It didn’t take much discussion to bring Veishea task force working groups into alignment with chairwoman Catherine Woteki’s policy that the study of Veishea should remain as open and accessible as possible.

Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, said a Thursday conference call last week revealed little opposition to opening the meetings of the smaller groups.

“I think everyone was unified in the movement towards openness,” Bugeja said. “The spirit of the group, particularly under Chairwoman Woteki’s lead, has been to be as open as possible.”

These sentiments led to the reclassification of the three subgroups of the 2004 Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations as officially “public.” This classification, by Iowa law, dictates that organizers must provide notice of meetings at least 24 hours in advance, including time, date and a tentative agenda.

These group meetings were originally designated to be kept officially private, due in part to complications in scheduling among their members.

After an outcry from two Ames newspapers, members of the task force considered more seriously the public reaction to the decision. Woteki met with task force executive committee members last week to find a way to open up the proceedings.

Task force participants expressed support for the decision, saying that being open was a necessary component to the group’s success.

“I have always supported making the meetings open,” said Steve Schainker, Ames city manager and member of the executive committee. “I didn’t think there was a good reason to close them. Nothing would be gained by it, and we have nothing to hide.”

William Rock, Government of the Student Body vice president, said he had expected the meetings to open after hearing concerns from parties inside and outside the task force.

“It was a mistake to begin with, and once everyone realized that everyone wanted the meetings open, we changed it,” he said.

Although the decision was reportedly well received by most of the council, the working groups themselves may not have been legally required to conform to Iowa open meetings laws, task force member Paul Tanaka said.

Tanaka, university counsel, said not every government entity is subject to open meeting laws, and the task force and its working groups may be among the exceptions. Most government groups that are subject to the laws, Tanaka said, are created by a statute or executive order. The Veishea task force is an administrative action ordered by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy.

However, Tanaka said, the wishes of the task force and its organizers are clear.

“What I personally feel really doesn’t matter,” he said. “In general, all the members of the task force are in favor of openness.”

The task force will make available the entire bulk of research materials given to its members and has opened a Web site with information about the meetings at www.iastate.edu/news/04/veishea.

Two of the first “public” meetings of the Veishea working groups took place Monday. Groups studying the causes of celebratory riots and recommendations from institutions that have experienced disturbances met in separate meetings Monday.

Bugeja, chairman of the group studying data from other schools, used the first of the meetings to clarify the group’s charge, often referring back to a similar problem faced during his time at Ohio University.