between last year and now are doing a lot more community work in the neighbourhoods close by, so their outreach to the people breeds familiarity and brings people back into the campus activities as well."
One specific event that is hailed as the catalyst for the number surge is the popular 'Integration Thursdays', where students from other universities and colleges mingle with the resident and non-resident students of the UWI.
This session has become somewhat of a brand name for Thursday afternoon entertainment and has attracted tremendous support.
"We invited FAME FM to the 'Integration Thursdays' to do outside broadcasts and once that went on air, we had a major influx of people coming in after that," Williams explained.
Mixed with this, two entertainment cable stations gave coverage and thus pushed the party's popularity even further.
SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship from corporate entities has also played a part. Red Stripe, Guinness, and other major sponsors have given endorsements to campus events and earlier this year Smirnoff Ice started off a 'University Tour'.
During this tour, partying under their brand name had great pulling power for campus sessions.
"When the union was renovated, one of the things we wanted was for it to be the hub of student activity. Students here are going to the gym there, or using the supermarket or just hanging out. They are accustomed to using the area, so this has helped with the numbers supporting events there," Williams said.
KINGSTON'S NIGHTCLUBS
Darron Murray, a former deputy hall chairman for Chancellor Hall, tells a similar story. A student who has been around since the late 90s, he has seen the changes.
"Definitely more people are going to events here now. The Thursday evening session especially is getting very popular and the bigger sessions are getting popular with more people too," he notes.
He acknowledges as well that the smaller parties are slowly becoming extinct. "The smaller room fetes are getting shut down, because people know they have to leave by 2:00 a.m. and it is too crowded sometimes. For the drink-ups, people still go there but they do not stay. They leave early for off campus events."
These off-campus events are the sessions of Kingston's nightclubs, which have openly being courting campus students with tempting discounts. The savings for admission into these clubs ranges anywhere from $100 to $500, and the benefits are obvious for both sides.
HARDCORE SUPPORT
While these take many of the party people off the UWI campus at times, the hardcore support for the bigger campus events does not seem set to wane.
One of the sound systems which continuously gets dates for both large and smaller campus events is Bass Xcess.
DJ Stud of the sound system notes that from his turntables, no outside influences can seriously dent the campus support yet.
"You see campus people, they are serious party people so anywhere they go and they hear the selectors talking more than what they play and when they remember the selector more than the session, they will not want to go there again," he reasons. "People know that when we play here (on campus), they get straight music so they can party well; they will give us support."
With the surge in street partying between late 2003 and now, it is obvious that partying in the society generally has increased. Seeing the numbers rise on the campus should come as no real surprise.
