Inside Iowa State

January 28, 2005

Veishea town hall meeting set for March 7

ISU students, faculty, staff and City of Ames officials are taking positive steps to improve community relations, following the November release of two comprehensive Veishea reports.

Recommendations in those reports were the culmination of months of study and public meetings by the Task Force on Assuring Successful Veishea and Other Student/Community Celebrations, and the Commission on Improving Relations Among ISU Students, the University, the City of Ames and the Ames Community. The groups were assembled in the wake of last spring's Veishea disturbances.

Catherine Woteki, College of Agriculture dean, chaired the Veishea task force. Laura Bestler-Wilcox, assistant director of the Memorial Union; Bob Kindred, Ames assistant city manager; and Will Rock, Government of the Student Body vice president, chaired the commission. The groups' reports are available online at http://www.iastate.edu/news/04/veishea/.

Now, as President Gregory Geoffroy prepares to make a decision about Veishea's future, another committee will focus on implementing some of the recommendations outlined in the reports. That committee will be led by Kindred and Tahira Hira, assistant to the president. Other members will be announced soon.

Also, dean of students Pete Englin, vice president for student affairs Tom Hill, Ames mayor Ted Tedesco and ISU Alumni Association president (and immediate past-president of the Ames Chamber of Commerce) Jeff Johnson are meeting with key community and student groups to discuss the value of a successful spring celebration and their commitment to such an event.

Johnson will moderate a public "town hall" meeting at 7 p.m. March 7 in the Memorial Union Sun Room to obtain further input on the issue prior to Geoffroy's decision in the spring.

A "Town Hall" meeting will be held at 7 p.m. March 7 in the Memorial Union Sun Room to obtain further input on Veishea prior to President Gregory Geoffroy's decision this spring about the celebration's future.