Saturday’s postgame “celebration” of the Cyclones’ victory against Baylor has raised some serious issues about the safety of patrons at Iowa State football games. If people cannot enjoy a good football game without taking to the field in a violent victory celebration, I think it’s time to reassess our priorities here at ISU.

It wasn’t the first time Cyclone fans have attacked the goal post after a game and it probably won’t be the last. It was only by a stroke of luck that nobody was seriously injured after the game.

Next year we might not be so lucky. Do we really desire football victories dearly enough to jeopardize the safety of people who come merely to enjoy the games?

This type of frenzied celebration also sends out a bad message about this school and gives Cyclone football a bad reputation.

It is becoming obvious to everyone in the state of Iowa that if you want to raise hell, you come to a Cyclone game.

Is this the message we want to send out to the public? Shouldn’t the games be fun for everybody? Shouldn’t you be able to attend a game without fearing for your safety?

Security measures were apparently inadequate. Images garnered from the event and displayed in an Iowa State Daily pictorial on Oct. 27 depicted throngs of raging fans, but too few members of the police force to contain them.

Their crowd control tactics seemed drastic, although completely logical. Certain fans were singling out and pummeled. This would have deterred almost any sane person from storming the field, but there simply wasn’t enough pummeling to quell such a rampage as last Saturday’s.

It is difficult to assess whether or not the destruction last weekend was made worse by the fact that it was the Homecoming game.

Homecoming hasn’t always ended in violence, but it did this year and it is becoming painfully obvious that we need to make a stand against the mob mentality that has become so prevalent at ISU in recent years.

It would be ridiculous to ask our football team to throw a game just to preserve the safety of the fans. What would be the point in going to the games?

I can only think of one reasonable option to end the violent tendencies of Cyclone fans and to restore the good.

By joining together in this pledge, we can send a positive message to the community about our school. We would be saying that we want to have a good time but without any risk.

As an alternative form of entertainment, may I suggest a school-wide tournament of chess or hopscotch. The possibilities are limitless. We could even hold these competitions at the stadium to keep in the spirit of Homecoming.

However you look at the situation, we need to do something about this problem and we need to do it now. I can only hope that others agree with this sentiment and will make the pledge for a football-free Homecoming.

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Terry Welsh

Graduate student

Computer engineering