University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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ie fooHhid allf-l llmay warned, D f K and I was just W hob in UK ' es Book Store and otto died into ' J.mS.gmon TICK TOCK: The detail of the Tower clock is on- ly visible from the observation deck. BIRD ' S h h VIEW: The UT Tower has stood by as Austin stretched to its city limits. The city evolved from merely the state capilol to a center for big business and home of the largest University in the state. Sights 21

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For 50 years, the Tower has watched Over the University of Texas campus As history and tradition were made The UT Tower has some secrets. If only its walls could talk. For 20 years, the 27th floor observation deck had been closed to visitors. But, with a flash of my almighty press pass, I was allowed to see what the world looks like from the top of the Tower. I met the security guard at the elevator. It was eerie to be retracing the steps that several people had taken in the last minutes of their lives. In fact, the most remarkable part of seeing the top of the Tower was imagin- ing all the history there, including several student suicides and a shooting spree in 1966 that left 14 people dead. The elevator opened at the 27th floor to a locked door and a sign that read, Absolutely no sightseeing at any time. The guard knocked. We were led jhrough an office and then to the stairs. As I walked up the stairs on which Charles Whitman had dragged a foot locker full of ammunition and shot a family of four, it occurred to me how complete- SIDEWALK STROLL: The telephoto lens captures a couple strolling on the South Mall. ly tainted this building was by that one event that happened before I was even born. I tried to think of the other things the Tower stood for: a symbol of the University, the heart of the campus, and an observation deck which offers the most beautiful view anywhere in Austin. From up there, the campus, all of Austin for that matter, seemed so in- consequential. The sky was faultlessly blue, and within the 360-degree view were Barton Creek Square, a Round Rock water tower, busy lanes of freeway traffic and miles of green Hill Country. This view conflicted with my first im- pression of the University as a bureaucracy factory, relentlessly con- gested with 48,000 students. From the Tower, the campus im- pressed me again. The perpendicular malls reached out in every direction, dotted with students strolling to class, stretched out in the sun or kicking around a Hacky Sack. This expanse of mismatched buildings seemed so innocuous and easy to figure out from there. The deck itself was a narrow walkway just below the Tower clocks. Pen and pad in hand (security wouldn ' t let me bring anything big- ger), I walked around, recording my observations: . . . red brick floor lined with foot-wide orange and white lights . . . plaster blotches cover bullet holes . . . thick, gold rim around clocks is tarnished, scratched and or- nately decorated . A sign on the foot-thick wall sur- rounding the walkway warned, Danger keep off. Gee, and I was just about to check the view hanging upside-down from the ledge. The drainage holes in the walls af- forded a straight shot to the Drag in front of Wallace ' s Book Store and other places people died under fire in the sniper attack. It was really quite peaceful up there, standing eye-to-eye with that ugly god- dess on the Capitol. The sun ' s rays were hotter and more direct, and the only sound was the muffled roar of traffic on the freeways. But it was, of course, not that much different from standing on any other tal building. Except for the fact that th general public wasn ' t allowed to do it. So what ' s so great about the Tow observation deck? Those foot-thick walls sure aren telling, by Valerie Ahern

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The legislature said how much. The University said where. The faculty, staff and students called the action unfair. Frustrations were channeled into protests. When students returned for the fall semester, they faced some big changes in their everyday academic lives. Many classes were larger and had fewer or no teaching assistants, lines at Adds and Drops and in the Financial Aid Office were considerably longer because of reduced staff and library hours were drastically reduced. The cause: legislative cuts in the 1986-87 budget for higher education. Gov. Mark White requested a hiring freeze in July that prevented many of- fices at the University from filling vacated positions. Office clerks in the Financial Aid Office were doing extra work because of the staff shortage. Those delays and long lines also were caused by a greater number of students seeking financial aid. The second week in September, students found the hours in each of the system ' s libraries had been cut dramatically. Until that time, both the Peter T. Flawn Academic Center and the Perry-Castaneda Library offered students the latest study hours. But after the reduction in operating hours, both libraries closed at midnight. The cutback in hours was to accom- modate a smaller staff in the General Libraries Office. Michael Whellan, president of the Liberal Arts Council, organized a study-in. On Sept. 8, about 400 students sat in front of the PCL to pro- test and ask legislators to be careful when cutting higher education funding. Students studied in that library until 10:30 p.m. then moveoL outside the library and continued their studying by flashlight and candlelight. The Liberal Arts Council wanted to send the message by peaceful demonstration without breaking the law as in past demonstrations. On Sept. 23rd, students organized on the West Mall at noon and marched to the Capitol to protest budget cuts pro- posed during legislative special sessions. Some carried signs reading Cut Texas Schools, Cut Texas Future and Short Term Solutions, Long Term Disaster. John Furstenworth, engineering sophomore, said, I ' m unhappy with all the budget cuts. I participated today to make my statement. A bit of relief came Nov. 3 when the hiring freeze was partially lifted. Hours in several library units of the General Libraries were extended to near the regular hours. The Peter T. Flawn Academic Center again was open until 2 a.m. on weekdays. For the most part, it seemed that cut- backs in most areas of the University would be temporary. Many in the ad- ministration said cuts that most closely affected the students would be restored to near-normal levels and that threaten- ed cuts of classes and staff would not be implemented. The University ad- ministration tried to trim budgets carefully so that the most important elements of the University quality professors and a diverse offering ol classes could be maintained. by Bridget Metzger A BRIGHT IDEA: Students work by flashlight at the study-in Sept. 8 in front of the PCL. More than 400 hundred students gathered ta protest against the cutback in library hours. 22