A roundtable discussion was held Thursday to follow up on the National Summit on Preventing Civil Disturbances, which was held on campus Nov. 10 and 11.

Topics for discussion included what was learned from the summit, communication and expectations of media during large events, the “one community” concept, activities for 18- to 20-year-olds at large events, faculty and student partnerships, and event and/or disturbance management.

“We talked about strategies that we could use to move these topics forward,” said Angela Groh, Government of Student Body president.

Groh said approximately 50 people attended the event, including students, local business owners, local government officials – including Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco – and representation from the Ames Police Department.

“There was a wide variety of representation from across the Ames community,” Groh said.

Chuck Cychosz, support services manager for Ames Police Department, said during the discussion that the participants tried to identify areas that people and groups were already working on and how to follow through on the ideas that were proposed. Cychosz was in the discussion of communication and media expectations during large events.

“We engaged in discussion about how to better work with the media during large events and how to let people visiting for these events know what is expected,” Cychosz said.

He also said he was very pleased with the opportunity to work with other members in the community. Student and student leaders were “very energetic,” he said.

Cychosz said he was also pleased to see people working together because this is not just an Ames Police Department problem, it involves the entire community.

“We were pleased to see action planning and follow up come from the summit,” Cychosz said.

Emily Jensen, GSB chief of staff, participated in the “one community” discussion. Jensen, junior in political science, said one of the most important things they talked about was the principles commission, which currently works out of the GSB office. The commission is working to determine what types of conduct should be expected from ISU students, faculty and staff, and the focus group said this should be implemented all over Ames, as well. Relating to the activities for 18- to 20-year-olds, Jensen said the general consensus was to offer regular activities.

Jensen said the follow-up helped her realize that students should be involved in Ames activities.