Today I was buying some building plans at Copy Corner and noticed they had a huge banner inside towards the ceiling. It had the Aggie band, football team, yell leaders etc. in a montage. Also in the montage was one of the past few years' Bonfires.

Anyways I thought it was kind of cool that they put it in the banner, it seems like little stuff like that shows that it's become accepted back in to a slight degree.

A prof in class also mentioned something to the effect of "...maybe you had a busy semester your fish year, working on Bonfire or something."

Up until recently, the past 3 years at A&M I haven't heard much about SB in the general public, but it seems that's changed a bit and it's headed in a positive direction in this regard.

Attitudes have definitely changed since I was in school. Last year at Lechner's 20th anniversary reunion (a university-sponsored event!) they had photos from Cut in the slide show. I can't imagine that happening in '02 or '03.

went on a campus tour this afternoon with family friends (oldest is looking at A&M for next year). tour guide made mention of SB as the continuation of the tradition, talked about it for a while

Listening to General Weber speak in Austin a few months back, he also seemed to not-endorse-yet-endorse SB.

Seemed as if he realizes it's the best way to continue the tradition.

I hate to burst anyone's bubble here, but Crocker, Moore, and McInnis are being torn down next May. A huge part of the bonfire culture, at least the on-campus culture, will go with those dorms. The students won't be torn down with the dorms. But it will be sad to see the buildings go. Maybe Walton is next?..

EDIT: Sorry I just saw there was another post stating what I just said. Oh well, I guess I'll leave it up for conversational purposes...

[This message has been edited by dillonmhudson (edited 9/11/2010 7:49p).]

Edit: Take it to http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1676831&forum_id=14.

[This message has been edited by commando2004 (edited 10/6/2010 9:44p).]

I think people are a little more open about the potential of Student Bonfire now that the litigation is over. It's been nearly eleven years, and 8 of those will have seen some form of Burn--from the brush burn of Unity Project in 02, to this year's Burn in November. Most importantly, there have been a relatively low number of serious injuries, and people are learning that Bonfire CAN be erected in a reasonably safe fashion--routinely. Though 18 November 1999 will be something we carry with us as an Aggie Family (and even more deeply from the dorms with kids dead or injured), much like 11 September 2001, time is dulling the immediacy of the pain, and people are--in general--moving forward.

One thing to note is that it's fairly likely that University officials of any stripe were probably strongly "suggested" to remain mute or non-committal on Student Bonfire until the litigation settled. With lawyers involved, for the staff and faculty in favor of Bonfire, it was probably safest to remain quietly supportive rather than rock the boat too much before things were settled.

Student Bonfire got a mention in the Batt this week. And it was capitalized!

quote:

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I hate to burst anyone's bubble here, but Crocker, Moore, and McInnis are being torn down next May. A huge part of the bonfire culture, at least the on-campus culture, will go with those dorms. The students won't be torn down with the dorms. But it will be sad to see the buildings go. Maybe Walton is next?..

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While sad to see those dorms go, bonfire will survive.