Texas A&M bonfire remains on hold

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M University's nearly century-old bonfire tradition -- on hold since a deadly collapse in 1999 -- will not be resurrected next fall, the school's president said Monday.

The 90-year-old bonfire tradition was suspended after 12 students were killed and 27 others injured on Nov. 18, 1999. The 59-foot-high, wedding cake-style stack of more than 5,000 logs collapsed while under construction. A school commission blamed flawed construction techniques and inadequate supervision of the students assembling the stack.

Bowen said in June 2000 that the bonfire would return if it were professionally designed and built.

But Monday he said those conditions, with increased legal liability, would push the costs of building the bonfire to more than $1.5 million, compared with about $65,000 for the student-built bonfire.