Congratulations to the students, any visitors and anyone else who was present for and participated in the “disturbance” in Campustown on Tuesday night. Not only have your actions seriously injured one young man, but they have had the Veishea celebration for this year canceled that many students, area residents, alumni and families look forward to traveling back to campus for. Your actions have shed a negative light on Iowa State and the Ames community once again and have put the celebration in jeopardy going forward.

Nothing good happens with excessive alcohol consumption, and this is proof of it. I lay the blame for the negative events over the years directly on the students who participated and their irresponsibility. The cancellation of the events for this year fall directly on those who were involved. I wholeheartedly hope that as many of those who were involved as possible are identified and charged for the damage — as well as for the assault of the young man who has had his life changed — and forced to pay for the city’s cleanup cost, the medical bills of the young man and the money that was spent on the many events that were to go on this weekend.

The students are not the only ones who are responsible for this, though. I have to say that at least a part of the blame lies with the bars that line the streets of Campustown. As a student more than 10 years ago, I entered several of these establishments on occasion for purposes other than to consume alcohol and was appalled by the number of people who I would describe as “black out” drunk and the employees who continued to serve them. The bartenders are just doing the job that they are asked to do — serve the patrons alcohol. I also feel that there is some blame that needs to be placed on the city of Ames itself. The city does, or should, have the authority to deny a request to open a bar before the liquor license is approved, and over the years, the city has allowed the high number of bars that have opened in the Campustown area. The biggest problem is that there are lots of people moving to and from these establishments and this is a recipe for the disaster that we have seen too many times.

Veishea means way too much to the faculty, staff and students who put their time, their efforts, their budgets and their creative talent into putting together what should be a very positive event. My heart goes out to all of them and the young man who was injured. I hope that Veishea can be brought back again in the future, but for now it seems as though a small portion of the student body is mature enough to drink alcohol but is not mature enough to know when to stop or how to act responsibly. 

I have to congratulate President Leath for making the difficult decision in canceling the festivities for this year, regardless of how disappointing it is for me since I had planned on attending this weekend. It is time not only for President Leath and Iowa State to take a stand against alcohol abuse at Iowa State — and Veishea in particular — but it is also time for the city of Ames and all of its residents to take a stand against the bars in Campustown. Shut some down, force others to move and disperse the problem instead of concentrating it into a few blocks and pretending that it isn’t a problem or that this won’t happen again because it is obvious that it will.