Camping for change Katy Ralston The Battalion Armed with blankets, coffee mugs and determination, 300 students gathered Monday night on the grassy knoll for an all-night campout protest of the construction of a new liberal arts building on the hill. Coined “Night At the Knoll,” the protest encouraged students to “be redass, sleep on the grass.” Attendees brought tents, sleeping bags, air mattresses and hammocks to stay a full 12 hours at the site. The campout was meant to signify the importance students place on the grassy knoll. “We don’t want the grassy knoll to go away,” said protestor Emma Itria, a freshman business major. The statement comes at a pivotal time in the ongoing debate over the location of the building. Student Senate members will be voting Wednesday on the Green Space Bill, proposing the administration seeks out alternative locations for the construction. Passage of the bill would make student opinion official and could start the process of lobbying administration for further discussion of the location.
thebattalion ● wednesday,
november 18, 2009
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2009 student media
Nicholas Badger — THE BATTALION
Richard West, father of Bonfire victim Nathan West, speaks on behalf of the families of the 12 killed in the Bonfire collapse. Behind him sits (left to right) Student Body President Kolin Loveless, 1999-2000 Student Body President Will Hurd, Corps of Cadets Commander Brent Lanier, Interim President R. Bowen Loftin and Executive Vice President of Student Government Association Jacob Robinson.
Remember the 12
See Grassy knoll on page 7
Campus community gathers to honor those killed in Bonfire Take part in Geographic Information System day Today is Geographic Information System day, and the Texas A&M University Libraries will be presenting several events to allow students to learn more about this technology and what can be done with it. The day is on the Wednesday of Geographic Awareness Week, which has been sponsored by the National Geographic Society since 1987. Demonstrations will be set in the Evans and West Campus Library lobbies and include a Student Poster Exhibition and a Bryan Police Department Patrol Car GPS/GIS technology exhibition. “We’re delighted that the Bryan Police Department has agreed to exhibit a patrol car to demonstrate GIS tracking technology,” said Miriam Olivares, Geographic Information System specialist. There will be three 45-minute showings of the immersive 3D visualization demo in the Halbouty Geosciences building. The first showing begins at 10:15 a.m. Several speakers will be giving presentations throughout the day, including a crime mapping expert from Houston, presenters from U.S. Census Bureau and ESRI, a GIS software and data company. The Keynote Speaker will be John Logan, a professor of sociology at Brown University. He will begin his presentation titled “New Orleans and Katrina: Uneven Impact, Uneven Recovery,” at 6:30 p.m. in the Preston M. Geren Auditorium in the Langford Architecture Center. For more information about times and events, visit http://library.tamu.edu/ gisday. Samantha Johnson, staff writer
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Katy Ralston | The Battalion
Bonfire Remembered Video
thebatt.com
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tched into the walls at the Bonfire memorial from the poem “The Last Corps Trip” are the words “the band poured for the Anthem, with notes both loud and clear, and 10,000 Aggie sung, the song they held so dear.” On Nov. 19, 1999 Aggie voices rang out loud and clear in Reed Arena. It wasn’t the “Anthem” — it wasn’t the “War Hymn.” It was “Amazing Grace.” And they were singing it for the fallen. A decade later, and 100 years after the establishment
of Bonfire, Aggies joined in singing once again at Reed Arena. This time it was the “Spirit of Aggieland.” And they were singing it to celebrate the lives of the fallen. The crowd sat in silence, reminiscent of the first memorial service held the night after the collapse. Since then the number of attendees has grown from 2,000 to more than 7,500, filling the lower bowl and arena floor. See Ceremony on page 4
Bonfire treasures left behind
Photos by Stephen Fogg — THE BATTALION
Artifacts left at the Bonfire collapse site are now stored in a warehouse on West Campus. These include pots, axes shown left and many other items.
Relics placed to honor the 12 fallen Aggies are preserved on campus Rachel Latham
File — THE BATTALION
Aggie Rings, flowers and notes were left at the Bonfire site after it collapsed killing 12 students.
The Battalion Across campus on Agronomy Road stands a sand-colored cement building. Inside are artifacts marking times throughout history. Down one particular aisle carefully preserved in boxes sit the memorials left behind in the hours, weeks and even months after the tragic Bonfire collapse. Lining the tall shelf are more than 300 boxes filled with an important part of Texas A&M University’s past. Following the Nov. 18, 1999, Bonfire collapse, many came to pay their respects to the 12 Aggies who lost their lives while building a beloved tradition. Senior history major Marcie Sharp was 11-years-old at the time of the collapse. Sharp and her family watched and followed the news of the collapse from Arlington, Texas. Her parents graduated from A&M and the family had been to Bonfire several times the past years. See Bonfire relics on page 4
Northgate crosswalk to be discussed The Texas Department of Transportation will have a meeting on campus regarding a project that will improve the pedestrian safety for the crosswalk on Northgate. At the meeting, there will be a short presentation of the proposed changes followed by an informal question and answer session with the architects overseeing the project. Input from students and Northgate residents and users is desired. The meeting will be open to the public. “We really need student input for this project to make sure that we are going in the right direction,” said Maury Jacob, Bryan District Landscape architect. The proposed project would make the walkways in Northgate wider and make it easier for pedestrians to cross the street by making a pedestrian mall on the corner of College Main and FM 60. Other changes include making the Houston Street a permanent pedestrian mall that will connect all the way to the renovated Military Walk. The meeting will be at 7:15 p.m on Wednesday in the Langford Architecture Center, Building C, Room 105. The meeting will be organized by the American Society for Landscape Architects student chapter on campus. Joaquin Villegas, staff writer
11/17/09 11:24 PM