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

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a University of the First Class M U u U II II U u u u This generation of Texans has Si opportunity to do what no other Americans have an opportunity to do: to build upon our great beginnings for the achievement of the greatest system of higher education this country has ever known. r Chancellor E.D. Walk Addjess to the Centennial Commission. UT Austin 30 March, 1981

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The Tradition and Promise of a The Legislature shall as soon as practica- ble, establish, organize and provide for the maintenance, support and direction of a university of the first class, to be located by a vote of the people of this State, and styled, The University of Texas, for the promotion of literature, and the arts and sciences, including an agricultural and mechanical department. Constitution of Texas. 1876 Article VII, Section 10 Thus was the University of Texas born. The idea of such an institution was by no means new: in the neighboring United States, state education at the university level was well-established. The newness of the concept in this instance stemmed from the promise of greatness which Texas offered. Throughout the first 98 years of the University, that promise gradually became a tradition of greatness. Today. 100 years after the enabling legislation. 98 years after classes began, the achievements are indeed great, the causes to celebrate manifold. 1980-1981 was witness to the reaffirmation of the tradition and promise of the University. Degree requirements were evaluated to maintain the high quality of education offered. The first appointments to the Centennial Endowed Chairs were made. Consistently, UT ' s program were reported to be among the best in the nation . . . The promise of continued greatness. The Longhorn Band marched, for the third time, down Pennsylvania Avenue. Round-Up participation expanded some- what from the previous norm of Greek only. The organization of Round-Up was returned to an auxiliary committee of the Texas-Exes, who began it. A Madrigal Dinner, long a tradition in other universi- ties, was held for the first time in 1980 . . . The reaffirmation of traditions. The University of Texas has different meanings for each person. Each person and each meaning of University life are involved in the reaffirmation: all are a part of the tradition and the promise.

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The Tower Clocks Mark 45 Years of Guillermo Resales, the caretaker of time outside the University ' s traditional timepiece, checks one of the faces of the Tower cli The Tower Clock is another institution. It, is a tradition for the University. The Tower on the main building has . traditionally symbolized the University. It beams a bright orange beacon across Austin after athletic victories, stands sol- emnly pale after defeats. On a tragic note, it has been the site of nine suicides and one sniper attack. Rising 307 feet above the campus, the Tower serves as a landmark, both of the campus as a whole, and as a guide to stu- dents new to the UT campus. To visitors, it is one of the most heavily visited tour- ist sites in Austin. The clocks, serving as the principle means of marking the pro- gression of the day on campus, signify the quarter-hours to the accompaniment of the Westminster Chimes. Guillermo (Bill) Resales, a University Communications Technician, is responsi- ble for maintaining the clocks and insur- ing that they remain on time. Actually, he says, the clocks pratically run them- selves, relying on waves from the National Bureau of Standards short wave radio station, relayed to the Tower clocks through slave clocks which translate