In its second meeting Monday, the Commission on Improving Relations Among Iowa State University Students, the University, the City of Ames, and the Ames Community — the second group formed after this year’s Veishea ended in a four-hour riot — made an effort to better define its charge.

Assistant City Manager Bob Kindred, co-chairman of the commission, summed up what he thought the goal was.

“First, we need to establish what community relations we want,” he said. “Second, we need to determine where we are today and, third, how do we get there?”

The commission spent most of the meeting discussing exactly how it would collect the information it needs and from whom it needs information.

“There’s a need for assessment of two different things — what we have and what we need,” said Laura Bestler-Wilcox, program coordinator for the dean of students office and co-chairwoman of the commission.

Although only 13 of the 22 members assigned to the Commission were present at the meeting, the issue of what available information should be gathered elicited a wide range of reactions.

“A significant part of the issue here is that we’re all looking at the same thing in different ways,” said Drew Larson, president of the Inter-Residence Hall Association. “It would be useful to know those.”

Much of the information will come from existing sources such as the city’s annual satisfaction survey, the Aston survey of incoming freshmen, various census data and information from other institutions that have experienced riot situations.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” said Dan Rice, academic adviser for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “There is a lot of information already out there from other institutions that have had similar experiences.”

Larson disagreed, adding that the nature of Iowa State’s riots were different from other institutions’ and deserved different consideration.

The commission will also be trying to determine how to solicit new information and work alongside the task force to determine the legality of information and avoid duplicative work, Bestler-Wilcox said.

“The privacy question is still not resolved,” she said. “We’ll probably need to follow the same rules and regulations as the task force.”

The commission was in agreement, however, that the riot represented an effect of poor relations between students and the community and not the cause.

Patrick Hultman, graduate student in political science, said a “tremendous” sense of anonymity in Ames is leading to much of these feelings.

“What happened was just part of the greater problem,” ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger said.

The commission’s next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. July 19 in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.