A number of students have taken it upon themselves to organize unofficial events to celebrate Veishea by bringing students together in a positive environment.

“I know the cancellation of Veishea has been pretty upsetting for a lot of people, so we want to create an event to showcase and honor the people who have put in a lot of hard work this year,” said Justin Davis, senior in architecture.

Diane Fru, senior in psychology, has been working together with Davis to plan a Central Campus showcase beginning at 11 a.m. April 11.

Davis and Fru said they have been contacting student clubs and organizations asking if they want to perform on central campus during lunchtime.

“I feel like a lot of students’ morale is down, so this would be a way to bring back our spirit and unite as one Iowa State community and celebrate for the right reasons,” said Fru. 

Davis and Fru said that their leadership skills have helped them greatly, as they began planning this event on Wednesday night.

“Even though it’s not something that we were expecting, I think this is something that we will all remember,” Davis said.

Adam Guenther, senior in animal science and GSB senator, also began planning events after Veishea was officially canceled.

On April 10, Guenther organized for students to bring their lunches and have a picnic on central campus.

Guenther said as he was going around the picnic, he talked to a lot of the students about what they were going to miss out on this year.

“I started thinking of what I could do to show the administration, campus and community members that Veishea is more than what happened on Tuesday,” said Guenther.

Guenther was on the Veishea parade committee for two years, which he said helped him know who to contact and how to organize the event.

“I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, I just want to honor the people that have put in the work and create some sort of solidary parade to come together as a campus,” Guenther said.

The Cyclone Showcase Parade is set to begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday behind the Molecular Biology Building.

Following the parade will be an event in the Maple-Willow-Larch Intramural Fields called “4 the Love of ISU” at noon.

All of the mentioned student planned events have utilized Facebook event invitations to organize their events.

Tom Hill, senior vice president for student affairs, said he has heard some things about unofficial events but nothing specific.

“I view this as a way people are dealing with the loss of a tradition. It’s like losing something very special to you and it’s hard to let it go, so I understand,” Hill said.

Hill said he thinks the likelihood of something bad coming from this is very low, but one can never know.

“I think it’s a good thing that they care enough to do it, I just hope that the activities are safe and that the students who participate in them enjoy them,” Hill said.

Nicholas Morton, senior in environmental science and Veishea general co-chairman, said that the Veishea committee members are aware of the event being planned but they have no part in it.

“I think it’s good in the sense that students are reacting to what’s happened, just showing that students do care about the organization and the fact that what happened that led to a suspension is not what Iowa State is all about,” Morton said.

Morton said that as an organization, the Veishea committee does not have any opinion on the event planning itself that is being done by students outside of the Veishea committee.

“As individuals when they choose to have the event it is up to them to make sure they go through the proper channels and abide to university rules and policies before they make things happen,” said Morton.

Morton said that Veishea will be giving refunds to all purchases made involving Veishea events, including ticket purchases and registration fees. The funds will come directly from the Veishea organization.

“We really want to make sure that everyone’s event that wasn’t possible to have because of the suspension is able to be re-paid. The university administration has been very helpful in figuring this out,” Morton said.

Morton said that the floats that were being prepared for the parade have been dismantled and the trailers have been taken back.

“As an organization who has spent a lot of time dealing with this event and just seeing it end the way it did, we appreciate all the support we have received from the community and student body,” Morton said.

Morton said that the Veishea committee is in full support of the president and his decisions.