VEISHEA 2008

In case you didn't know, I'm an undergraduate at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. I'm in my senior year and getting around to graduating by the end of this calendar year. Each year, Iowa State has an annual celebration known as VEISHEA, to celebrate the various colleges of Iowa State. In short, it is a student-run college festival. VEISHEA was cancelled for 2005 after riots took place in 2004. However, it returned in 2006 and was a major success. I had a lot of fun because it was my first VEISHEA, and I took the liberty of filming the various activities that occurred during the week. I participated in the free lunches, the rides, the street vendors. But the most fun I had was when they played live music, and I vividly remember seeing for the first time, college students pit moshing to the rock music while under the influence of alcohol. First, I was disgusted, but then I realized that they were just having harmless fun. It was an interesting spectacle to watch.

The following year, I attended VEISHEA again, but this time around I was 21 years of age, so I took the liberty to get myself intoxicated. I spent most of Friday and Saturday hanging around with old friends that I hadn't seen in a while, and we cooked some hot dogs and barbecue pork, while working on a 30 pack of beer. That year, it was particularly warm and nice outside. My friends and I attended the live music that was part of VEISHEA. By the time I went there, I had stopped drinking and felt good enough to stand on my own feet. This VEISHEA saw a huge turnout. An estimated 12,000 people came from all around Iowa to see the headliner Mike Jones perform, although he did a miserable job. He showed up 45 minutes late and only played for about ~30 minutes, sampling his tracks for a minute or less, and spending the majority of the time lecturing the crowd on how to sing along. Too bad the crowd isn't really into his music.

But with all the background info aside, let's get to the subject of this blog post: VEISHEA 2008. It sucked. Pardon my incomplete sentences, but I am trying to exaggerate the effect of that statement. VEISHEA 2008 sucked.

Why did it suck?

1. Bad Weather: this is the main culprit (also a convenient scapegoat for the VEISHEA organizers). Most of the week saw overcast skies with cold weather (close to zero degrees Celsius). Particularly on Friday and Saturday, it rained and snowed. That's right, it snowed. Some people attribute this to the fact that VEISHEA 2008 was held on the first full week of April this year (VEISHEA was held on the third full week on April of 2007). It is not uncommon for a last-minute blizzard to sweep through Iowa during the last week of March, or first week of April. Hats off to the VEISHEA committee for moving the festival closer to winter. Even better, they are talking about moving it up another week for 2009. Brilliant!

2. Wristband Policy: somehow the huge turnout of 12,000 people last year had sent the Iowa State University Department of Public Safety running for tighter rules. Or maybe it wasn't the DPS, but the University Administration, or whatever. Some moron decided that it would be a good idea to close off the free live music to the general public, restricting it to a closed fenced-off venue, where they could sell wristbands that would guarantee admission into the venue. While I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to that, they instituted two wrongs here: Only Iowa State students/alumni can purchase one wristband. Wait? What about my friends from high school? Oh too bad, they have no affiliation or interest in Iowa State University. They aren't entitled to admission. WHAT THE FLYING @($*%! Even better, they would only sell 7,000 wristbands. Further, they would move the music to a smaller venue so as to fence it off and maintain tight control over the event. Nevermind that 12,000 people came to see Mike Jones the previous year. They said that after a few days of selling wristbands, they would sell one additional wristband per student if they had any leftover. That wasn't good enough. I was actually looking to invite my sister, and his boyfriend (who will be an incoming freshman next year) to the celebration. But scratch that, they aren't Iowa State students. This policy actually caused a firestorm. Overnight a Facebook group popped up, and over 10,000 people joined it in a heartbeat. There was even threats of riots being planned, which caught the attention of the Des Moines Register.

3. Wristband policy. Wait, I already covered this, but this fiasco has made me feel completely disenchanted at a lot of players who were behind this crap:

a. Iowa State University Administration - I am not sure what role they played generally, but no doubt there are a few individuals who used their "iron fist" powers to apply some top-down pressure on the other players.

b. Iowa State University Department of Public Safety - I suspect they are the culprits. The previous year, they wrote close to one hundred citations for underage possession of alcohol at VEISHEA 2007. I think they would be happy to have written so many citations and bring in a ton of fine revenue for the State. Oh, and there weren't any angry mobs. Mikes Jones did show up a little late, but 2007 didn't see any burning trash cans or broken windows. But I must be mistaken. Apparently DPS was shitting their pants when the time came to discuss VEISHEA 2008. Moving the live music to a smaller (and controlled) fenced-off venue sounds like a wish list item that DPS would want. Limiting attendance to a fraction of the student population would provide for officers to maintain proper control. With the entrance at one place, they would strip search all people entering and confiscate any contraband, as well as identify people who are intoxicated so that they could throw them in the clink.

c. VEISHEA committee - Okay, so maybe they were given an ultimatum by the administration to carry out this policy. However, they essentially became a mouthpiece for the University. The policy "will not be revisited." 10,000 angry e-mails and they won't budge. Passing the buck must be pretty convenient, eh?


Either way, many people pledged to boycott VEISHEA this year. Buying a wristband would basically validate their policy, which is what many students did not want to do. In the end, the VEISHEA committee allegedly sold close to 3,000 wristbands. However, a less-biased source (i.e. Des Moines Register) reported 2,000 wristbands sold. The boycott worked for the most part. They didn't sell anywhere near their limit. It is also alleged that only 350-450 people attended the headliner band, EVE 6. But if we listened to the VEISHEA committee and the student paper, we would believe that the weather was the reason why attendance was so low. Another convenient scapegoat, eh? It's funny how fast they can spin the facts just to boost their P.R.

It doesn't change the general consensus that this year's VEISHEA was a complete failure.

edit: I endorse this letter, pretty powerful evidence to show that there was something awry with moving up the VEISHEA celebration.