An all-day meeting of the full Veishea task force included discussion about “official” and “unofficial” Veishea events as well as about alcohol regulations and the history of celebratory riots.

The Veishea Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations met Wednesday to discuss the findings of working group 2.

Working group 2 came up with a number of recommendations for minimizing the chance of a riot at future university and community celebrations, but the task force decided not to consider those recommendations until Thursday’s meeting, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. It will also include discussion of working group 3’s report and recommendations.

The task force spent time distinguishing between Veishea — including events sponsored and supported by the university — and “Veishea weekend” — the idea that Veishea doesn’t end when sponsored activities are over. The group also discussed how the riot did not occur during Veishea, but occurred April 18, after Veishea activities concluded.

“The official Veishea has a defined start and end,” said Jeff Johnson, director of alumni services. “This [riot] didn’t occur during Veishea.”

Craig Anderson, professor and chairman of psychology, said even if improvements are made to the official Veishea celebration, there is no guarantee that riots won’t occur in the future.

“The university can’t drop its guard,” Anderson said. “The word Veishea is so highly associated with partying and binge drinking, there is no way to change that association.”

Zora Zimmerman, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said on the other hand, recognizing the difference between the two ideas of Veishea is a step in the right direction.

“Maybe now we can begin to find solutions,” she said.

Another discussion item was ISU and Ames alcohol policies, including bar and residence hall restrictions.

Pete Englin, dean of students, said the question is whether students understand the laws regarding alcohol or, perhaps, whether they know the law but choose to ignore it.

Included in the group’s recommendations was modifying a number of alcohol policies such as restrictions on students in the residence halls and underage people in the bars.

Other alcohol recommendations included reviewing dry Veishea policies and enforcement practices of off-campus parties.

The task force made a point of mentioning that Iowa State is not alone in experiencing celebratory riots.

“What’s happening here is not unique,” said Steve Schainker, Ames city manager.

“Even though sometimes it seems very daunting, many other cities are experiencing the same things.”

Working group 2 found research identifying more than 200 celebratory riots on college campuses between 1985 and 2002.

“Tomorrow we will go through the process to determine what recommendations are to be discussed,” said Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture.

Woteki said the recommendations about alcohol policies will be a large part of the meeting.

“The big discussion tomorrow will be looking at how other universities and communities dealt with this,” Woteki said.

— Lucas Grundmeier, Jenny Keeney and Krista Driscoll contributed to this article.