There is a danger of another VEISHEA riot at Iowa State in 2011.

Every few years since 1985 there has been a major disturbance, the last being in 2004. While there is a tradition of rioting in Ames, all of the offending students have long moved on. But lots of administrators are still around or work for sister institutions.

So who is actually responsible for carrying on the tradition? How is it that there have been over 225 party riots at mostly large, land-grant universities since the mid-1980s?

One of the reasons is that most major advances in the social sciences have not been applied to the university itself. The sad reality is that Iowa State and other universities are managed in much the same way as universities were in the Dark Ages of Europe.

While students and rowdy visitors must take ownership for their actions, the underlying cause of riots at Iowa State belongs mostly to university administrators, professors and an entrenched structure for educating, developing and managing students. Sadly, the city of Ames and Story County are major enablers of this approach, particularly those in law enforcement.

To ease the anxieties of students and parents, I challenge Iowa State, Ames and Story County to state their policies for reducing the risk of riots and for safeguarding the lives of students during VEISHEA and other high-risk events.

Allowing students over 21 drink in the dorms, having a midnight pancake dinner and allowing a pink flamingo mascot to roam around campus on VEISHEA night just doesn’t cut it. The U.S. Justice Department’s Center for Problem-Oriented Policing published a booklet called “Student Party Riots” in 2006. What if any of the recommendations have been implemented?

The ISU government owes the voters an explanation. Has there been proper oversight of Iowa State by the Board of Regents? Has there been proper oversight of Ames and Story County by the Iowa Legislature? Has there been proper oversight of the crowd-control training at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy by the executive branch?

In the aftermath of previous riots, what might have passed as a teachable moment has always rapidly devolved. Young people’s opinions were discounted or ignored, and laws were passed by local and state governments to further control the behaviors of college students. Yet, were there any sanctions imposed for failed police tactics? Were there any reforms made to the management structures of the university, city or county?

If history is any predictor, what we can count on in the aftermath of the next riot will be leaders manipulating statewide media with cutting-edge public relations strategies; leaders tripping over themselves to justify outdated, heavy-handed police tactics; leaders refusing to engage in properly mediated, face-to-face debate with impacted students; leaders refusing to examine the advice of outside practitioners; and leaders refusing to adopt U.S. Department of Justice recommendations.

Without better oversight, we can also count on leaders forming bulletproof investigative committees populated with students, professors and administrators whose motivations tilt between padding resumes, seeking promotions and safeguarding the status quo.

As a result, there will be no reforms to police crowd-control strategies; and there will be no reforms to leadership development strategies for hard to reach, at-risk students. The university will continue to work with the most compliant among the student body, and push away those who will not go along.

As a result, a significant segment of the student body will be like gypsies. Is it that shocking that so many students have no buy-in to the community? Is it that outlandish that so many students feel like second-class citizens? Is it that surprising that graduation rates are so low?

The tradition of rioting is symptomatic of, and tied to, the actions of long-term leaders who have staked out their claims to power and control within a dangerously antiquated medieval approach to education. Crowd-control tactics and the management of human capital at Iowa State has more in common with how things are done in Arab countries than the way things are done in the rest of the United States.

Look for the people who have been in power the longest at Iowa State, Ames and Story County and you will see the true origins of the party riot tradition.