Olds RCMP are calling a large fight at the townhouse complex on the Olds College campus earlier this month "racially motivated.î
Police received a report at 4:35 a.m. on March 10 of a brawl involving 30 or more people on campus.
When they arrived, police found a number of injured people, some of whom were bleeding, but no weapons were visible.
Olds RCMP spokesman Const. Dale Bereza described the fight as "racially motivatedî as a number of white people were fighting black people.
He added alcohol was involved.
Two people were taken to hospital with injuries and a 25-year-old Calgary man who is a student at the college was arrested and charged with assault.
He was released on his own recognizance.
Bereza said fights of a racial nature have lately been an issue in the area.
Doug Wagstaff, a campus life manager for the college, said the fight started off as a gathering between students and a group of people from Calgary and it was non-students who started the brawl.
He added he disagrees with the police assessment of the fight.
"I don't think it was racially motivated,î Wagstaff said, adding he was aware that the most serious altercation during the fight was between a Caucasian person and a black person.
He also said most of the people involved knew each other and were friends, but some of the guests of people attending the gathering who didn't know each other were responsible for escalating a "disagreement.î
While Wagstaff said about 30 people made up the gathering, only about 10 to 12 were involved in the fight.
The college is investigating the involvement of college students in the fight, he said, but so far, no disciplinary action has been taken.
Wagstaff said other issues of racial discrimination have happened off-campus, specifically at local bars last fall involving non-students, and racism is not a problem among college students.
"It's not even a part of their psyche on campus.î
