Iowa State University will no longer host the VEISHEA student festival each spring due to years of disturbances and student injuries, school officials announced Thursday.
School President Steven Leath said the move to permanently discontinue the annual week-long celebration is because the event has turned into riots featuring significant numbers of arrests, injuries and property damage.
The annual tradition, which featured an annual parade and many open-house demonstrations of the university facilities and department, has been overshadowed by destruction and violence over the past three decades.
"I understand that it is very sad and disappointing to see this 92-year tradition come to an end, and there may be some who are upset with this decision, but I am not going to continue to put students at risk so that we can preserve what, to many, has become a week-long party," Leath said at a news conference. "I will not be the president who has to call a student's parents in the middle of the night to say your child has been critically injured in another VEISHEA-related disturbance."
Leath acted based on the recommendations of the 2014 VEISHEA Task Force.
Earlier this year, the school president suspended the 2014 festival in the aftermath of an April 8 late-night disturbance in Campustown. He appointed a task force, led by Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill, to examine the celebration's future. The task force submitted its final report and recommendations to the president on July 11.
"It's time to stop the cycle. We can't continue to do the same thing and expect a different result," Leath said of the decision.
The VEISHEA name will be retired. Some traditions associated with the event will likely continue, Leath said, such as a musical theater performance.
"I don't want this to, in any way, diminish all of the other extraordinary things we're doing every day, in every college, department and unit on campus," Leath said.
