Using criteria in the recommendation report: a case study of the Texas A&M university bonfire commission findings

This case study describes classroom use of the decision making criteria contained in a recommendation report for corrective action following the 1999 bonfire accident at Texas A&M University, in which 12 students were killed and 27 were injured during a school-sanctioned activity. The instructional framework introduces criteria as a decision making tool, asks undergraduates to apply simple criteria in a hypothetical situation, outlines the TAMU case, and analyzes the TAMU report's criteria item by item. It also provides guidelines for assessing students' integration of criteria into their own recommendation reports. This case study offers an analytical model not often available to readers outside an organization and introduces undergraduates to a more sophisticated evaluative methodology than most have used in previous writing projects.