I got off work shortly before 1:00 a.m. Sunday and decided to head over to my fraternity, located on Welch Avenue, to observe an organized philanthropy.

When I arrived, I was greeted by two brothers who told me that riots had broken out on Welch Avenue. I proceeded toward Welch, but stayed a comfortable distance away from all the activity. As I shifted to get a better view, I observed a single police officer in full riot gear charging the crowd that stood in front of me. The crowd was small with no more than 25 to 30 people and was by no means “organized.”

The officer began squirting Mace at anyone in his path. As the officer drew nearer, I turned and ran back to where I had come from. I returned to my fraternity and approached the front of the chapter house which was directly next to the staging grounds for the police actions.

As I attempted to gain an understanding of the ongoing events, I was told three of my brothers had been hit with Mace. I went and found these brothers in the shower, screaming and having their eyes washed out with water and milk. After seeing them in good hands, I returned to the front porch just in time to see the police loading up tear gas.

We rushed to pull as many people as we could back away from the street, concerned the wind would carry the gas in the wrong direction. The police made their charge toward the rioters, and I returned to the brothers, who were still attempting to wash the Mace away.

Two of the brothers were hit once and were able to function after more than 30 minutes of water and milk treatment. The third, however, was unable to open his eyes well after 45 minutes and was still screaming in pain — he was hit by Mace twice. My brother called for us to take him to the hospital, which we did. Once we arrived in Mary Greeley’s emergency room, my brother was treated for more than two hours.

While waiting in the emergency room, I was told the story of how my brothers were hit. They saw police in riot gear and were curious about the events. They walked one block away from the chapter house and stood on the sidewalk. An officer approached them, and my third brother asked, “Why are you clearing the streets?”

The officer extended his arm and maced my brother. My brother fell to the ground screaming as the officer shouted, “Get the fuck back!”

My other two brothers attempted to pull the third back and in doing so were also squirted by the same officer. Additionally, that officer hit my third brother a second time.

I was furious with the police for resulting to such brutality. I was furious with the rioters for taking the riots to the next level and damaging a celebration that was slowly becoming a good thing again.

Then I began to think about the future. “Veishea is dead,” I thought, “and the only ones blamed will be the students.”

The ironic part is this: people will blame the students. Already, I have heard Ames’ residents say, “The students broke the glass …” or “the students caused the problems.”

What I find ironic is that “the students” were composed of a variety of people from all over — not just Iowa State and not just students. I know of people who participated in the riots and were not students.

Even more ironic, the estimated number of participants in the riots was 1,000. If we make the assumption that all participants were ISU students then only 4 percent of the student population participated in the riots, hardly representative of the whole.

But hey, why not allow prejudices to supersede logic and categorize one small group with the whole? Why not say all students were the cause of the riots? Why not further segregate the university community from the residential community? Why not allow combatant force against all students regardless of the degree of participation? Why not allow more hospitalizations for asking a law enforcement individual a question?

The officers were doing their jobs, unquestionably. However, I do question how much force used was necessary and how much force used was voluntary? Nonetheless, I guess I am not the man to judge such things.

I am not a witness to all of the evening’s events. I am not an educated resident of the Ames community. I am a student … and I caused the riots. Or so I’m told.

Ryan Kight

Senior

Finance and Management