COALITION REACTIONS MIXED ON GATES’ ANNOUNCEMENT

February 26, 2003

For immediate release

College Station, Texas-- Bonfire Coalition officials reacted with mixed feelings to the announcement by Texas A&M president Robert M. Gates Wednesday that there would be no Aggie Bonfire in the fall of 2003.

            “Naturally, we’re disappointed that this wonderful tradition will not return next fall,” said Coalition Co-chair Marc Barringer.  “This is bad news for Aggies who had hoped to build a Bonfire prior to graduation.”

            “However,” Barringer continued, “we are heartened that Dr. Gates did not cancel Bonfire permanently.  Because our president cited continuing litigation as the basis for his decision, we are hopeful that Bonfire can return to campus once the court cases are settled.”

            Coalition Co-chair Ryan Kirkpatrick found positive news in Gates’ designation of Nov. 18 as Bonfire Remembrance Day.  “That was one request in the five-point platform that we submitted to Dr. Gates in October,” Kirkpatrick said.  “Aggies everywhere can be assured that Bonfire will stay in the memory of our Texas A&M family.”  

            With that designation, three of the Coalition’s published goals have been fulfilled.  The second was accomplished in October, when a meeting with President Gates resulted in the enhanced care of the Bonfire memorial plaques planted on the edge of the Polo Fields where the 1999 tragedy occurred.

            On Feb. 11 of this year, the Coalition fulfilled a third goal when it presented Dr. Gates with the results of its nationwide survey of collegiate bonfires.  “Among the sixty universities we contacted, not one has suffered a bonfire-related death or serious injury,” said Coalition board member Dave Nelson.  “Other schools build bonfires safely and inexpensively, and so can Texas A&M.”  

Barringer said the Coalition, founded in February of 2002 shortly after outgoing A&M President Ray Bowen cancelled Bonfire 2002, would concentrate on a fourth point in its platform in the near future.

            “The University and local merchants are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year because of a perceived moratorium on sales of Bonfire-related merchandise,” Barringer said.  “In a depressed economy that poses continued challenges to the funding of higher education, it is hard to justify a loss of revenue from the sale of university licensed merchandise related to Bonfire.”

            Shortly after Bonfire fell in November 1999, Texas A&M took action to prevent unscrupulous entrepreneurs from profiting by sales of unauthorized bonfire merchandise.  “The time has come to lift that moratorium,” Kirkpatrick added.

            “Of course, most important of our goals is to see Aggie Bonfire return to campus where it belongs,” Barringer said.  “We will never give up on that.” 

            Barringer added that it would be important to reinstate Bonfire as an on-campus tradition in time for the 2004 football season, when the Aggies play the University of Texas in Austin.  Coalition research had demonstrated that the local economy received a one-half to one million dollar boost when Aggie Bonfire burns prior to an away football game.