AUSTIN, Texas—The Tower bells at The University of Texas at Austin will toll May 4 during UT Remembers, a traditional day of remembrance honoring members of the university community who died in the previous year.
An 8:45 a.m. ceremony on the university’s Main Mall to lower the flags to half-staff will begin the day’s events, which will include the UT Remembers program at 2 p.m. in the Tower Garden north of the Tower and Main Building. The day’s final tribute will be the darkening of the Tower at dusk. As the sun sets, the only areas of the Tower that will be glowing with white light will be the cap and observation deck. All other areas of the Tower will be darkened.
"UT Remembers is a time when the university community comes together to celebrate as well as grieve for the lives of those in our campus community who passed away in the past year," said Neal Armstrong, chairman of the UT Cares Committee, which coordinates the annual program sponsored by the Office of the President. "They were among us for a time, they were a part of us and we of them. We miss them, and we remember them. We encourage students, faculty and staff to join us in this remembrance service. Our hearts go out to the Virginia Tech campus community and the tragedy that befell them recently, and they will be in our thoughts and prayers especially during UT Remembers."
During the 2 p.m. program, names of persons being remembered will be read aloud and the Tower bells will toll in tribute. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be relocated to Hogg Auditorium near the Texas Union.
Families and friends participating in programs during the day will be provided a hospitality room, Texas Union Santa Rita Room (3.502), while they are on campus. An information session on the normal stages of grief, coping with loss and options for remembering will be held there from 10-11 a.m.
Complimentary parking is available in the San Antonio Parking Garage at 25th and San Antonio streets for UT Remembers event guests. A courtesy shuttle will run between the parking garage and program locations from 8 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.
UT Remembers was begun in 1998 when the UT Cares Committee developed a program to honor members of the university community—students and current and retired faculty and staff—who died in the prior year. On the last day of the spring semester, families, friends, colleagues and co-workers gather to remember those who died, to reflect upon who they were, what they gave to the institution and what they meant to the people whose lives they touched.
More information, including the names of those being honored, is available on the UT Remembers Web site, or by contacting Armstrong at 512-232-3305, or Douglas Bolin, Office of Relationship Management and University Events, 512-471-7753.
For more information contact: Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847; Douglas Bolin, Office of Relationship Management and University Events, 512-471-7753.
