The ISU College Republicans contested the Veishea parade committee’s decision to reject their float in the April 17 Veishea parade at a committee meeting Tuesday.

Veishea officials said it wasn’t anything personal.

Josh Reicks, president of the ISU College Republicans, and five other members of the organization met with the committee to appeal the rejection of their float, which was rejected on the grounds it didn’t have entertainment value.

Reicks and others said the float won’t try to influence public opinion, which is another criterion the Veishea committee uses to reject floats.

As part of their appeal, they unveiled their new-and-improved float to the Veishea committee: a truck with an elephant mounted on the hood, pulling a wagon adorned with a giant flag. The float was surrounded by a juggler, a man in an elephant costume and other club members handing out candy.

“Some people said Veishea is uncomfortable with politics,” Reicks said. “We won’t pass out fliers that say ‘Blow up Saddam,'” he said. “We want to show the campus our club that has 500 active members.”

Matt Bornhorst, Veishea parade co-chairman, said the original float was rejected because the official forms were turned in past the deadline, and the description of the float in the entry forms was vague.

“We rejected the float because we didn’t understand the contents of the float from the descriptions in the forms,” he said.

The ISU College Republicans and the Veishea parade co-chairpersons then argued over whether the forms were submitted on time.

Not every group that applies to be in the parade can enter. Accommodating every group that wants to enter the Veishea parade isn’t possible, said Vernon Wall, assistant dean of students and the Veishea faculty adviser.

“There’s only a limited amount of space in the Veishea parade because of parade length, so we have to accept some and reject others,” he said.

Legally, Veishea isn’t allowed to reject a float because officials don’t like their political message because the First Amendment provides for freedom of expression, Wall said. However, Veishea can reject floats from the parade if officials provide another place rejected groups can express their messages.

Veishea Village — a makeshift city of booths and concession stands in Campustown — is that other place. Wall said this location is more suitable for those rejected by the parade committee, since it provides these groups chances for student interaction, which isn’t possible in the parade.

“In essence, we’re saying the parade might not be the best venue for those students who are rejected, since their message may not meet the goals of the parade,” Wall said.

Reicks said Veishea Village was a good forum, but it wasn’t good enough for the purposes of the ISU College Republicans.

“The [Veishea] Village is a nice venue, but it’s certainly nothing like the parade,” he said. “The parade will give us 20 times the exposure and give us the best interaction with students.”

The discussion at the meeting ended with the parade co-chairpersons promising they would consider the group’s appeal.