(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s cleared an Iowa House subcommittee would have the board that governs the state universities study whether a springtime event at Iowa State University should be revived. The annual VEISHEA celebration began in April of 1922 and featured parades and events in each of I-S-U’s colleges. Off-campus riots between 1988 and 2014 prompted Iowa State officials to permanently cancel VEISHEA.

Representative Ross Wilburn, a Democrat from Ames, says one year, the rioting started because bars in Ames ran out of beer. “Under the influence of alcohol, riots have ranged from 1000 up to 5000 and 8000 people,” Wilburn says. During VEISHEA in 1997, a man who was not a student was stabbed to death during an off-campus fight and in 2012 another out-of-town visitor died at an off-campus party.

In 2014, rioters near the I-S-U campus flipped over two cars, damaged businesses and climbed up street signs and light poles. A man hit in the head by a falling pole was flown to a Des Moines hospital for treatment.

Republican Representative Taylor Collins of Mediapolis, chair of the House Higher Education Committee, is sponsoring the bill that calls for a study of whether it would be practical and beneficial to restart VEISHEA celebrations, but Collins did not attend the subcommittee hearing. Collins is an Iowa State graduate.