Not only is Student Bonfire a "real" Bonfire, but I'd venture to say that in some aspects it's better than its on-campus predecessor.
We all learned, to our horror after the tragedy, that Aggie Bonfire had no set of blueprints and no reliable engineering supervision. Each year, they were building it from oral pass-down tradition. It was an accident waiting to happen. By contrast, Student Bonfire has a building plan (I've met the designer, an engineering graduate of A&M). It has on-site supervision. It's the same size every year, and is built the same way. It incorporates recommendations made by those who investigated the tragedy, e.g., the unstable, multi-tiered structure, which employed dangerous techniques such as "wedging" that degraded "hoop strength," has been replaced by logs that all touch the ground, a reasonable limit on height, and "Windle sticks," which are effectively four vertical supports that complement the stability afforded by center pole.
It is as safe as such a construction project can be. And that goes beyond engineering. Now, there is a culture of compliance with safety standards. There is zero tolerance for alcohol. Horseplay and hazing is verboten. Safety classes are mandatory, and those classes have real content.
The old Bonfire had cultural problems that made enemies for the tradition out of people who otherwise wouldn't care. Did you ever go to Old Bonfire and try to count the number of drunk spectators? What did you think of the sight of young men and women, drunk as a skunk and puking on themselves, being rounded up by the police for public intoxication? Of loud, drunken crowds roaming through the Southside neighborhoods after burn? Of cinders from burn drifting with the winds and landing on the roofs of houses? Of overzealous students waking fellow dorm residents at 6 a.m. on Saturdays, pounding on their doors and trying to pressure students who otherwise didn't give a damn about coming to cut or stack.
The week before the tragedy, the Battalion contained a short article about a clueless international student who cut through the perimeter early one morning, totally unaware that he was trodding on sacred ground, only to get beaten up by some overzealous "pot." Also, since the inception of Student Bonfire, I haven't heard a peep out of Hugh Wilson and his gang of eco-nerds. I guess his environmental activism didn't venture north toward the Robertson County line.
Yes, there are certainly shortfalls in the new tradition. I miss the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. It's not the same with piped- in music. I miss hearing Jackie or R.C., and the football team's seniors, exhorting the 12th Man to help them Beat the Hell Outta t.u. Somehow, a purple outhouse on top of the stack just isn't the same.
But, the tradition continues. It continues as best we can do it. Every year I bring my teenage daughter, Class of 2024, to see Student Bonfire. She wasn't yet born when stack fell. She seems to like it. In fact, she invites her high school classmates, and thus shares an Aggie tradition with others who otherwise would never be introduced to it.
