Students, parents and alumni reacted to University President Robert M. Gates’ announcement Wednesday that Aggie Bonfire will not return to campus this fall with a mixture of disappointment and hope for next year.
Nancy Braus, whose son Dominic was injured in the Bonfire collapse, said litigation should not prevent the return of Bonfire.
Dominic Braus was a freshman when Bonfire fell, and is now a senior agricultural business major.
“I do not think that (litigation) is a valid reason,” Nancy Braus said. “Of course litigation is a factor, but if you look at the files, there’s always litigation against the University. Litigation doesn’t prevent football games.”
Braus said although she thinks the Bonfire Memorial planned for Fall 2004 is a worthy gesture, it does not adequately compensate families for the losses of those killed and injured in the collapse of Bonfire in 1999.
“My son is struggling to find money to stay in school and pay for medical bills, and they’re building an $8 million memorial,” she said.
Senior industrial engineering major Triwahyu Widodo’s roommate,Tim Kerlee Jr., was killed in the Bonfire collapse. Widodo said he wanted Bonfire to return.
“The accident didn’t change the way Tim’s parents feel about the tradition,” he said. “I want Bonfire to come back.”
Widodo said Bonfire’s abscence has left a hole in the A&M campus atmosphere.
“Without it, the Aggie spirit has changed,”�he said. “There’s something missing.”
Luke Cheatham, spokesman for the Unity Project, a student-led effort not affiliated with A&M that built an off-campus bonfire in November, said he was disappointed with Gates’ announcement.
“It’s the same thing year after year,” he said. “Clearly students have no voice. This needs to change.”
Ryan Kirkpatrick, co-chair of the Bonfire Coalition and Class of 1999, said there were mixed feelings among the members of the coalition.
The Bonfire Coalition presented facts about bonfires held across the country in a meeting with Gates earlier this month.
Kirkpatrick said he understands Gates’ hesitation in bringing back the 90-year-old tradition too soon.
“I think it’s a positive thing,” Kirpatrick said. “With the current budget constraints, it’s difficult to justify spending money on a bonfire.”
But Kirkpatrick, like other students, said he remains optimistic about the return of Bonfire.
“Just because it didn’t burn this year doesn’t mean it’s not going to burn next year,” he said. “In 2004, we are going to work with the administration to get Bonfire to burn again.”
Marc Barringer, Kirkpatrick’s co-chair on the coalition, agreed.
“I am disappointed with Gates’ decision, but happy that he didn’t permanently cancel Bonfire,” said Barringer, a former student of A&M. “There’s a good chance of it returning once the litigation is resolved.”