Although the parties subsided last weekend in the neighbourhoods surrounding Fanshawe's campus, the school's name has been tarnished by the many run-ins over the past month-and-a-half.

“This past weekend there were no reported problems,” said Constable Amy Phillipo, regarding the recently infamous antics off-campus. “Hopefully the change in weather will make a change in the weekend parties and we hope that there will be no further problems.”

But the parties that have put Fanshawe's name in headlines across the city may have had a secondary affect on students, one that they may not encounter until they've graduated. The school has been running damage control for a while now in assuring the community that Fanshawe students as a whole aren't the kind of students we're seeing in the news. But some employers are already starting to question whether or not the students are worth hiring.

“Three [companies] called the school,” said Emily Marcoccia, Fanshawe's manager of Marketing and Communications. “They said they were ‘very concerned about the reputation of the College and it has made them think about whether or not they would want to hire Fanshawe grads.' And obviously three calls are three too many.”

The problem is that the college's reputation has been called into question, and the school responded by speaking with the three groups to re-assure them that the problems have been the actions of a few and that the vast majority of the students are hard working and focused on their studies.

The companies weren't saying that they wouldn't hire Fanshawe grads, but the inquiries were more along the lines of them wondering if they would want to hire the school's graduates if the behaviour they were hearing so much about was a regular occurrence.

“But that's the perception,” Marcoccia continued. “And whether it's right or wrong we have to respect the perception. A teacher reassured a person from the association that that was not the behaviour of the students at Fanshawe and that he would hope the association wouldn't broad brush all students that way.

“Because our job is to get students an education and then a job, in that order, and if the actions of a few are starting to damage the reputation of everyone, then that's a very serious problem.”

Now, though the school was able to speak to the people who inquired regarding the students, there is of course the chance that there are more companies who have not come forward with their worries on the subject. And if there was another incident, and the college was to get more bad press, then what?

“You can't really control it,” said Kandice Kalus, a student who was studying near the Oasis cafeteria. “A lot of students go here, and not even half live on Fleming. You can't categorize people like that, because not every student at Fanshawe is like that.

“But I can definitely see where people get that from and students should be aware of it.”

Marcoccia believes it's the first time she's been worried about Fanshawe's image being tarnished, especially considering that they've stressed that the last problem, the stabbings on Fanshawe College Blvd., weren't related to Fanshawe students.

As for the police, just because they experienced one quiet weekend doesn't mean that they're decreasing the number of police in the area.

“We will be monitoring the situation,” Phillipo stressed. “I can't say the number of officers that will be in the area, but it will be patrolled and I can say there will be a police presence there.

“Hopefully last weekend will be a sign of the tides turning.”