ISU President Gregory Geoffroy will announce Tuesday his decision about the future of Veishea in light of a riot in Campustown at the end of this year’s celebration.

He will reveal his choice at a 9 a.m. press conference in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union.

Student and administration officials expect Geoffroy to adopt one of three options regarding next year’s Veishea festivities: Bring the event back with restrictions, postpone it until 2006 or cancel it outright.

Vice President for Student Affairs Thomas Hill said he favored postponing next year’s event in order to allow for a thorough examination of the problems that led to the April 18 riot.

“This is a serious issue, and one that has a history,” Hill said. “We can’t say we’re going to keep going without a thorough investigation.”

William Rock, vice president of the Government of the Student Body, said his meetings with Geoffroy had not led him to believe the president would take one course of action or another, but he said he believed the festival will continue in the more distant future.

“From our meetings, I think he loves Veishea, and he wants Veishea to continue in some form in the long run,” Rock said. “The future of Veishea is not in question, just next year.”

Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco, who met with Geoffroy and other administration officials, extolled the virtues of the event.

“Well, you know, certainly it’s been a long tradition of the university, of the community, and the events that occurred, particularly on Saturday with the parade, those things have been entertainment to hundreds of thousands — millions — of people over the years,” Tedesco said. “It’s very hard to give those up, quite honestly.”

He said he knows many people are discouraged about Veishea.

“Actually, the involvement of a few have really taken away from the credibility and the good citizens that are involved in the Iowa State community,” he said.

Tedesco said he expects further discussions among students, administrators and Ames residents before the matter is settled.

Nine student leaders and Hill met Monday to talk about Veishea. The students said Veishea should exist next year, even if it is in a diluted form. Seven of the nine committee members have or have had official ties to Veishea.

GSB President Sophia Magill supported the committee’s message.

“I think it shows that [the council members] really do care about the meaning of Veishea and want students to have the experience of coming together and showcasing the talents of the university,” Magill said.

While he intended to deliver the committee’s recommendation to Geoffroy, Hill said he still wasn’t convinced continuing the festival in a any form next year was the proper course of action.

“I’m not there yet,” Hill said. “I think we need to do something different and take strong measures to deal with what happened this year.”

Committee members, however, argued that postponing next year’s festival would be viewed negatively by students and participants, and would, according to 2005 Veishea co-chairwoman Ashley Glade, “send the wrong message.”

— Jason Noble contributed to this article.