Apparently Mr. Zeis (Daily, Apr. 24) (as well as many of the other greeks who’ve been e-mailing me to defend the system) is having some difficulty with reading comprehension. I placed the blame for the current state of Veishea squarely on the abuse of alcohol. The only group specifically criticized was the administration, who seemed, in its comments immediately following the murder, committed to avoiding responsibility for the “unofficial” Veishea tradition of drunken violence.

Look again at my suggestions. I did not isolate fraternities and sororities from other social groups. My call for a Veishea alcohol ban, and two of my three suggestions (a zero-tolerance alcohol enforcement policy and a stricter keg ordinance) will directly impact off-campus parties that are not as well-regulated as greek events tend to be.

Every comment I’ve read from professional law enforcement personnel has directly attributed this incident, and other acts of violence associated with Veishea, not to any one group, but to excessive use of alcohol.

I spent eight years with the Ames Police Department before returning to ISU for my graduate studies, and every death message I relayed to grieving parents involved in some manner the abuse of alcohol. Let’s stop being defensive about individual groups and start dealing with the problem: a culture of alcohol abuse that leads to violence.

Kel Munger

Graduate Student

English