At Texas A&M University last year, a stack of several thousand logs from the school's yearly bonfire collapsed, killing 12 students and injuring at least 27 others.
The bonfire, which the students have built each year since 1909 as a prelude to Texas A&M's annual game against their arch-rival University of Texas (UT), was canceled this year and a candlelight memorial was held instead.
A&M and UT students were among the 25,000 people who joined together Saturday to pray. Students and others huddled under umbrellas on the muddy campus polo fields for a memorial ceremony at 2:42 a.m., commemorating the time and place when the 59-foot log stack collapsed on Nov. 18, 1999.
At the start of the 40-minute ceremony, lights on the field were turned off and mourners lit a memorial flame atop a platform. Members of the community then fired a cannon 12 times.
The flame remained lit until 8 p.m. the next day to correspond with the time the last victim died.
Families of those killed sat in a special 150-foot circle. Behind each set of seats stood a 5- to 6-foot wood pillar bearing each victim's name and the year he or she was to graduate. Survivors stood together in an adjacent area.
In June, President Ray Bowen said the bonfires would resume, but not until at least 2002 and only with greater school supervision and professionally engineered design, so as to prevent future accidents.
"It was a healthy night for our university," student Ricky Wood told the Chicago Sun Times. "For some it brought closure."
Bed Bugs Infest Columbia Dorm
Students living in Woodbridge Hall at Columbia University have been exposed to serious health risks in the form of bed bug infestations.
The bed bugs entered the hall last year when a student brought a bed frame from home that carried the parasites, which then spread from the frame to the mattresses, pillows and carpeting. When the frame was moved into a different room this year, the infestation spread.
Exterminators have extensively treated the hall since a resident first noticed the problem-red hives and rashes appeared on the resident's skin and spots of blood appeared on the resident's pillow cases.
The exterminators fogged the resident's room and then used a chemical that seeps into walls, fabric and mattresses. The exterminator was able to kill the bugs without leaving any harmful residue.
The resident had initially ruled out an allergic reaction or other irritants to explain the hives and rashes and then discovered a small insect crawling between the bed's sheets. An outside exterminator determined that the resident was suffering from bug infestation.
To counteract the problem, the resident washed sheets, pillows, clothing and towels in hot water with bleach. The University reimbursed all residents with bed bug problems for the loads of laundry done each day and gave students the option of sending their belongings to a laundry service.
"Columbia University responded quite well,"' the resident said, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. "But this never should have happened.''