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Show A24 The Salt LakeTribune NATION Sunday, November21,1999 Bonfire Tragedy Illustrates How Some CampusTraditions Are Dangerous THE ASSOCIATEDPRESS In the Middle Ages, freshmen’s noseswere pressed to grindstones literally — as aninitiation into collegelife. At the turnof the cen: tury, mass fist-fights were com: mon on campuses around the United States. In the 1990s, student rites of passage haveincluded everything from streaking across thefirst snowin Princeton to skinnydipping in the hot springs of the Yel lowstone river in Montana. Tradition and danger have always formed a potent mix oncol- lege campuses. Last Wednesday they produced disaster. Twelve people were killed and many more injured by the collapse ofa 40-foot pyramid oflogs being built for the annual football game bonfire at Texas A&M University. The blaze is a 90-year-old Thanksgiving tradition, so hal- rituals” to the 4th century, when St. Augustine compeined about a group “Overturners” tormenting ie students in lowed that student: are willing to don hardhats and haullogsin or- “There was something very like the action of devils in their behavior,” Augustine wrote, not- crop of students. those of 1909 and before,” says campus administrators to curb Hank Nuwer, author of Wrongs of college rituals over the years, traditions persist, often fueled by alcoholand laced with danger. Ithaca, N.Y., mobs of students mark the last day of classes by climbinga hill and getting roaring nk; so many participate in “Hill Day” that campus police can’t stop them. Despite serious attempts by through the centuries. “They are about people knowingthey can be accepted forever as part of this At Princeton, the annual“Nude nobletradition.” Nuwer, who teaches journal- ism at Anderson University ii n In- university's Great Dome. In 1982 they dug a tunnel under the Har- vard Stadium and launched an exploding black rubber balloon at the 50-yard line during the Harvard-Yale game. Defenders of the Texas A&M bonfire sayit is unfair to put their tradition in the same category. Theirsis an organized event, they argue, structured and supported by the university administration. And, until this year, it was con- sidered safe. Even people wholost friends in the accident publicly urged university officials to con- tinuethetradition. boundto happen. “Things happen on a geology field trip, on the hockey field,” he said.“This was a terrible tragedy, but it was not a fraternity prank that went wrong. It was an accident.” Butcritics contend thatcollege officials often turn a blind eye to events that are inherently dangerous, simply because they are part of campus lore. “They are treated as a hallowed, even a sacred thing that everyone nurtures,” says Eileen Stevens,of Sayville, N.Y. “It’s like a conspiracy to create this very special memory.” Technology has its own proud history of mischief-making, or ee which datesatleast to the 1920s. Four years ago, hackers placed a police car on top of the In Yellowstone National Park, “belonging tion in America, accidents are The Massachusetts Institute of Olympic’ sophomore sprint through the snow landed 10 people in a hospital last year, mostly for intoxication. PA Ca FACTORY DIRECT | WAREHOUSESALE COMPLETE DIRECT VENTFIREPLACE * 20,000-13,000 BTU’s. Ceramic Glass Front Panel. tion. At Cornell University in Things haven't changed much. Passage, a study of studentrites such of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., slither up a greased granite monumentjust before gradua- “Overturners,” abusing the next “College traditions and rituals are about bonding and belonging, about linking studentsof 1999 with in lowstoneRiver. Membersof the freshmen class ing that once newcomers were accepted, they also became for centuries. traces Montana State University Bozeman from “hot potting” — skinny dippingat a spot where hot springs boil up into the icy Yel- Carthage. der to be part of something bigger than they've ever been part of before. They want bragging rights to a memory they can cherishforall time. Students have sought the same diana, rangers have tried for several years to prevent students from Steinbach argued that, with 17 million students in higher educa- adist and fa pve ernie ayer Menstrual Pain? | Pharmacology Research Clinic would like to hear from you. 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