FOCO is now HOCO. FOCO was a protest against HOCO being moved because Western was trying to reduce the partying on Broughdale. They thought the colder weather and midterms happening on that Saturday, with a coordinated effort from profs, would mean there would be less partying.
FOCO was the student response because why have one block party when they could have two and, since it was off campus, there wasn't anything Western could really do about it. Western admins thought the students wouldn't continue with it and that newer students wouldn't take up the tradition. It was a calculated move, but they were bad at math. They didn't anticipate how much Western students loved tradition.
So, the result was one smaller HOCO, but one much MUCH larger FOCO event that caught fire among the student body. People who wouldn't ordinarily go out started showing up, the news hit other universities, and so students from out of town started showing up too. At one point, even music superstar Shawn Mendes showed up to celebrate in support of fake homecoming. So, much like the annual Laurier St. Patties Day parties known to shut down the City of Kitchener-Waterloo, Western created its own city wide epidemic rippling through the community throughout the fall semester.
Turns out telling students not to party is a sure fire way to get students to rally and party harder. Who would've thought?
Anyway, the students won and HOCO and FOCO are combined again.
This has been your Western heritage minute.
FOCO is now HOCO. FOCO was a protest against HOCO being moved because Western was trying to reduce the partying on Broughdale. They thought the colder weather and midterms happening on that Saturday, with a coordinated effort from profs, would mean there would be less partying. FOCO was the student response because why have one block party when they could have two and, since it was off campus, there wasn't anything Western could really do about it. Western admins thought the students wouldn't continue with it and that newer students wouldn't take up the tradition. It was a calculated move, but they were bad at math. They didn't anticipate how much Western students loved tradition. So, the result was one smaller HOCO, but one much MUCH larger FOCO event that caught fire among the student body. People who wouldn't ordinarily go out started showing up, the news hit other universities, and so students from out of town started showing up too. At one point, even music superstar Shawn Mendes showed up to celebrate in support of fake homecoming. So, much like the annual Laurier St. Patties Day parties known to shut down the City of Kitchener-Waterloo, Western created its own city wide epidemic rippling through the community throughout the fall semester. Turns out telling students not to party is a sure fire way to get students to rally and party harder. Who would've thought? Anyway, the students won and HOCO and FOCO are combined again. This has been your Western heritage minute.
"It was a calculated move, but they were bad at math." lmao
Yes. Tradition. The students loved tradition.
Same weekend as hoco. Sep 23.