President Loftin
on Sept 6:
Loftin also said he had no intention of considering bringing bonfire back to campus. Murano had settled the pending legal action surrounding the 1999 collapse that killed 12 Aggies and injured 27 others and had met with most of the families of the dead.
"I think it would take an extraordinarily large amount of interest on the part of our students here for us to get back to look at that again. ... I don't hear the students rising up and demanding it," he said. "To have it happen to you one time is something that you can get past. If you did it again, and it happened again, you have no way to excuse yourself."
Texas Monthly Senior Editor Pam Colloff, on Paul Burka's blog,
Sept 8:
During our conversation, the governor made an intriguing comment about the future of the tradition. “It’s really going to be interesting when Bonfire is reintroduced on the campus again, and it will be. I will not be surprised if it happens by 2011, maybe even 2010. I think Bonfire will be back on campus. The kids will have the experience again.”
How would Bonfire be brought back to campus, I asked the governor? “I’d leave that up to the board and the current administration to sit down and decide the safety parameters, the oversight, et cetera,” he said. “They are very capable men and women, and I trust their judgment.”
This whole Bonfire thing in the Eagle on 9/6 and Burka's blog on 9/8 is curious. So curious that something seems fishy. The Eagle story was odd in that the Bonfire issue was brought in at the very end out of the blue. At about the same time Perry is quoted about bringing Bonfire back.
ReplyDeleteIs this Loftin's attempt to boost his credibility and compensate for his second tier academic background by suggesting an image of independence from Perry? Is it Perry's real plan to keep Bonfire from coming back despite his words so that he can say he doesn't control TAMU?
Stay tuned for more on this burning issue.