Never fear, there are still cherry pies for sale.

Veishea may have been suspended, but the events that normally constituted the annual weeklong festival have been revised and expanded to consume the entirety of the fourth calendar month, which, for all practical purposes, ought to be renamed “Veishea” instead of “April.”

Nearly all of the usual Veishea activities are still taking place: Cyclone Idol concludes on Veishea 15; Stars Over ISU presents “The Secret Garden” on Veishea 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17; cherry pies will be sold on the 15th of Veishea, and the Society of Chemistry Undergraduate Majors (SCUM) will still be igniting chemical explosions while cracking jokes about business majors on Veishea 15 and 16.

The annual Battle of the Bands has been supplanted with the Battle of the Battle of the Bands, as each residence hall association hosts its own concert on three consecutive weekends in Veishea. Campus Christian groups are putting on a concert of their own on Veishea 22, employing the age-old, never-fail formula: gigantic circus tent plus Jesus equals fun.

Other Veishea staples — inflatable games, free food, student booths and carnival games — will be present on-and-off throughout the month, along with some new additions, including attempts to break the world record for most simultaneous readers (Veishea 14) and biggest pillow fight (Veishea 16).

Try as they might, I predict that the university’s strategy of breaking Veishea down into smaller, more manageable, events will backfire. Neither will the cosmetic changes proposed for next year’s Veishea do much to lower the likelihood of destructive disturbances.

The “divide and conquer” strategy does nothing to tackle the “root causes” of destructive behavior; in fact, it exacerbates them. It fails to recognize that students are victims of circumstances beyond their control.

The cycle begins when students are assigned homework sets, lab write-ups, term papers and group projects. The amount of work is overwhelming, leading to feelings of frustration and hopelessness, further weakening their ability to concentrate on schoolwork. They put off all but the most pressing work until the end of the semester.

After Spring Break, deadlines for papers and projects near, at the same time that finals preparations commence. Then environmental factors come into play: daylight hours lengthen, ground temperature increases, the Major League Baseball season begins and stores host summer clothing sales.

Stress-filled students need a break, but Veishea events only distract students from their work, eating up precious time and fueling procrastination. Worse, those who abstain from the festivities in order to study are left with feelings of alienation. The resulting despair triggers violent outbursts.

To blame students for rioting only absolves the administration, faculty and even the Ames community from their causal role in the system that perpetuates this cycle of despair. The conclusion of the Veishea task force completely sidestepped the issue of schoolwork-induced despair, and put the blame squarely on the students’ shoulders — a classic case of “blame the victim.” How can the problem be solved when those responsible do not even recognize their hand in causing it?

To get at the root of the problem, a comprehensive schoolwork-alleviation program is needed, including, but not limited to, the extension of Dead Week to Dead Month, late paper forgiveness policies and nap breaks in classes lasting more than one hour. Unfortunately, reform seems unlikely, since the president has strong ties to the very same special interest groups who are responsible for the students’ plight. In fact, in his former days as a chemistry professor, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy used to assign schoolwork himself!

This conflict of interest presents a nearly insurmountable obstacle to solving problems that manifested themselves so publicly at last year’s Veishea celebration.

Other remedies, which fall short of breaking the cycle of despair, can help somewhat to dissipate frustration. These include parking ticket amnesty and park-anywhere-you-want days.

Or several thousand cherry pies could do the trick.