The Veishea task force needs information.

At its second meeting, held Monday, the 2004 Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations discussed just exactly how to go about getting that information.

“We want to try and get a community perspective of what happened,” said Pete Englin, dean of students and co-chairman of the working group trying to determine the underlying causes of the riots. “Our question is, how do we get that? How do we fill in the information from the police reports … and gather perspectives?”

The committee members wrestled with whether information would be gathered anonymously and confidentially, or with the warning that it could be made public.

Catherine Woteki, chairwoman of the task force and dean of the College of Agriculture, said she wondered if the task force may be subject to further data collection regulations from Iowa State.

“Because we are a university, and since one-third of the members of the task force are employed by the university, does that mean other rules and regulations for research and data collection apply?” she said.

Woteki asked Paul Tanaka, university counsel, to determine by the next meeting the best way for the task force address that concern.

Ideas for collection of the information included anonymous public opinion surveys and testimony from witnesses given in front of the task force or through e-mail.

Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, said he had “grave concerns that the task force would become an investigational body.”

He said it is extremely important the task force be transparent, include names in its reports and treat each meeting as public.

Although most of the members agreed that the task force should be as open as possible, some said allowing all of the information to be public may isolate some from sharing their input.

“The student that threw a rock at a police officer is not going to come forward; the business owner who doesn’t want to appear anti-student isn’t going to come participate,” Tanaka said. “I think we run the risk of not getting a certain segment of the participants.”

Drew Miller, a former Government of the Student Body senator, said he disagreed.

“[The task force] doesn’t need anonymous information because many people who would offer only on condition of anonymity would have an agenda,” the 2004-05 GSB presidential candidate said.

Monday’s meeting was attended by 23 of the 31 task force members.

Although much of the meeting was spent working out information-gathering techniques, the working groups also reported their findings from earlier meetings.

The task force also developed a set of guiding principles that could be used by the three different working groups to help them define their own tasks more specifically.

After the meeting, several members of the task force said they were satisfied with the progress they were making. Woteki said the task force and working groups were making good progress despite their diverse membership.

“They are starting to deal with the big concepts that will help them to understand their charge,” Woteki said.

GSB President Sophia Magill said even in these early stages she was extremely optimistic the task force would be successful. She said she would ideally like to see the group ask and answer a lot of questions that would be satisfactory to the community, students, and Iowa State.

The next meeting of the task force is scheduled for 1-5 p.m. July 28.

It will be held in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.