“They’re counting on us.”

These were the words of William Rock, Government of the Student Body vice president, as he addressed the assembled members of the 2004 Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations, the group that could determine whether Veishea will return in the future.

“I think that the fact that [ISU President Gregory] Geoffroy felt it necessary to suspend Veishea next year speaks to the severity of how this issue is viewed,” Rock said. “Everyone realizes that something is … wrong with Veishea, that something needs to be fixed so things like this don’t keep happening. If there is something wrong with Veishea, we’re the ones that are going to have to fix it.”

Twenty-two of the 31 members of the special Veishea task force convened in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union on Thursday to hear Geoffroy outline the specifics of the group’s charge: the investigation and, officials hope, salvation of the 82-year-old student-run festival.

The task force, chaired by Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture, spent its first meeting establishing major operating procedures and ground rules. Attendees were split into three “working groups,” assigned to examine the actual events of the riot, underlying causes of the event, and what responses the university and city should take to ensure that the behavior is not repeated.

Although the first meeting was widely publicized and open to anyone, the committee decided to hold the working group meetings in a less public matter, not announcing the times and venues of the meetings.

The measure, Rock said, is one of practicality, owing to the schedules of the members of the groups. But the meetings will not be closed by conventional means, he said.

“I don’t think they’re going to lock the doors on anybody,” he said. “It’s just not going to be as publicized as the first one was.”

He said the time for the meetings, expected to be held weekly, would likely only be decided 24 to 48 hours before they actually took place, making it difficult to publicize them. But all the decisions and progress of the groups will be brought back to the main task force, which will likely post its minutes online.

Optimism about results

The conclusions gathered from the Veishea executive committee and an as-yet unformed second group focused on community and student relations are expected to be delivered to Geoffroy by Nov. 30 to help determine the viability of Veishea.

Geoffroy said he remained optimistic that the group would find a way to keep the festival alive in coming years, but maintained that if no solution to the problem is found, Veishea may not return to Iowa State.

“I deeply believe that we need to find some way to continue Veishea, but it’s going to be dependent upon the outcome of these groups,” Geoffroy said. “Veishea is a very, very important activity for the university, for the students, and for the community, and I’m optimistic that this task force and the commission and executive committee will be successful in identifying a way forward that will let us go ahead.”

Tony Borich, a member of the task force, was very vocal when it came time to answer questions about the student position on what should be done to save Veishea, but admitted his zealousness faded somewhat when members of the task force began asking him what could be done to bring students in to the process itself.

Ideas voiced about a possible open forum to bring the opinions of the student body to the task force brought back memories of a sparsely attended community forum on April 29, and Borich said even if such an event were held early next fall, there was no way to guarantee significant student attendance.

“It was difficult to get students to show up for that, so it doesn’t seem likely students will show up,” Borich said.