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Seven years after then-A&M University President Ray Bowen made the heartbreaking decision to indefinitely suspend Aggie Bonfire, the issue appears to be back on the table.
Current A&M President Elsa Murano announced last month that she intended to spend the next few months initiating a dialogue about the possibility of returning the beloved tradition to campus.
The news came the same day Texas A&M settled lawsuits stemming from the deadly 1999 bonfire collapse, which killed 12 and injured 27 when the 2 million-pound stack of logs toppled shortly before it was set to burn. In a statement about the $2.1 million settlement with families of those who were injured or killed in the collapse, Murano said no decision would be made until she had finished gathering information and reviewing the history of the event.
Murano declined an interview request by The Eagle last week.
"This is a complex issue that must be closely examined, but we are not working under a specific timeline, particularly since the settlement was just reached not even a week ago," A&M spokesman Jason Cook said last week.
Aggie Bonfire hasn't been ignited on the A&M campus since 1998. The university-sanctioned bonfire was banned from campus after the tragic collapse the following year. Rogue bonfires burned off campus in subsequent years, but it wasn't until 2002 that Texas A&M students came together to launch what now is called Student Bonfire.
Set to burn Nov. 22 in Robertson County, Student Bonfire is not sanctioned by Texas A&M and does not have a spotless safety record. On Nov. 2, a Texas A&M student was airlifted from Robertson County to St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan after fracturing his leg while at Cut, which is the process of cutting down logs that will be used to build the bonfire.
Student Bonfire organizers would not release further information about the student or his condition, but university administrators said the Aggie was recovering and hoped to resume class work this week.
Though Student Bonfire is off campus and outside the purview of Texas A&M, Vice President for Student Affairs Lt. Gen. Joseph Weber said he had checked on the student -- who he said suffered a "pretty severe broken leg" -- and was concerned about the accident.
"I will tell you, I personally still feel very responsible for the health, safety and welfare of all our students, no matter where they are," Weber said. "We work hard here every day to try and mentor them to get them to think about whatever they do -- whether it's driving, drinking or working on a non-sanctioned, off-campus activity.
Weber, a member of the Texas A&M Class of 1972 and a former classmate of Gov. Rick Perry, declined to say whether he believed the tradition should return to campus. Weber was hired in August to replace Dean Bresciani, who abruptly resigned in July after serving four years in the post.
"I am an administrator here. I support very much wholeheartedly President Murano, and it will be a difficult decision that we're going to have to help her make," Weber said. "But she'll make the right decision."
Rehashing the past
Nine years after the deadliest accident in Texas A&M history, the idea of bringing bonfire back to campus is controversial. Current and former students, university administrators and community members are divided on the issue.
An extensive investigation was launched following the collapse, and a subsequent report blamed faulty construction techniques and generations of administrators who had allowed the tradition to become dangerous and inadequately supervised.
Despite the findings, A&M officials pressed forward, trying to find a way to bring the tradition back to campus while making it "forever safe."
In 2000, Bowen banned the practice of cutting trees for bonfire stacks. He also ordered a professional design and formal training for all involved. But in 2002, after an exhaustive review, Bowen announced that the tradition simply would no longer be feasible as a student activity.
Last week, Bowen, an A&M graduate who led the university for eight years before stepping down in 2002, reiterated his findings.
Bringing the tradition back in its revamped form would have cost several million dollars, Bowen said. And even if A&M had the money at the time, there was no guarantee that the university could obtain insurance for the project.
The only way to safely bring back the structure to campus was to have it professionally done, he said. And students at the time -- as well as Bowen himself -- were opposed to such an option. Bowen said last week that he remained opposed to the concept of a professionally constructed bonfire.
"We wanted the bonfire back. We tried very hard. We went into a detailed analysis and looked at every aspect of it. Our conclusion was we could not bring it back as a student activity," said Bowen, who remains at A&M as an engineering professor. "I think if they go through the same kind of analysis today, they'll reach the same conclusion."
Bowen suggested that administrators take the pulse of current students before making a decision. After the 1999 collapse, students wanted to continue with the wedding-cake structure. But the Aggie Bonfire that was begun nearly a century ago was a trash heap -- a version of the tradition that still could be student-led, the former president said.
"I hope they don't embark on it," Bowen said, suggesting that students instead get involved in projects such as Big Event and Habitat for Humanity that would benefit people on a larger scale. "I would like to see them devote their energy there. But for some reason, they don't ask me anymore."
A continued evolution
The pulse of the student body may, in fact, be changing. Many undergraduates likely haven't seen Aggie Bonfire burn on campus, and they almost certainly never volunteered at Cut or Stack. For some, the only experience with the tradition is the off-campus Student Bonfire.
And when they talk of the subject, they speak only of bonfire. Not Aggie Bonfire versus Student Bonfire or on-campus versus off-campus.
Even the Bonfire Coalition -- a recognized student group created in 2002 and dedicated to bringing bonfire back to campus -- became inactive this year due to a decline in membership.
Senior Erik Gnaedinger, a former leader of the organization, said he believed Murano would come to a conclusion about Aggie Bonfire after consulting with the vice president for student affairs, Vice President for Facilities Chuck Sippial and the 12th Man Foundation. But because the Bonfire Coalition is without an active roster this year, the organization likely won't play a role in those talks, Gnaedinger said.
"It's been a sad thing," Gnaedinger said, discussing the timing. "But it's something that was decided on by lack of participation, not by efforts of the administration of the organization."
Gnaedinger said the Bonfire Coalition, at its largest, had about 85 members, but that number steadily declined over the past four to five years, dropping to just 15 active members last year. Had the organization remained active this year, it would have had seven or eight members, he said.
"The biggest reason, I think, is no one has been allowed to really make many comments on bonfire," Gnaedinger said, explaining that many students assumed that the return of the tradition to campus simply wasn't an option or that they didn't have a say in the matter. "The waiting game beat out the desire."
Gnaedinger said he believed bonfire could be returned to campus safely. And if given the chance to speak out, he said, many students would say the same thing.
"We have a lot of former-student support and a lot of current students who want to be active but don't feel like it's their decision. They feel like the decision lies in the hands of Dr. Murano and the Board of Regents," Gnaedinger said. "They feel like they don't get to vote on it, they don't get an open forum on it. I think that's a big problem. If you allow students to voice their opinions, they'll have a pretty strong cry for bonfire to come back."
ON THE WEB
Student Bonfire is set to burn Nov. 22 in Robertson County. For more information, go to studentbonfire.com.
For more information about the Bonfire Coalition, go to www.bonfire-coalition.com.
