The president of Thompson Rivers University says he expects students on campus to be responsible and follow COVID-19 safety protocols in place.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, Brett Fairbairn says all staff and students will be given that reminder as they return to campus this week. He was reacting to videos that showed several hundred people partying at an outdoor campus event at the University of Victoria on Sunday night.

“I sympathize in a way because I know it is exciting to see everyone back in campus and that’s what we are really feeling at TRU,” he said. “It’s been a year and a half since we saw a room with students and we’re just so excited to see that.”

“However, we are expecting students to be responsible and making sure we remind all the members of our community of what is responsible behaviour to participate.”

Both UVic as well as UBC are strongly advising students to not gather on campus properties for large parties, which they say can increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

“The start of term is an exciting time on a university campus and building new social connections is a critical part of that experience. We appreciate those students who are acting responsibly and ask those involved in the incident [Sunday] night to stop behaving in a manner that puts our fall return to campus at risk,” Jim Dunsdon, the associate vice-president of Student Affairs at the University of Victoria said, in a statement.

“We have worked hard for a healthy, safe and successful fall term. We know that our students want the same.  By holding or attending large, unstructured parties, students increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Their behaviour is unacceptable and puts at risk students, our employees, our instructors and our local community.”

NL News has reached out to for TRU for comment on potential penalties for students who organize large parties and is awaiting a response.

Unlike a few other Canadian universities like the University of Guelph, Western University in London, and the University of Toronto, Thompson Rivers University has no plans to mandate that staff and faculty be vaccinated against COVID-19, though they are being encouraged to do so, if they’re able to.

“For those not yet vaccinated, TRU will require individuals to undertake regular rapid COVID testing, which will be available on campus,” Fairbairn said, in a statement last month. There will be a COVID-19 vaccine clinic on campus for people who have not yet had an opportunity to get vaccinated.

“Our expectation is that our students, faculty and staff, as able, will be vaccinated this fall. Achieving a return to campus life as we once knew it is a shared responsibility requiring the participation of all members of our university community.”

Fairbairn told NL News there is a high rate of vaccination among the TRU community, though he says there are plans to publicly release data which shows the vaccination levels of all staff and students some time this month.

Should there be a COVID outbreak on campus, TRU Vice President of Administration, Matt Milovick told NL News, it will be up to Interior Health to manage it.

“We’re going to manage it as we did in the previous year, that is to say its managed through Interior Health,” he said. “That is Interior Health’s responsibility to manage the outbreaks and guide us accordingly.”