Bonfire coming back?

19,746 Views | 259 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by WaltonAg18
Agthatbuilds
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Klbj saying the regents are discussing its return to campus.

Anyone know anything?
CDUB98
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Hell will freeze over first.
Agthatbuilds
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https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/09/texas-am-bonfire-tradition/
Ag_0112358132134
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CDUB98 said:

Hell will freeze over first.

Not really. There's no reason they can't bring it back and just take additional precautions, which is what they should have done in the first place.
cavjock88
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If true, I tend to agree with 98, but who knows? Stranger things have happened and we are playing t.u. again, so maybe some Ol' Ag. nostalgia is creeping into the BOR. I'd support it and certainly think you can bring it back and do it right, but the ability to insure is iffy at best, so handling the liability would be the biggest hurdle.
Rapier108
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cavjock88 said:

If true, I tend to agree with 98, but who knows? Stranger things have happened and we are playing t.u. again, so maybe some Ol' Ag. nostalgia is creeping into the BOR. I'd support it and certainly think you can bring it back and do it right, but the ability to insure is iffy at best,so handling the liability would be the biggest hurdle.
This was the #1 official reason they used to eliminate it after 1999.

In reality, they had wanted to eliminate it for a long time.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
nortex97
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Wouldn't that be a risk to the regents to vote to do it?
84AGEC
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Would have to limit size of the stack.
Agthatbuilds
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It appears it would be a contractor built stack, not student.
PA24
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Agthatbuilds said:

It appears it would be a contractor built stack, not student.
I don't think that is how it is suppose to work.
AggieDruggist89
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CDUB98 said:

Hell will freeze over first.


At the rate Libtards are fighting CO2, global cooling will freeze hell.
Ag13
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Bring it back and do it right. I'm glad this is being discussed.
Aggie Joe 93
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Agthatbuilds said:

It appears it would be a contractor built stack, not student.

Which is a non-starter for me. Let's do a bonfire to demonstrate our hired contractor's desire to beat t.u.?
Gigem314
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Agthatbuilds said:

It appears it would be a contractor built stack, not student.
That's the only way I ever see it returning to on-campus. Too much liability.
El Gallo Blanco
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Can you imagine the nationwide cries of "racism" from the media nowadays if we brought it back?

"The Dark Racist History of Bonfires"

"How Fire was Born as a White Tool for Oppression"

"Fire, and the Ku Klux Klan...and Texas A&M...All You Need to Know"

etc etc

So f'ing stupid...liberals
El Gallo Blanco
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Probably a stupid question from a non-engineer...but is there a way to let the students still do it, but have a contractor routinely test the integrity somehow, to help avoid what happened in 99? Or maybe have some type of extra layer of supervision?

Let's be honest, building such a huge tower of heavy logs can be extremely unsafe.
No Spin Ag
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Ag_0112358132134 said:

CDUB98 said:

Hell will freeze over first.

Not really. There's no reason they can't bring it back and just take additional precautions, which is what they should have done in the first place.
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance. Hippocrates
P.H. Dexippus
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Ag_0112358132134 said:

CDUB98 said:

Hell will freeze over first.

Not really. There's no reason they can't bring it back and just take additional precautions, which is what they should have done in the first place.
Completely false. As someone involved with leadership of Student Bonfire/Unity Project 2002, it was recognized from Day 1 that if Bonfire were to ever return to campus, it would only be a hollow shell of its former self due to the liability concerns.

It would not be student cut, student load, student stack, student lead. Which is the whole point of the endeavor. The pep rally at the end, Burn, is not what builds the comradery, leadership skills and memories. I would rather it stay off campus forever than come back just as another over-produced tradition exploited by the powers that be (see our football gameday experience).

FYI- if all you care about is the Burn, you can still see it each year just a short drive from campus. And it is worth the drive.
CDUB98
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El Gallo Blanco said:

Probably a stupid question from a non-engineer...but is there a way to let the students still do it, but have a contractor routinely test the integrity somehow, to help avoid what happened in 99? Or maybe have some type of extra layer of supervision?

Let's be honest, building such a huge tower of heavy logs can be extremely unsafe.
Student Bonfire has been doing it safely for years off campus. It can be done.

The problem with A&M trying is political nannying and insurance liability.
CDUB98
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Quote:

I would rather it stay off campus forever than come back just as another over-produced tradition exploited by powers that be (see our football gameday experience).
El Gallo Blanco
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CDUB98 said:

El Gallo Blanco said:

Probably a stupid question from a non-engineer...but is there a way to let the students still do it, but have a contractor routinely test the integrity somehow, to help avoid what happened in 99? Or maybe have some type of extra layer of supervision?

Let's be honest, building such a huge tower of heavy logs can be extremely unsafe.
Student Bonfire has been doing it safely for years off campus. It can be done.

The problem with A&M trying is political nannying and insurance liability.
Sorry, but that is not a big enough data set for those in charge imo. Another deadly accident would be a disaster. Saying "it hasn't happened in 24 years" won't be enough. It has to be virtually guaranteed that it won't happen again.

Also, is the off-site one just as big? It honestly looked like it from pics I've seen in recent years, but evey pic of the finished product that Isaw was pretty close up...genuinely curious.
1939
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P.H. Dexippus said:

Ag_0112358132134 said:

CDUB98 said:

Hell will freeze over first.

Not really. There's no reason they can't bring it back and just take additional precautions, which is what they should have done in the first place.
Completely false. As someone involved with leadership Student Bonfire/Unity Project 2002, it was recognized from Day 1 that if Bonfire were to ever return to campus, it would only be a hollow shell of its former self due to the liability concerns.

