Questions still linger about the future of Leaders INspiring Connections, a group formed from Veishea Inc., after ISU President Gregory Geoffroy’s announcement to reinstate Veishea in 2006.

Following the April 18 Veishea riot and subsequent Veishea cancellation last year, the Government of the Student Body allocated $9,995 to LINC to be used for spring 2005 activities, which were normally a part of Veishea.

Geoffroy’s announcement reinstating Veishea for 2006 did not prevent GSB from funding LINC for fall 2005. The group was granted $6,742 on March 30 during GSB’s regular allocations.

Andrea Smook, off-campus government senator and Finance Committee member, said she feels LINC and Veishea could be different and each could have its own reasons for deserving funding.

“Veishea has traditionally been a showcase for colleges and a recruitment tool,” Smook said. “LINC is oriented more toward social activities.”

One such activity, the Stars Over ISU — formerly known as Stars over Veishea — production of “The Secret Garden” is scheduled for this spring.

“After the Veishea ’05 suspension, my co-chair and I went in to talk to President Geoffroy to find out what this year would look like, and LINC was the result of those talks,” said Ashley Glade, LINC general co-chairwoman. “Stars Over Veishea was one of the cornerstone events we had been planning on doing all year long.”

Terence Goodman, producer of this year’s Stars Over ISU event, said some cost-cutting measures had to be taken, like a venue change from Stephens Auditorium to Fisher Theater, because LINC does not have the same budget as Veishea. The change reduced the amount of available seats from 2,500 to 400 and extended show dates.

Glade said while Stars Over ISU and other Veishea activities taken over by LINC are still proceeding, LINC’s future is still being discussed.

Glade said LINC started with one main goal — taking positive aspects from Veishea and incorporating them into LINC.

“One of those positive aspects is giving students an opportunity to work on leadership and communication skills,” Glade said. “Our other goals were to spread Veishea events out over the year, and we did that. Another goal was to have a large community service project at the end of this semester, and Operation Playground will be happening in two weeks. We’ve stuck very close to the goals we first started with.”

Glade said LINC is very similar to Veishea, but it does have some differences; those differences may cause LINC’s goals to change.

“Veishea has a community involvement committee,” Glade said. “That committee has been in charge of organizing community service events as well as giving a community involvement scholarship. We continue to do those things in LINC, but we added the large-scale community involvement project that is Operation Playground.”

Kyle Hessel, LINC marketing director, said finding community donations was hard at first, but has become easier over time.

“We ran into a lot of businesses who plain did not know who we were and who did not want to donate money,” Hessel said. “It was nice in past years to have the Veishea name behind us. It has started to get better because of things like Operation Playground.”

Many community members expressed support after hearing about Operation Playground because it is more community-based, he said.