For ISU students Ed Snook and Jeremy Varner, this year’s Veishea weekend isn’t an opportunity to celebrate Iowa State.

In fact, the two students are using the event to speak out against ISU President Martin Jischke because they believe his membership on a corporate Board of Directors creates a conflict of interest for the university.

However, Veishea organizers say they are not miffed by the planned protest.

Veishea Co-chair Justin Wilhelm said the protest does not bother him as long as it isn’t disruptive.

“As long as everything is peaceful and they don’t detract from the idea of Veishea, it’s OK with me,” he said.

Justin Chesnut, Veishea co-chair, agreed there is little concern about the protesters.

“We can’t control what others choose to do during Veishea,” he said. “We aren’t worried about the group and what they may do.”

Snook, senior in English, decided action needed to be taken against Jischke because of his role on the Board of Directors for Banker’s Trust of Iowa, the same bank where Iowa State’s money is held.

“We want people to know what is happening and have them join us in spreading the word on what Jischke is doing,” Snook said. “We want to tell people what is happening and why it is a potential problem.”

The group has created a Web site, http://call.to/jischke/, and members promoted it by writing the address on campus sidewalks.

But members plan to take further action during Veishea, seeing it as an opportunity to inform alumni about what they believe is Jischke’s wrongdoing.

“Veishea is a good time to let people know what is going on because we can get a lot of attention and is a great opportunity to make people aware of what Jischke is doing,” said Jeremy Varner, senior in history and member of the group.

Varner wouldn’t go into detail about what group members are planning for Veishea except to say they’ll be handing out brochures at various events. He also said he doesn’t think anything negative will come from the protest.

“I am almost certain that supporters will abide by the rules and strive for our goal of letting people know about the issue peacefully,” he said.