It would not be student cut, student load, student stack, student lead. Which is the whole point of the endeavor. The pep rally at the end, Burn, is not what builds the comradery, leadership skills and memories. I would rather it stay off campus forever than come back just as another over-produced tradition exploited by powers that be (see our football gameday experience).

FYI- if all you care about is the Burn, you can still see it each year just a short drive from campus.
I know you are a proponent of student bonfire off campus, but no matter how much you want it to be it isn't the same. I commend their efforts and keeping it alive on some form though.

I don't understand the liability. make the student sign a notarized waiver before they are allowed to work on cut and/or stack.
Agthatbuilds
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I dont think there's anyway it comes back as a student led event. It might very well come back as a novelty, a professionally built structure to stand around while it burns. Basically like new Kyle field. Clean, nice ,and sterile; pumped full of fake atmosphere, relegating the student to a sideshow instead of the engine that drives the atmosphere.


It's just not the same world anymore. America, and by extension, Texas A&M, is way too litigious, way too risk adverse, way too anti-social and way too distracted for this to happen in any way similar to what it was.

Yes, there's a relatively small group that continues it off to the side, but it will never be the campus bonding experience of yesterday.
fc2112
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So if there is an on campus, contractor built bonfire, does that kill the off campus one? Seems like it would.
Agthatbuilds
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Is the off campus one big enough to matter?
El Gallo Blanco
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CDUB98 said:

Quote:

I would rather it stay off campus forever than come back just as another over-produced tradition exploited by powers that be (see our football gameday experience).

Hate that I agree with this. I went to the 98 Bonfire with my cousin as a senior in HS and we were in awe. There was an awesome energy that filled the place. Other than him getting an MIP for an empty cup that still smelled like whiskey and coke that he had just started using as a dip cup, and the stack falling prematurely, it was an awesome time. Cops were like gestapo that night...hellbent on catching underage drinkers from what I remember.
P.H. Dexippus
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1939 said:

P.H. Dexippus said:

Ag_0112358132134 said:

CDUB98 said:

Hell will freeze over first.

Not really. There's no reason they can't bring it back and just take additional precautions, which is what they should have done in the first place.
Completely false. As someone involved with leadership Student Bonfire/Unity Project 2002, it was recognized from Day 1 that if Bonfire were to ever return to campus, it would only be a hollow shell of its former self due to the liability concerns.

It would not be student cut, student load, student stack, student lead. Which is the whole point of the endeavor. The pep rally at the end, Burn, is not what builds the comradery, leadership skills and memories. I would rather it stay off campus forever than come back just as another over-produced tradition exploited by powers that be (see our football gameday experience).

FYI- if all you care about is the Burn, you can still see it each year just a short drive from campus.
I know you are a proponent of student bonfire off campus, but no matter how much you want it to be it isn't the same. I commend their efforts and keeping it alive on some form though.

I don't understand the liability. make the student sign a notarized waiver before they are allowed to work on cut and/or stack.
No one is suggesting it "is the same". But the important parts are. And yes, you do not understand the liability situation if you think it can all be solved with some notarized waivers. And I practice general liability defense as a profession.
WBBQ74
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It got built safely for decades but the institutional memory was severely eroded and the basic design changed to something inherently unstable. It would have to be as follows for it to work again:

1. Bring back the teepee design and cap it off at 50' tall.
2. Reduce the rainbow pot assortment back to the original 5 redpots, i.e., the yell leaders.
3. Erect the centerpole the first week of November and that is all.
4. Open up the cut area on T-8 (T is day of game).
5. Build the stack starting on T-5, or the Fri night thu Sun night weekend prior to the game.
6. Only upperclassmen who have been thru rigorous training/apprenticeship allowed up on the stack.
7. No booze onsite.
8. Build back institutional memory on how it gets built, assign outfits/dorms specific subcomponent tasks and stick to them.

It can return but not as the grab(_,_) party that got kids killed in the middle of the night 10 days before it was to burn.
P.H. Dexippus
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Agthatbuilds said:

I dont think there's anyway it comes back as a student led event. It might very well come back as a novelty, professionally built structure to stand around while it burns. Basically like new Kyle field. Clean, nice and sterile pumped full of fake atmosphere, relegating the student to a sideshow instead of the engine that drives the atmosphere.


It's just not the same world anymore. America, and by extension, Texas A&M, is way too litigious, way too risk adverse, way too anti-social and way too distracted for this to happen in any way similar to what it was.

Yes, there's a relatively small group that continues it off to the side, but it will never be thr campus binding experience of yesterday.
Not only that, but in 1999, nearly all of the student body either lived on campus or had previously lived on campus. Bonfire was a dorm and outfit-driven organization. There was the Off Campus Aggies crew, but it was a minor aspect and even those folks often had roots back to the dorms.

Today, only a fraction of students have ever lived on campus. Many of the key Bonfire dorms have been torn down and the rest have been converted to co-ed. Dorm culture - what used to be the central social building block at A&M - is all but dead.
Agthatbuilds
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Crocker cocks, hard as rocks
TexasRebel
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Someone has never been to cut.
CDUB98
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TexasRebel said:

Someone has never been to cut.
He probably has, but you have to think about it. They were probably using rock hatchets back in his day.
TexasRebel
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CDUB98 said:

TexasRebel said:

Someone has never been to cut.
He probably has, but you have to think about it. They were probably using rock hatchets back in his day.


If they only had 3 days for Cut it's more like they had to use 3/5 of the student bodies.
TyHolden
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Let the border crossers build it. They hate Texas. And the US….
cecil77
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Aggie Joe 93 said:

Agthatbuilds said:

It appears it would be a contractor built stack, not student.

Which is a non-starter for me. Let's do a bonfire to demonstrate our hired contractor's desire to beat t.u.?
This. Only way it comes back to campus, so not worth even thinking about.
 
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