There are two Veishea celebrations now, say members of Iowa State’s Veishea Advisory Council.

There is the formal, daytime Veishea that showcases Iowa State. For that celebration, ISU students spend all year planning. And then there’s the informal Veishea that takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This one’s exponentially more dangerous and fraught with alcohol abuse, officials said.

“Veishea is synonymous with alcohol use,” said Loras Jaeger, director of the ISU Department of Public Safety.

The advisory council met for the first time Tuesday. There was an apparent consensus to keep the 75-year-old Veishea tradition, but in light of the April 20 murder of Uri Sellers, council members said something needs to be done about Veishea’s alcohol abuse. The council took no formal action.

More than 500 alcohol citations or arrests were reported in the Ames area over the extended Veishea weekend. And Sellers was killed because he, and others, were trying to prevent two Fort Dodge men from entering a party at Adelante Fraternity, police have said.

The council is made up of representatives from DPS, the Ames Police Department, Ames businesses, Iowa State alumni and student Veishea officials. The committee met to discuss the future of Veishea after a request by ISU President Martin Jischke to speed up the annual review of the celebration.

Council members were each given a copy of an article that appeared in Tuesday’s Des Moines Register in which Sgt. Jim Steffen of the Iowa City Police Department made reference to Veishea.

Steffen told The Register that a University of Iowa block party, held last weekend, led to extensive property damage, two fires and multiple assaults on police officers. The article quoted Steffen as saying that the annual party, “has to be stopped from getting as out of control as Iowa State University’s Veishea has been in some recent years.”

Concern over Veishea’s reputation and Sellers’ murder led to renewed calls this year to cancel Veishea.

That suggestion didn’t carry much weight at the meeting. “No one wants to see Veishea go away,” said Dan Robinson, interim vice president for student affairs and council chairman. Robinson added that something needs to be done about Veishea’s alcohol problem.

There were 159 citations or arrests reported by DPS over Veishea. There were 410 citations or arrests reported by Ames police.

Of the 159 DPS charges, all but 11 were alcohol related. Ames police charges were also primarily alcohol related. Most occurred in the “greek system area,” said Ames Police Chief Dennis Ballantine.

Most of those ticketed or arrested by DPS and Ames police were not ISU students.

However, Ballantine said that when people invite visitors to Ames for Veishea, they have to assume some responsibility.

Veishea also places an added burden on hospital emergency services. Officials said there were 60 to 70 alcohol-related contacts in local emergency rooms over Veishea and at least two people were admitted for an extended period of time for alcohol-related problems.

Jaeger said if students want to keep Veishea they have to take ownership of the unofficial celebration and make an effort to curtail alcohol abuse.

He said residence halls and greek houses should ban alcohol during Veishea weekend, the Iowa State Daily and The Daily Tribune should not run alcohol advertisements and alcohol distributors should curtail sales.

The need to develop some sort of alcohol management program was also discussed.

“I think it’s something that we can work on. We can manage and we can’t give up on Veishea without trying,” said Rob Wiese, president of the Government of the Student Body.

The advisory council has been asked by Jischke to make its recommendation to him by the end of the semester so he can make a final decision on Veishea’s future.

The council is now seeking feedback from other sources. Robinson said he would like to get in touch with groups such as the ISU Alumni Association, the Faculty Senate, GSB and the Parents Association for feedback. He said he would also like to set up an on-line system for feedback.

The next meeting of the council is tentatively set for Wednesday, May 7 at 3:30 p.m. in the Oak Room of the Memorial Union.