The votes are in, and the Veishea pledge will once again be the umbrella under which we will all be partying like it’s 1899…. Oh, joy.

Last year’s Veishea was about as much fun as going to Octoberfest with no money during a law-enforcement convention right after having your wisdom teeth pulled out.

“The largest student-run celebration in the United States” is no longer student-run. It is merely student organized.

Ultimate control has been ceded to the administration. Iowa State and the city of Ames don’t even need students for anything more than window dressing to maintain the illusion that Veishea is a happy student festival. Well, it isn’t.

Our beloved tradition has been reduced to a martial law, forced-smile pantomime that isn’t fun.

Instead of encouraging the people of Iowa to come and share in the university they support with their tax dollars, the dictate is to celebrate the “ISU family.”

We couldn’t be more unfriendly without walling off the town and posting guards to check papers for the weekend, could we?

The issue is not so much whether or not Veishea should continue as it has for 76 years. The issue is whether or not it should be kept limping along on life-support because Veishea is dead.

Why? Because students leave town, special rules of questionable legality and ethics have to be enacted. In addition to every available law-enforcement officer being brought in, students are deputized as “peer security.”

Today’s Veishea is not a return to the celebration of the past. It is a far cry from the kinder, gentler days when people were pure and good and interested in wholesome, milk-fed fun.

Our festival is nothing more than a forum for the greek system to participate in. The average student feels about as welcome at greek events as ants at a picnic. We need something the average student can get into enthusiastically.

The only other reason to keep this charade going is for the university and the city to keep the annual money-train rolling in.

If every year is going to be a tense re-enactment of this game of “will they or won’t they take the pledge?” just to pretend to have fun, then maybe we should just admit that Veishea is ALREADY dead.

If this year is as bad as last year, then we just need to mercifully put Veishea out of its misery.