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 this fall, the school’s president said Monday.

“I’m still determined that the horror of that day will never visit our campus again,” President Ray Bowen said. “My heart wanted to continue the bonfire, but I had to let my brain make the decision.”

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 on Monday he said that those conditions, along 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.

Bowen, who is retiring in June to return to teaching, said there are other ways Texas A&M students can show their school spirit.

The bonfire traditionally has been lighted on the eve of A&M’s football game against the University of Texas, its archrival.

Hundreds of students, some crying, gathered to watch the announcement over large-screen televisions.

Marc Barringer, a political science major, said he was disappointed. “I learned more applicable life skills in cut, load and stack than in all of my classes,” he said.

Surveys show students and alumni overwhelmingly support continuing the tradition.

At least 11 lawsuits filed by families of dead and injured students accuse A&M administrators and former bonfire student leaders of negligence.