ISU ends Veishea permanently

AMES, Ia. -- Ensuring Iowa State University students' safety was at the forefront of President Steven Leath's mind when he decided to end Veishea, the university's long-time spring celebration, he said Thursday.

"I am not going to be the president who has to call a student's parents in the middle of the night to tell them that their student has been critically injured at another Veishea disturbance," Leath said Thursday at a news conference announcing his decision.

Veishea, an annual event that began in 1922, is named after the university's colleges when the event was founded — veterinary medicine, engineering, industrial science, home economics and agriculture — and was meant to be a celebration of the school. But it has seen serious problems in the past. This year's celebration was suspended after a weeknight riot occurred.

After Leath's announcement, however, some wondered whether people would still gather next spring when the event is typically held.

"I think there will be fewer people from out of town, so it probably will be a little quieter, hopefully," said Cmdr. Geoff Huff, spokesman for the Ames Police Department. "We'll wait and see."

Aaron Hurd, a 2006 ISU graduate who now lives in Minneapolis, said he questions if there's "a causal connection between Veishea and riots."

"I fear five years from now, it will be a nice, warm day in the spring and there will be parties and students will start to riot," Hurd said. "I fear that we're canceling Veishea for no reason."

Leath began Thursday's news conference by thanking the 2014 Veishea task force for its work. Leath formed the task force after this year's disturbance that left property damaged in Ames' Campustown and one man injured. Police arrested 13 students.

The task force held public forums and open meetings through the end of June. It then submitted a 45-page final report, which included 12 recommendations, to Leath on July 11.

Some of the task force's recommendations: discontinue Veishea in its current form, stop using the name "Veishea," continue to hold an "overarching, university-wide event or series of events," review the student code of conduct and create a group to better deal with university disturbance prevention and management.

"Now I understand that it is very sad and disappointing for most of us to see a 92-year-old tradition come to an end, and there are going to be some that are upset by this decision, but I'm not going to continue to put students at risk so that we can preserve what to many has become a weeklong party," Leath said.

He also said the Veishea name would be retired.

Leath said the university can't continue hosting the event, see it have problems, create a task force and then problems continue to occur. "That's the definition of insanity," he said.

Over time, the spring event developed a negative connotation associated with alcohol consumption, Leath said. "The true purpose of the university celebration has been completely overshadowed by this new culture."

ISU senior Caldwell Miller, 21, of Boone understands Leath's decision but said he's still disappointed. He transferred to ISU from the the University of Northern Iowa last year.

"Even though this was my first year at Iowa State and my Veishea experience was short-lived, I did enjoy the couple of days," Miller said. "It's just really disappointing the way that things had to turn out."

Students' actions during this year's Veishea disturbance justify Leath's decision, said Brett Boulden, an ISU senior.

"The students, they kind of brought it upon themselves," said Boulden, 21, of Geneva, Ill. "They acted out-of-hand and did something very foolish. I think the repercussions of their actions are reasonable because people's lives could be lost."

Timothy DuFresne, 27, of Huntington Beach, Calif., will be a first-year graduate student at ISU this fall. He said he hopes the university will "find a way to celebrate the culture, the history of the university without it having the same problems as before."

"I think ISU is a unique place. Ames is a unique place," DuFresne said. "It deserves to be celebrated, but sometimes you have to take a step back and reevaluate how these things are done and avoid the sort of trouble we had last year."

Leath said he is working with ISU student leaders, faculty senate leaders and administrators "to determine what capacity selected previous events and some new events can take place."

"What I don't want to do today is set an arbitrary timeline to dictate the assessment of future activities, events and their timetables," Leath said. "We still want to be able to showcase the wonderful things we do here in our colleges, but we're going to take a very thoughtful approach to this as we move forward to ensure we have the right kind of festivities and that we ensure student safety."

Leath said he plans to work with ISU officials to work on student code of conduct. Also, he said the university will work with city officials to address other issues.

"One of the challenging things for the city is the fact that these are issues that have not happened on campus; they've happened in the Ames community," Ames Mayor Ann Campbell said. "And thus, it is the city of Ames' responsibility to deal with them."

Campbell said she does not think the end of Veishea will hurt the relationship between the city and university.

ome business owners, however, wonder what the end of Veishea will mean to their annual revenues.

Ames businesses are also playing the waiting game to see how the cancellation of Veishea will affect sales figures.

"The entire week of Veishea is the busiest week of the year," said Elliot Krueger, general store manager at Jeff's Pizza Shop.

Still, Krueger said people may still show up at Jeff's Pizza without the official Veishea events being held. "I assume people will somehow celebrate it," he said.

Krueger, who has worked at Jeff's for six years and in Campustown for 10 years, said canceling Veishea does ease his mind. He said some delivery cars were damaged during April's riot.

The 2004 riot caused about $10,000 in damage to Pizza Pit, 207 Welch Ave., said co-owner Tom Northrop.

The cancellation of Veishea may affect Pizza Pit's business for one or two days, but "if you look over the course of the year, it's not really that significant," Northrop said.

Welch Ave. Station, located below Pizza Pit, is a popular gathering spot for alumni who come back for Veishea, said Ryan Starcevic, shift manager at the bar.

"The main thing that we'll miss out on is the friends and customers that won't be coming back," Starcevic said.

Dan Culhane, president and chief executive officer for the Ames Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development, said the Veishea cancellation is "a setback and unfortunate," but he thinks Ames businesses will be able to recapture dollars lost by people not visiting Ames during Veishea.

Culhane said there are several other occasions, like sporting events and conventions, that can bring in dollars for Ames businesses.

"There are always opportunities for Ames to showcase itself," Culhane said. "So in the long term, yeah, we'll be just fine."