IT’S A LAUGH RIOT, ONLY WITHOUT THE LAUGHING

Iowa State University has suspended its annual VEISHEA celebration for one year following boozy riots at this year’s celebration. The move goes against the wishes of students (obviously) and, surprisingly, the Ames business community, which appears to view the violence and vandalism as part of doing business.

In the last seventeen years, VEISHEA has erupted into mob violence five times. A 1997 fatal stabbing led to a ban on alcohol during the celebration. This year’s rioting resulted in $100,000 in property damage. (The rioting was touched off when an off-campus party was broken up; after students failed to move quickly enough, the Ames police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.)

VEISHEA is the nation’s largest student-run, alcohol-free celebration. It dates back to 1922. Its survival beyond 2006 will require a (relatively) trouble-free event that year.

College students drink. Even at Bible colleges. But something’s changed, even since I was in school ten years ago. In the early 90s, there was a sense that drinking was something you did to blow off steam–it was a bit of controlled naughtiness that helped you forget the hassles of academia.

It seems that now college students treat the Friday night drunk as a divine right, something no one should be allowed to limit or even (gasp! ) take away. But in any college town, if the students don’t police themselves, the cops will be more than happy to do it for them. The students at my alma mater found this out the hard way last fall. The students at ISU learned it this spring. A little self-control, a little put-down-the-fifteenth-beer, and a little turn-down-the-music-at-3-AM make the difference between a pastime and a problem. And those who don’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it.