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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2000)
MONDAY March 27, 2000 Volume 106 ~ Issue 115 10 pages fr Him m i w ^ ;wiii &M officials knew of Bonfire safety risks AUSTIN (AP) — Documents released by exas A&M University during the ongoing in- estigation of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse at killed 12 people show a tradition that has leen plagued over the last 40 years by uncor ded safety risks, the A us tin A merican-States- reported for its Sunday edition. Ineffective oversight by University officials at least partly to blame, the story said. Official action to deal with safety issues of- n was short-lived and poorly enforced, some- mes because of fear that changes to the [evered tradition would upset students and Jumni, the newspaper said. The four-tier tower of logs collapsed Nov. 8, killing 11 students and one former student ,nd injuring 27 others. A five-member com mission appointed by the University to inves tigate the collapse is expected to release its re port in early May. University officials declined to discuss the bonfire, citing the ongoing investigation, the newspaper said. Retired A&M professor Bill Stout co chaired a 1990 committee that recommended shrinking the bonlire. “In my personal opinion, if they had fol lowed the recommendations, there’s a good chance that 12 people would be alive today,” he told the newspaper. In Feb. 1960, an aide to the commandant of Texas A&M, which then was a military school, wrote what now sounds like a prophetic warn ing about the annual precursor to the Texas A&M-University of Texas foot ball game. “One of the most dangerous parts of the op eration is the actual stacking of the logs on the bonfire itself,” the aide wrote, recommending that the height and size of the bonfire be limit ed. “We in the administration owe it to the stu dents to do all we can to help them construct a bonfire they will be proud of.... However, we must keep control over them.” Memos show that during the 1960s, uni versity officials worried about injuries that stu dents suffered while building the bonfire, par ticularly during the tree-cutting phase. “Accidents during the construction are a problem, and serious in jury or death could eas ily occur,” another internal A&M report warned in 1962. In the years since, more warnings followed, but with little effect: —After the bonfire reached a record height in 1969— 109 feet, 10 inches — University of ficials ordered future bonfires capped at 70 feet. See Bonfire on Page 2. HISTOBYOf BONFIRE TiWwJBonfire height limited 70 feet; later 55 feet 1983-.Students required to take safety classes 1M*...Attempt to limit bonfire height to 45 feet fails f§i9.„L'niversity unsuccessfully attempts to deal with drinking around the bonfire LStudenr killed in bonfire related wreck Bonfire collapse kills 12, injtints 27 JP BEATO/The Battai.ion RYLA SCULL Im B>i io contributed tc )m a fan at his I ^gieCon 31. egents OK budget hike ioleiiit ves of STAFF AND WIRE The Battalion The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents vot ed unanimously Friday to double the $1 million budget and grant the one month deadline extension requested by the Spe cial Commission on the 1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse. The Commission submitted the request for the additional budget funds and time for investigation a month ago, and Fri day’s meeting was the Board’s first discussion about granti ng the requests. “An infomaed report requires all the information neces sary related to this accident,” Don Powell, chairman of the loard of Regents told The Bryan-College Station Eagle. “The ommission’s job is a complex one, and it’s vital that the in stigators be given the tools necessary to get to the bottom )fwhat happened.” “I found some of the fees were exorbitant, being an engineer myself I would like to make sure we do not \exceed the amount..." — Dionel Aviles Board regent Although none of the regents cast dissenting votes, Regent ionel Aviles expressed his concern for some of the costs. am concerned that we are being held hostage because fthe situation we are in,” Regent Aviles told the Austin Amer- 'can-Statesman. “I found some of the fees were exorbitant, eingan engineer myself. I would like to make sure we do not ixceed the amount and find ways to not spend more than we ire approving today.” The vote extended the $1 million budget initially approved y the Board of Regents in January. The commission was icheduled to release the results of its investigation on March J31, but that date