A National Summit on Preventing Civil Disturbances will be held at Iowa State next Thursday and Friday, and issues about Campustown’s current state and how it may change in the future might be topics in the forums.

The main objective of the summit is to learn how to work as a community to successfully prevent civil disturbances.

Angela Groh, president of Government of the Student Body, said GSB decided to co-sponsor the summit early last spring and GSB has been assisting in planning the event.

“I think one of the main goals is to educate students at ISU,” said Groh, senior in political science.

Groh said another objective of the summit is to build a network of students across the nation to share ideas on how to handle these disturbances.

She also said some of the other issues the summit will deal with include the Ames-ISU relationship and moving toward the one community idea.

The summit will include workshops on riots and student relations in communities, panels and reflection on issues affecting Ames and Iowa State.

Views concerning the renovations of Campustown may also be expressed at the summit, Groh said.

The summit will focus on larger issues, however, not just Campustown or Iowa State, Groh said.

John McCarroll, executive director of university relations, said the summit shows Iowa State is serious about dealing with problems in the university community. McCarroll said he doesn’t believe holding the summit on campus would be detrimental to the image of the university, and said it will hopefully give Iowa State a better public image.

“We’re looking at this in the opposite thought; Iowa State is holding a summit to deal with an issue that affects campuses across the country,” McCarroll said.

There will be experts coming from across the nation to talk about civil disturbance issues, and McCarroll said this will “show that we can learn from the problems we had in 2004 and better the relations between students, the university and the community at large.”

Loras Jaeger, Ames Police chief, said the Ames Police Department was contacted by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco to help organize the event.

“It’s an outstanding example of the university and the city working together,” Jaeger said.

Jaeger said he believes Ames is an ideal location for a summit on this topic because it has had a series of disturbances. In addition to the 2004 Veishea riot, there were disturbances in 1988, 1992, 1994 and a homicide in 1997 during Veishea festivities.

The summit is coordinated by the Center for College Health and Safety in Newton, Mass., and the Ames Police Department has been working with the center to organize the event.

“It’s an opportunity for everyone in Ames to get together and discuss an issue we have had for many years,” Jaeger said.

Brandon Kennedy, Buchanan Hall GSB senator, said the idea for holding the summit at Iowa State came from suggestions of the Veishea Task Force.

Kennedy, sophomore in mechanical engineering, said one of the main goals of the summit is to find a way to make sure a riot is not repeated by gaining student input about prevention and crowd control. There will be a $100 registration fee, but students can obtain waivers by writing an essay about why they want to attend and how the information presented could be applied.

Speakers will include Pete Englin, Department of Residence director, Clark McPhail, professor of sociology from the University of Illinois, and students involved in the riot.