After victory, campus plans for first bonfire in 12 years

On Thursday, the University will end a 12-year drought, not with water but with fire. Princeton will hold a bonfire Thursday night at 9 p.m. on Alexander Beach, celebrating the Tigers' first defeat of Harvard and Yale in a single season since 1994.

Less than 24 hours after Princeton's victory, representatives from the bonfire's cosponsors — the USG, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS) and the four class presidents — met to start planning the event.

The University will provide wood for the fire and students will construct a pyre, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne said. Each class will take a shift to prepare for the night's blaze.

"We need a lot of volunteers because this would save a lot of money and it will have the students feel involved in the actual construction," Dunne said. The event will cost about $10,000.

The tentative plan is for the co-captains of the football team to light the fire. Many details remain uncertain. Dunne said he plans to release more information on the ODUS website later this week.

The bonfire is expected to attract hundreds of undergraduates, along with alumni and local residents. In case of rain, the event will be moved to Friday afternoon at 6 p.m., Dunne added.

Safety concerns are playing a significant role in developing the celebration. Most importantly, perhaps, organizers moved the bonfire from traditional Cannon Green to Alexander Beach.

"If we were to do it on Cannon Green, the bonfire would be much smaller and limited by the space of the canopy of the trees and the distance of the buildings," Dunne said. Borough and University fire marshals, Public Safety officers, EMS and administrators will oversee the event.

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Though the bonfire has long been on Princetonians' minds, Dunne said organizers didn't start planning until after Saturday's victory to avoid jinxing the team — a mindset similar to the football team's.

"There is pressure for every game, we weren't even thinking about the bonfire, we were thinking about last year when [Yale] beat us and how we needed to beat them for the Ivy Title," football player R.C. Lagomarsino '09 said. "The Ivy title is much more important to us."

But to some students, the bonfire was what mattered.

"Sports bring a sense of cohesion on campus — especially when we win," Liubomir Chiriac '10 said before the game. "The bonfire will be a nice way to come together and take pride in something, together."

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If the student response to the Yale game is any indication, bonfire attendees should be an enthusiastic group. The USG organized nine buses to go to Yale for the game, and 554 people bought bus tickets. The attendance exceeded the USG's original expectations.

"I don't think anyone predicted there would be more than 500 people because that's usually more than the amount of people at a home game," said Class of 2009 senator Josh Weinstein, who helped coordinate the buses with USG vice president Rob Biederman '08.

In addition to the USG buses, carloads of students and recent alums drove to New Haven, Conn., and groups such as eating clubs and the club basketball team organized transportation to the game independently.

"The game was awesome and the bonfire is gonna be hot!" Ed Weng '10 said.

Despite the near universal excitement generated by the prospect of a bonfire, few students know how the tradition came into being. The first documented campus bonfires celebrated Princeton's victories over Yale in baseball games held during University reunions, according to the Princetoniana Committee's website.

The logistics of the bonfire ceremony have been tweaked over the years. When the bonfire was used in the context of football, it was customarily held before the final game as a symbol of school spirit. In early bonfires, freshmen were charged with collecting the wood from around town. A wooden pyre would be constructed in the center of Cannon Green, along with unflattering representations of the Harvard and Yale mascots. The University band played and the football team captains and coaches participated in the ceremony.

Since collegiate football began in 1869, Princeton has defeated Harvard and Yale in the same season 24 times. Historically, Yale seems to have been the more difficult team to beat: In more than a fifth of Princeton's football seasons, the Tigers have defeated the Crimson but fallen to the Bulldogs.

Princeton's rivalry with Yale is among the most played in college football history, second only to Lafayette-Lehigh. Saturday's game was the 129th time the Tigers have played the Bulldogs.