has been pushed back to May 1. larch 31-April 2 | Powell told The Eagle that the Board has been aware since :he beginning that the investigation would probably take gerand cost more than the original estimates. “In this instance, we have two somewhat contradictory sit- ations,” Regent Earl Nye told the Statesman after the meet- “We don’t want to spend one dollar more than necessary, larch 20-28 20/team oRec -Highly Skilled -Moderately Skilfe -Average Skill enberthy Intramiiij aorts Center i ■ 1 w See Regents on Page 2. Music festival declared more popular than ever PHOTOS BY GUY ROGERS AND JP BEATO/The Battalion From top to bottom, left to right: Toxin member spun techno music outdoors, Blue October played at Shadow Canyon, Jubal’s Tribe outside Fitzwilly’s, Ocean X at the Cow Hop and ravers dancing outside during a set. North by Northgate was successful and is held every spring. BY JULIA RECINDUS The Battalion This year’s North by North- gate (NXNG) Music Festival can be described in one word — “successful.” With over 6,000 in total atten dance based upon wrist band sales, previous records for NXNG attendance were probably exceeded said Mary Beth Myrick, the volunteer coordinator. “After Friday, we easily sur passed our projected attendance, and Saturday we just kept on sur passing that,” said Myrick, who added the final numbers would be available Tuesday. Christine Ogilvie, the event coordinator for the festival and a senior industrial engineering ma jor, said NXNG was a success be cause of a well-established repu tation and talented performers. “Last year’s show was really successful, and we were able to build on that,” Ogilvie said. “The talent buyer got some great, big names, so this year was off the charts. It was better than I hoped it could be.” Myrick believes Vertical Hori zon, who have a current top 40 hit with enough sales to earn a gold record, is the biggest headlining band NXNG has ever featured. Country shows were a new addition to this year’s festival and received a surprisingly good re sponse. Catrina Neslage, a fresh man general studies major and a volunteer who worked the door at Shadow Canyon, said she ob served a mostly country crowd walking through the doors. “I think they were really ap preciative of the different music and [the fact] that [NXNG] catered to all music types,” said Neslage. A Christian Music stage was also added to NXNG this year. “We got a pretty good response, especially the second night,” said Paul Meiller, a senior chemical en gineering major and a volunteer stage manager who worked the Christian show on the lawn of the University Lutheran Church. “Somewhere around 175 people showed up, and we got some good comments from peo ple who came up afterwards,” Meiller said. The response was so positive that doing something similar, like as an all day Christian concert in the fall, is being considered. Of the many stages over the three nights, the Christian stage was the only one to receive a noise compleinl. Ogilvie said the techno stage added to the festive atmosphere, making NXNG seem more like a big party. “Spinning is more of an ac cepted art form than last year, and people are getting into it and pay ing a lot more attention to it,” said Ogilvie. Neslage added that DJ spin ning is new to the College Sta tion area, and its presence drew a more “liberal” crowd to the festival. Ogilvie said there were no major problems during NXNG. “All of our problems were minor; the crowd wasn’t rowdy enough to cause problems; the festival kind of ran itself,” she said. “Our biggest problem was nctl being able to fit people in to see a show they wanted to see. I think that’s a good prob lem to have.” Gay Awareness Week to help foster tolerance THE BATTALION By Cyra Gatling The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Aggies (GLBTA) are celebrating 15 years of recognition at Texas A&M through Gay Awareness Week. March 26-April 2 has been rec ognized as Gay Awareness Week and is dedicated to increasing awareness of the GLBTA and helping to foster tol erance on campus. Kent Carter, a junior psychology major and secretary of the GLBTA, be lieves Gay Awareness Week is impor tant for the visibility of the GLBTA on campus and that it is important to as sert a presence so that others who may be questioning their sexual orientation can have a safe and comfortable envi ronment to go to. The GLBTA strives to offer a com fortable environment to gay students and to increase awareness on campus by combating negative stereotypes. “I hope that individuals currently struggling alone with their sexuality will