The Iowa State University administration is admitting that Veishea(d) (the “d” stands for Design, a college left out of the Veishea acronym) is not about promotion of the school, but a large celebration mostly centered around alcohol and partying.

Instead of turning their backs and pretending the problem does not exist, it is being confronted head on.

Well, it’s about time.

It’s great that Dr. Martin Jischke has attempted to come up with a plan to try to influence the outcome of events during Veishea(d).

Instead of running from the issue, he is opening himself up to a lot of criticism by suggesting the campus go alcohol free or drop Veishea(d).

I’m glad to see him confronting the alcohol issue, but the problems with Veishea(d) aren’t inherent in the celebration or the presence of alcohol.

The problem is the encouragement of binge drinking that permeates the weekend.

A serious drop in the number of people who binge drink during Veishea has to be the realistic goal of reforms for the event, not the elimination of all alcohol.

An increased number of people will still probably get completely slobbering drunk during the weekend.

It’s only logical since every weekend there are always some people who consume mass amounts of alcohol, and there will be more people in Ames during Veishea(d) weekend.

But reforms are worthwhile.

Here’s a plan that will go a long way toward achieving the goal of less binge drinking during Veishea(d), and possibly other times as well.

First, the greek system needs to show their leadership. If the houses aren’t already dry, they should be for Veishea(d).

Someone said that if the greek houses were all dry, then there would be more people driving drunk to get back to the houses.

This is where the greek system can show their leadership by organizing some sort of designated-driver program for themselves to show their sense of community that is so often talked about.

It would help their community, and possibly the greater community as a whole.

Another reason to dry out the greek houses: it will deter at least some of the underage fraternity and sorority members who would normally be in the proximity of alcohol just because of where they live.

Maybe some of the people aged 21 and over will decide it’s just too much effort to go to the bar.

Maybe the greek system should also consider dissolving such practices as “Thirsty Thursday,” which encourages underage drinking and binge drinking.

Greek community reforms would affect close to half the campus.

That’s somewhere around 10,000 people. If the members of the greek system encouraged responsible drinking, God only knows how much better off the campus would be.

For the rest of the Ames community, the problem is less easy to solve. A good portion of the population is from out of town or not living on campus.

A quick fix would be to sell wrist bands on Welch worth four drinks at $10 a band.

The only way to get drinks in bars would be with the wrist band. For every alcoholic beverage served (no pitchers), the band gets punched.

When it is used up, the patron buys another band. All wrist band proceeds go toward running the Veishea(d) drunk tank, where those who have had too much can be taken to dry out.

It pays for itself and slows down the consumption of alcohol.

And, to repeat what has been said many times before, no special alcohol deals during Veishea(d) from retailers or bars.

These actions by the whole ISU and Ames communities to encourage responsible drinking could change the weekend from “Veishea: The Major Party Weekend Where People Get Drooling Drunk” into “Veishea(d): The Showcase of Iowa State University” — with some partying on the side.

---

Tyler Teske is a senior in journalism and mass communication.