 "Photo: Shannon Sibayan")
The bell tower atop UT's Main Building is a campus symbol that can be interpreted in many different ways.
It's the centerpiece of architect Paul Cret's master plan for the campus. Different lighting schemes transform it into a signal for special events and athletic victories. And it has an infamous place in the American consciousness as a mass murderer's perch. Today, it's been transformed into a sightseeing destination.
Closed in 1974, the Tower's spot in campus and state lore grew. It was closed because of a series of suicides; nine people leapt to their deaths from the Tower's deck.
Finally, in 1999, the Tower was reopened to small, regularly scheduled tour groups, allowing the general public and UT students an opportunity to see a view that had been unavailable to them for 25 years, although special guests were occasionally treated to Tower visits.
"The Tower, because of the symbol that it represents, draws people for a lot of different reasons, some that are good things and some that are not," said Charles Locke, the tower tour coordinator.
Tours begin in the Main Building, where the group passes through a metal detector. The tour guides, who are all students, begin with some chatter about Tower lore, like the urban legend that it was designed by a Rice alumnus to resemble an owl (not true; the Tower and 18 other University buildings were designed by Cret, who created the campus' master plan in the 1930s) and that the Tower, while officially not as tall as the state Capitol building, is actually 2- feet higher because it's built on a 6-foot hill.
After the introduction to the tower, guests ride an elevator up to the 27th floor and pass through the Internal Audits office before climbing stairs to the Tower's observation deck. They are allowed to remain on the deck for about 20 minutes to gaze at the view of Austin through metal bars welded together about six inches apart.
"Pretty much everybody who's up here, and I was guilty of it too when I took the tour, wants to know about the sniper, and I think that's kind of sad," said Chris Burnett, a communication senior who's been working as a tour guide for nearly a year. "I understand why, but it's sad that that's the most interesting thing about it."
However, most of the tour attendees on Saturday didn't seem to find the Charles Whitman shootings the most compelling reason to visit the Tower.
Johnna Carlson, a Blinn College student, said she'd heard about the Whitman shootings, but she and friend Sandra Delacamara, a senior at Cy-Fair High School in Houston, were more interested in the architectural history of the campus.
Debbie Campbell, a 1987 graduate, said she wanted to show her children the campus from a good viewpoint. Campbell attended the University during the time when the Tower was closed.
"We were never able to come up," she said.
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