Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | summer 2006

SUMMER 2006
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Cover Story:
Go the Distance

Feature Story:
Viva la VEISHEA!

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APPRECIATING THE TRUE VALUE OF OUR 'ONE COMMUNITY'

It is often said that you don’t really appreciate the value of something until you lose it – or almost lose it. That certainly describes our experience with VEISHEA over the past two years.

We are truly blessed in Ames, because we have one of the best “town and gown” relationships of any university community in the nation. Ames has grown as Iowa State has grown, and Iowa State has been able to grow because of the wonderfully supportive community in which it exists. This is a symbiotic relationship of the best kind.

Visible examples of the benefits of this great relationship today include the Cy-Ride bus system, the Ames/ISU Ice Arena, and our ability – as one community – to host such important events as the Iowa Special Olympics Summer Games, the Iowa Games, and, this summer, the first-ever National Special Olympic Games, as well as Odyssey of the Mind World Finals and Destination Imagination. In addition, such wonderful university facilities and programs as the Reiman Gardens, University Museums, and Season at Stephens are significantly enhanced and expanded thanks to the very strong support they receive from community volunteers.

Since 1922, VEISHEA had been one of the centerpieces of the Ames/ISU “town and gown” relationship. Beginning in the late 1980s, however, growing problems with activities surrounding VEISHEA – not VEISHEA itself – began diverting attention away from the positive aspects of VEISHEA and its original purpose of showcasing the university, and created dangerous situations for students, visitors, community residents, and others. Then, in 2004, as a result of continuing and escalating problems, I suspended VEISHEA. It was time to step back and take a very serious and comprehensive look at the problems that had developed around VEISHEA, and, more importantly, the underlying causes for those problems.

It took a year, and the work of many university and community people on two groups – ISU students, faculty and staff, Ames residents, the business community, and university and city leaders – but it was well worth the effort. What we accomplished through that joint “town and gown” effort not only saved VEISHEA, it resulted in a series of recommendations and actions that address the differences and tensions that naturally exist between students and community residents, and which will serve to strengthen this “town and gown” relationship we value so highly.

One of the key recommendations from the Commission on Community Relations was to embrace “One Community” as our goal and ideal. In many ways, Ames and Iowa State have always been “one community” in spirit, but officially identifying it as an ideal, and adopting many of the excellent recommendations of the One Community Implementation Committee, have made an important statement about our intentions and our priorities. “One Community” has become the focal point of our “town and gown” relationship, and a beautiful mural, designed and installed at the entry to the College of Design last fall by our design students, now stands as a symbol and reminder of the importance of this ideal to Ames and to Iowa State University.

I am especially proud of the role that our students have taken in all of these efforts – from understanding why it was necessary to suspend VEISHEA to their active participation in studying the problems associated with VEISHEA, in their relationship with Ames residents, and especially for their tremendous efforts in developing a plan to save VEISHEA and then to organize one of the best VEISHEA celebrations ever this past April. This was the most important VEISHEA in the 84-year history of this tradition, and our students proved that they were up to the challenge.

I also want to thank the many faculty and staff, Ames residents and ISU alumni and friends who attended and participated in VEISHEA this year. You and our students helped make VEISHEA 2006 a celebration to remember – for all the right reasons!

About the Writer | Gregory L. Geoffroy is the president of Iowa State University.