Putz, Inc.

I was having dinner with some friends who had the misfortune to have some water issues in a studio on the back of their property. There was water damage to be dealt with, and a representative of a company called Win-Mar was coming in periodically to give my friends a report on what his company was and would be doing to ameliorate the effects of the water and dry out what had been soaked. He seemed highly competent, which was reassuring to my friends, under the circumstances.

It was Saturday night, and he mentioned at one point that his company was very busy. We asked why, and he said ‘It’s homecoming at the University, and they hire us to clean up all the vomit’.

To be sure, I done some vomiting when I was of university age. It happens. What I find interesting is that the U did not put their own people to work dealing with this, but hired an outside contractor. I expect they prefer not to ruin the image of their students that they like to portray to their own employees.

There is another interesting fact about UWO related to this. For a number of years the London high school city league championship football game was held at the University’s stadium. A chance for some high school teams to play in a big venue, no doubt a bit of a thrill for them. The University stopped that practice, however, citing the ‘rowdyism’ of the high school students.

Here’s a quote from a 2024 London Free Press article about this, written after it was decided that the only place the game could be held was at a field in the city of St Thomas, just south of London:

For now, Western remains the most suitable site for a high school final. But even if organizers are able to cover the costs of security and alleviate safety and liability concerns, there are no guarantees the university will offer a contract for field usage.

That remains beyond frustrating to some for a facility originally built with an intended component of community use.

“It’s the most central location, a better venue and an easy recruiting opportunity for the best university football program in the country,” CCH head coach Alex Kurowski said. “St. Thomas has a nice new turf, but if you can do it at your major university, then why not?

Because the U is run by putzes, that’s why not. Safety and liability concerns, the universal excuse for not doing things if you run a university.