Veishea has become a pressing issue for the Government of the Student Body and will be addressed at the GSB meeting tonight at 7 in the Brunnier Art Museum at the Scheman Building.

A focus of the meeting will be on a bill introduced to the senate last week by Justin Hattan, LAS, requesting GSB support for Iowa State President Martin Jischke’s pledge for an alcohol-free Veishea. Two new bills regarding the Veishea pledge will be introduced to the senate at tonight’s meeting.

GSB President Bryan Burkhardt said it is hard to say what the outcome of the meeting will be.

“In order for new resolutions to be heard, the old resolution introduced by Sen. Hattan either has to be voted on or thrown out,” he said. “But if such action does occur, that is in no way an indication that GSB does not want a safer, alcohol-free Veishea.”

Burkhardt said there has been concern among senators about the discussion of last week’s Veishea bill and the alternative bills being introduced tonight.

“We need this kind of discussion because it ensures that we have the closest or truest form of democratic government possible,” he said.

Burkhardt said he expects a lot of discussion regarding Veishea at the meeting.

“I think the general consensus is that people want students to be safe and responsible during Veishea. In my opinion, that would include being alcohol free,” he said.

Ryan Glanzer, off-campus, said there are some issues that need to be addressed regarding the bills.

“The main difference between a lot of the bills has to do with whether or not GSB has the authority to tell the greek system and the residence halls what to do,” he said. “If they want to go dry, that’s up to the greek system and the residence halls.”

Glanzer said off-campus senators also have some questions about the bills.

“We moved off campus because we didn’t want to be governed by the university. We are no longer paying the university to be our mother and father and tell us whether or not to dry up,” he said.

“If students are 21 and over, they have the right to drink. It’s inherent in the constitution and in city laws,” he said. “Just because off-campus students may not want to be alcohol free doesn’t mean they don’t want Veishea to be safe.”

Glanzer said he also wished GSB had been given more information regarding Veishea and the administration’s expectations for it.

“We are really in the dark about most of this. If you expect student groups to vote on behalf of thousands of students, you need to have more open communication lines, especially since Jischke and Veishea are counting on us to pass this and represent the students,” he said.

Burkhardt said the real issue is to make sure students act responsibly and to make sure senators appropriately represent their constituents.

Mike Pogge, LAS, wrote two of the three bills regarding Veishea.

“My bill basically says that the GSB supports an alcohol-free and safe Veishea, and we further say that we will continue this philosophy into the future unless we change our minds or come up with another resolution,” Pogge said. “It’s basically reaffirming last year’s resolution and saying this will be in effect forever.”

Burkhardt also said an alcohol-free Veishea will probably be permanent in the future.

“I think it would be difficult to envision Veishea continuing without it being dry, especially with the ultimatums placed on students by the administration,” he said.

“The greater problem I see is that we are concentrating so much energy and effort on one weekend, when we should be putting this much effort into making sure that our campus and students are safe and responsible every weekend,” he said.