Having served on the Veishea Task Force, I was bothered by Jeremy Oehlert’s March 29 column, “Dear President Geoffroy, thanks, but no thanks.” In it, he criticizes ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and attempts to play down the severity of the April 18, 2004, Veishea disturbance on Welch Avenue.

I agree that students were not entirely at fault that evening and have received an unfair amount of blame, and that is why I did not sign the Veishea Task Force report.

But undermining the efforts Geoffroy has put forth to work with students and community members to retain Veishea as a source of pride for our community struck me as an ungrateful and uninformed response.

I would also like to emphasize that canceling Veishea this year was possibly the best option. A disturbance, like the one April 18, could have taken place on any other night, but historically has not.

In fact, seven of eight disturbances since 1985 have taken place on Veishea weekends.

Finally, I would like to point out that Veishea has not been taken over by the administration. Students still, as they always have, coordinate nearly all aspects of Veishea and to say otherwise is insulting to the time and efforts they contribute.

Veishea has never been a celebration for students. It is a celebration of Iowa State’s heritage, which includes students, alumni, administration and the Ames community, all of whom should be welcomed and encouraged to participate.

Thank you President Geoffroy, and everyone who has helped with Veishea in the past year, for supporting this tradition.

Abby LaCombe

Off-campus government senator

Government of the Student Body