Corn contest canned, called gluttonous

Is it possible to eat too much corn in Iowa? A University of Iowa official thinks so. U of I Vice President for Student Services Philip Jones canceled a corn-on-the-cob eating contest scheduled for today as part of the "Beat State Week" celebration leading up to the Iowa-Iowa State football game because the corn contest "encourages gluttony," he said. "I don't know that anyone can say that's a healthy concept," Jones said of the event planned by the U of I Alumni Association. Jones asked his staff to veto eating contests to support new health-conscious initiatives on campus, he said. The corn-on-the-cob contest is not the first to hit the compost pile; a hot dog eating contest planned by the residence halls was also trashed. Shaun Fraise, an organizer of the Sweet Corn Festival in West Point, Ia., said she doesn't think a corn-eating contest promotes gluttony. "It's basically for pure entertainment, that's why we do it," she said.