About 50 people participated in an informal, open discussion about Veishea rules and policies at the Veishea forum Monday in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union.The alcohol policy was the major concern among many audience members. Over the past few years, many students have gone to Iowa City on Veishea weekend to avoid the alcohol-free Veishea pledge, said Andy Walling, RCA president.”We need to convince people that they can have a good time without alcohol,” said Walling, junior in pre-business. “If you fill their weekend with other activities and more fun events, they won’t feel the need to drink, and we will have a more responsible Veishea weekend.”Veishea Co-Chair Kathy Craig, senior in Spanish, said the policy this year upholds the alcohol-free pledge at all university-sponsored activities and in all university-sponsored housing.”The residence hall staff is not there to bust people, but rather to protect against vandalism and other inhabitable occurrences that students pay for in the end,” said Kim Araya, Oak-Elm Hall director. “We are there to come to for help, rather than to enforce.”The Ames Police Department has implemented special noise ordinances and other regulations involving the conduct of the thousands of people who will attend the ceremonies, said Thomas Hill, vice president for Student Affairs.”We’re out there to have a good time, as well as you are,” Hill said. “It is not a normal weekend, and we can’t pretend that it is. When we have that many people descending on Ames, we need the extra rules and regulations.”Dennis Peterson, director of international education, said no policy will please everyone.”Veishea is a great event with great tradition,” Peterson said. “Choices have to be made, and people can’t be happy all the time. Everyone is going to have to live with the policies and activities and have the best time they possibly can.”Much of the discussion is focused on increasing underclassmen and residence hall student involvement with the celebration.”Students not involved with a specific organization often leave, but those students in a specific organization usually stay in Ames and get involved,” said Brenton Saron, junior in community and regional planning. “The RCA float building is a perfect example of how residence hall students can get involved and feel like they are a part of Veishea.”Although many aspects of Veishea will be the same this year, a new committee is working to increase community involvement, said Veishea Co-Chair Brian Nash, senior in mechanical engineering.”Not only are we getting the community to come to Ames for Veishea, but the Veishea committee is also getting out into the community and getting involved with schools and groups throughout Story County,” said Community Involvement Co-Chair Jen Peyser, senior in environmental science.The entertainment policy has been expanded so students may bring four guests to Veishea Center Stage, which features pop-rock band Vertical Horizon, so the community can experience the entire celebration, Craig said.The deans of the colleges and other staff members are planning to get more involved with Veishea, to return it to a school- and community-wide celebration, said interim ISU President Richard Seagrave.”We need to put more academic-department participation back into Veishea, like in the old days,” Seagrave said. “A celebration of excellence is what we need to get back to.”Craig said she was pleased with the discussion.”We were able to get many residence hall concerns, as well as other university and community-wide concerns addressed,” she said. “We made some concrete solutions, and it was nice to hear about what we were doing right, as well as what can be done in the future.”