More than 30 people were named last week to one of the two task forces that will determine Veishea’s future.

Chosen by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco and Government of the Student Body President Sophia Magill, the roster contains representatives from groups who were affected by the April 18 riot, including students, Ames community leaders, administration officials and ISU faculty and staff.

The Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations will be chaired by Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture.

This task force represents a wide cross-section of those affected by the riot and others with unique perspectives as to the underlying causes. In addition to area residents and business owners, faculty from Iowa State’s psychology and sociology departments will weigh in.

David Schweingruber, assistant professor of sociology, contacted administrators soon after the riot to offer his assistance in determining the causes of the event.

Schweingruber’s role on the task force will involve using his research on riots to better pinpoint a cause, he said.

“I study crowds and am familiar with a good deal of research on crowds and riots,” he said. “I have written on protest policing in the [United States], and so am familiar with the subject.”

Drew Miller, a former GSB senator who was arrested during the riot, will help provide the student perspective. Miller, an active presence in the events and investigations following the riot, asked to be put on the task force.

“I wanted to make sure the student body was going to have a voice on the task force that won’t roll over to administration pressure,” Miller said. “I think the task force has a lot of potential — either to be an effective force for change, or a rubber stamp for the status quo.”

Geoffroy explained the task force’s charge during his announcement to suspend Veishea April 27.

“A special Veishea Task Force will assess the underlying causes of this year’s disturbance and … develop recommendations for minimizing the likelihood of similar disturbances in the future, be they associated with Veishea, with athletic celebrations, with any other event, or at any other time,” Geoffroy said.

The breadth of the committee’s membership was designed, Tedesco said, to provide input from all members of the Ames community who were affected by the Veishea riots.

“We’re addressing this as a total community issue and concentrating on relations between the university, the Ames community and area businesses,” Tedesco said. “We’ll come up with a report featuring multiple possible causes, right or not.”

Officials expect a primary gathering of the task force by the mid- June.

The group’s findings will be submitted to Geoffroy, who will make a decision by Nov. 30 about Veishea’s fate and what steps are to be taken to prevent further disturbances.

Members of the second group, which will focus on relations between ISU students and city residents, have not yet been released.GSB Vice President William Rock met Monday with Geoffroy to finalize arrangements to get the group running.

Rock indicated the second group would be smaller, with approximately 20 members comprising of Ames residents, business owners and university students and administrators.

Rock characterized his impressions of the rift between the city and ISU students as a segregation.

“It’s not a matter of us versus them,” he said. “It’s just us and them. The fact that there are two downtowns in this town speaks to that.”