With each meeting, the Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations inches closer to its final goal of making its recommendations.

“We have four months,” said Catherine Woteki, chairwoman of the task force and dean of the College of Agriculture. “Our report is due Nov. 30 and we still have a enough time to cover all of the tasks that have been put to us.”

The task force, which was formed by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, met for the third time since its inception was announced following the April 18 riot and the decision to cancel the 2005 Veishea celebration. Early on, the task force divided itself into three working groups, each charged with separate tasks.

The task force spent the majority of Wednesday’s meeting in the Scheman Building discussing the findings of the three working groups.

Woteki set up the findings by telling the 18 members present that each group’s findings were to be considered open for discussion and change, if necessary.

“Everything at this point is still very draft, very preliminary,” she said.

Dean of Students Peter Englin, chairman of working group one, which was charged with studying the events and chronology of the 2004 Veishea celebration, summed up his group’s work so far.

“Our work has centered on three priorities,” he said. “First, to go through past recommendations and determine if they were implemented. Second, the development of a Web-based survey. And, third, to examine visual representations of what transpired during the riots.”

The group is getting closer to completion of a Web site that it hopes will collect first-hand, non-anonymous accounts of what happened during the riots.

Englin expressed optimism that the survey, despite being potentially incriminating, would allow the group to gather new information.

“Any information that we get will be better than what we have,” he said. “It may be 50, it may be 500 … People need an opportunity to be part of the process.”

Working group two outlined several possibilities for what may have been underlying causes of the Veishea riot.

“Hopefully, as you listen to these you’ll start to squirm in your seat … but don’t shoot the messenger,” said Ames City Manager Steve Schainker, chairman of working group one. “I think [the list of possible causes] are pretty balanced and worthy of discussion. This is the feedback we’ve received, we’re not pointing fingers.”

Included in the list of possible causes cited were the “party atmosphere” being taken out of Veishea; a perception of increased strain in the relationship between students and the university and between students and the city; a lack of ownership in the Veishea tradition; the lack of decisive consequences to rioters; and media attention focusing on negative aspects of Veishea.

Working group three, which is charged with examining more broadly what has happened in other communities and how they’ve dealt with similar problems, presented a matrix that it plans to use in order to condense the large quantities of information.

“What we’re doing is going through reports that are sometimes really long,” said Sophia Magill, Government of the Student Body president and member of working group three. “We’re trying to put things more into categories and see what works and if it is applicable to Iowa State.”

“We’re only in our second month,” Woteki said. “The purpose of tonight’s meeting was to share what [the groups] have found. … We’re on schedule.”

During August, the working groups will continue to meet, but the entire task force will not meet again until Sept. 7.

Woteki said the next meeting will focus on what transpired during the riot with working group one setting the agenda for the meeting.