Despite the pledge for a dry Veishea, members of the celebration’s planning committee will not be recruiting high school students to come to Iowa State this year.

Tom Becker, group visits coordinator in the Office of Admissions, recently told Veishea Committee members they should have no contact with high school students.

Becker said he does not want prospective students to come to campus during Veishea only because of their preconceived notions about the celebration.

“There are stereotypes about Veishea. Whenever you bring up Veishea, there is always a snicker,” he said. “[People] think of it as a party. I think there’s still that perception out there.”

Becker said accessibility is another reason why high school students should not come to ISU for Veishea.

Since Veishea is a “huge event,” he said, “accessibility becomes difficult because of all of the activities on campus.”

He said prospective students should visit ISU on less busy days, when they can have full access to the campus.

Kathryn Whitaker, general co-chairwoman of the Veishea Committee, said a lot of changes in the goals of the committee have been made this year. “We’ve restructured the celebration as a whole,” she said.

“[The Veishea committee] wants to work on recruiting Iowa State students to Iowa State. [Veishea] still serves as a wonderful celebration for Iowa State,” Whitaker said. “We’ve chosen to recruit in a different way.”

She said when ISU President Martin Jischke announced his decision to make Veishea dry, the committee decided to concentrate more on alcohol education and offering alcohol-free activities.

“We’re focusing on how to control behavior. We’re working with [the Department of Public Safety] on controlling off-campus and on-campus areas,” Whitaker said.

She also said some strategies have been developed to make sure students are safe during the Veishea weekend.

Peer security has expanded this year to include the residence halls, as well as the greek system.

A party response team will also work to reduce risk during Veishea, Whitaker added.

The purpose of peer security and the party response team is to provide “friendly intervention” and to minimize the problem of alcohol, she said.

According to Whitaker, Becker’s order not to recruit high school students did not come as a surprise to the committee.

“We knew all along that we wouldn’t be recruiting high school students,” she said.

The committee will still be visiting Ames elementary schools to inform students of activities in which they can participate during Veishea.