discover during this week that there is a warm and supportive community here on campus to embrace them and their validity as individuals,” Carter said. Gay Awareness Week kicked off with a presentation at the Unitarian Uni- versalist Fellowship (UUF) Sunday. Gender Issues Education Services will open its library to those interested in reading material about Gay Aware ness Week on Monday from 3-6 p.m. Both GLBTA members and allies of GLBTA are welcome. Parents, Families and Friends of Les bians and Gays (PFLAG) will host an open house to show the community their support for those who have sons and daughters who have come out, Monday from 7-9 p.m. at Friends Congregation al Church. GLBTA will have a booth set up in the MSC and will be handing out pam phlets about the organization and selling t-shirts Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. GLBTA will show the movie “Be fore Stonewall” at 7 p.m. Tuesday and the location is to be announced. Friends Congregational Church will host a “Wednesday Supper” for GLBTA members and others at 5:30 p.m. The meal will be catered and $5 is being asked per person to cover costs. GLBTA will hold a campus meeting to recognize their 15 years at Texas A&M Thursday at 6:45 p.m. in Koldus 146. See GLBTA on Page 2. New journal allows undergrads chance to publish academic work INSIDE BY BRADY CREEL The Battalion Agora, a new online undergraduate academic journal run by Aggies, is giv ing students a new opportunity to pub lish academic work. Scheduled to debut this summer, the journal will feature papers in humanities written by Texas A&M Uni versity undergraduate students. “This is a chance to con nect to undergraduate stu dents who are working in the | humanities,” said Dr. James I Rosenheim, a professor of ■' history and director of the . I Center of Humanities Re search, one of Agora’s sponsors. “One of the things it represents is the in creasing prominence that humanities is obtaining on this campus.” Rosenheim said that in the past it has been difficult for students in the hu manities to compete for publication with those in the sciences or engineer ing because there has been no outlet for their work. “The publication of the research by our students and students elsewhere is really what is most significant,” Rosenheim said. “The opportunity to do and publish undergraduate research is often rare at big research universities, and when the chance is available, it is usually done in the natural or social sciences to the ne glect of humanities,” said Caleb Mc Daniel, Agora’s founder and editor-in- chief and ajunior history major. “Agora will help to correct both needs by pro moting undergraduate research in dis- Submissions due April 7 ciplines that are often overlooked.” Agora is a fully refereedjournal. All papers submitted will be read and critiqued by faculty members at Texas A&M. “It gives the students in humanities the opportunity to have their works crit ically reviewed by others in the field,” said Dr. Mark Weichold, associate provbst for undergraduate programs. Hesitant students are encouraged to submit an essay because of the benefits of it being reviewed by hu manities experts. “By preparing the manuscript for submission and getting back serious comments from faculty reviewers, stu dents have nothing to lose and a lot to gain,” McDaniel said. He said Agora’s greatest feature is that it is published exclusively online. The Internet makes it cheaper to pro duce and accessible from anywhere in the world. “The main problem con fronting Agora in the future will be perpetuating itself,” McDaniel said. “But if enough interested, commit ted undergraduates get be hind the project, I believe it NHMHMIflIMMMHNI will be around long afrer its ruben deluna/ I he Battalion founders are gone.” The word “agora” is derived from ancient Greek, which described the marketplace in which philosophers would gather to discuss ideas. Mc Daniel said one reason he chose “ago ra” is because the first two letters spell “ag.” McDaniel said he plans for future is sues to be open to undergraduate stu dents everywhere. The first issue will be limited exclusively to Aggies. The call for papers for the summer issue is in progress. The submission deadline is April 7, 2000. • Conversations with the Batt A look into the lives of rock band Vertical 1 Horizon. Softball drops 2 games against OU Page 7 »A burning question The debate over Bonfire's con tinuance Page 11 • Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details about the College Station wage increases. • Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu