Bring in more police and fund it with arrests and tickets. A zero tolerance policy for alcohol and house parties would have taken care of this. But since the police preferred to just break up parties rather than make arrests it ended up getting bigger and bigger. Hold the owner of the property responsible for what happens. If the property is rented then go after the landlord. Right now, there are no consequences for someone to throw an out of control house party any time of the year, let alone VEISHEA.
Task Force Recommendation for VEISHEA
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
- Mar 27, 2006
- 42,744
- 33,765
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...or skip all that and just cancel VEISHEA. Anyone who misses the parade and exhibitions can go to the Boone County Fair. Win-win.
The riot in 2004 was blamed on the police being too strict the riot in 2014 is blamed on the police not being strict enough.
Let's all just admit that VEISHEA is tainted and the students and visitors have proven that they can't handle having the event in a responsible manner.
The idiots that participated and gathered around to watch the riots are the only ones to blame for VEISHEA being canceled.
Why couldn't they still have the parade and exhibitions and call that VEISHEA? That would probably get VEISHEA back to what it was supposed to be.
But the only reason that 2004 was blamed for the police being too strict is because they were so lenient other times. The show of force was completely put of the norm. If you put consequences in place year round to let students know that these sort of events are unacceptable then you can prevent the situation from getting out of control in the first place. The house parties that have ignited these riots would not be tolerated by many other communities.
I will continue to think things would go much better focusing on homecoming. Veishea is a problem because of the time of year. First warm weekend, long winter, and alcohol. Show me any Veishea riot that didn't include all three. Homecoming gets rid of two of the three risk factors.
- Mar 27, 2006
- 42,744
- 33,765
- 113
Because that name is tainted. VEISHEA means nothing but drunken partying and riots to too many people. Any event, no matter how small, going by the name of VEISHEA, is going to be associated with the event's past
Bingo.
There are consequences for your actions. We've had numerous chances to prove that Veishea means more to us than just getting hammered, acting like idiots, and vandalizing stuff.... and have failed time and time again.
Boone county fair a win-win? More like a lose-lose.
veishea will be back after a few years is my opinion.
So the first riot in a decade is time and time again? Not excusing the idiots, but that's an overstatement. I was up there that night and was embarrassed. I think taking it away for a few years will make students that didn't appreciate it enough, begin to understand. Similar to how in college homecoming tended to be a drunk binge but towards your senior year you realize more what homecoming means.
And they have tried virtually everything to try and stem the behavior and nothing has worked. They stopped cancelling class during VEISHEA week, they moved all of the events onto campus from campustown, they introduced cordoned off areas for the concerts after what's his face didn't perform (or barely performed). All of those changes happened within the past 20 years. At what point do you finally say "enough is enough" and just end it?
I'm not saying a lot of this stuff isn't ridiculous and it all should be preventable by the attendees not acting like this, but it's just sad to see it go down with out a fight. It's also sad to see some of you feel like it has no value for the university and could be easily replaced by the Boone county fair.
It's a great event to showcase the university and is worth fighting for. I've only got to go to one veishea as a non student to really see how much is out there for family and alums. My girlfriend who is a die hard hawk admitted that all our kids would end up cyclones after attending with me when she fought to the death they would be hawks (she's one that actually went to Iowa and attends sports).
If you think a lot of this isn't preventable or fixable, then I feel bad for you for giving up on thing so easily without trying new ideas. You all must be a joy to work with and full of ideas.
It's a great event to showcase the university and is worth fighting for. I've only got to go to one veishea as a non student to really see how much is out there for family and alums. My girlfriend who is a die hard hawk admitted that all our kids would end up cyclones after attending with me when she fought to the death they would be hawks (she's one that actually went to Iowa and attends sports).
If you think a lot of this isn't preventable or fixable, then I feel bad for you for giving up on thing so easily without trying new ideas. You all must be a joy to work with and full of ideas.
Yep. Nobody has ever tried something new to fix VEISHEA......
*Changed class schedule (no classes Thursday afternoon/Friday, no classes Friday, no cancellations).
*Changed dates (early May to early/mid-April).
*Changed locations of concerts and other events.
*Changed alcohol policies (the "Dry VEISHEA" of the late '90s and early '00s).
*Changed access to Welch (the Taste of VEISHEA "ped mall").
*Suspended the event for a year.
They've tried ideas. Every single one of them has been a miserable failure. No one wants to solve the problem...the recommendations thus far have just bandaged the symptoms.
More police? Why should Ames worry about funding something Iowa State is the problem?
Crack down? That pits students against the police. That isn't going to end well for either party.
Just do the parade and stuff? VEISHEA is associated with the parade. Has to go for at least a few years because otherwise whenever the parade happens will be recognized as the weekend to be an idiot.
You can't fix stupid. Stupid only gets dumber in crowds and even dumber with alcohol. The fight has been fought repeatedly and people keep giving reasons as to why someone needs to intervene.
More police? Why should Ames worry about funding something Iowa State is the problem?
Crack down? That pits students against the police. That isn't going to end well for either party.
Just do the parade and stuff? VEISHEA is associated with the parade. Has to go for at least a few years because otherwise whenever the parade happens will be recognized as the weekend to be an idiot.
You can't fix stupid. Stupid only gets dumber in crowds and even dumber with alcohol. The fight has been fought repeatedly and people keep giving reasons as to why someone needs to intervene.
Exactly. It's not without sadness that I see it end, but what else can be done? VEISHEA was a great celebration for a lot of years, but since the mid 80's it's really been more trouble than what it's been worth. Throw in we are in a much more litigious environment than what existed years ago and I can't blame the University for having to do this. I really believe President Leath hates making this decision, but he really doesn't have any more cards to play. This case against VEISHEA has been building for years.
Just an opinion.
Homecoming is boring. County fairs, state fairs, start iof football, start of bball. The football game overrides the rest of homecoming activities.
VEISHA was in a down time and was a wrapup for the school year.
Whatever they come up with will be less interesting, less attended, less of an experience.
Maybe someone will do some Woostock festival out in a farm for spring. Spring needs some foical point besides a single mickey mouse ice cream festival here and there.
As far as extra police, yes, eight cops for VEISHA was not enough for that evening. Where was their riot tank?
Because they all suck and barely do anything. People wanting to try something quickly without thought trying to put bandaids on things. Happens all the time in the corporate would with the exact same failure. Take 3 years off and make effective changed, not quickly hatched together reactionary ones.
Oh Ya, but giving up is easier, and these lame changes are all that could have been done. I could think of 10 changes that would create a better atmosphere for veishea of the top of my head.
But I'm bot going to argue with those happy to see it go. It's done and over with and those that like to give up have won as veishea is dead. Congrats. I'm wrong.
