Notorious Tower at University to Reopen

After 23 years, the University of Texas decided to reopen the school’s landmark clock tower, the site of one of the nation’s worst mass murders. The 231-foot tower on the school’s Austin campus, closed in 1975 after a series of suicide leaps from its observation deck, will be refurbished and a safety barrier added. It was from the same deck, 28 stories up, that student Charles Whitman opened fire on Aug. 1, 1966. The 25-year-old former Marine, beset by personal problems and suffering from a brain tumor, had already killed his wife and mother. In all, he killed 16 people and wounded 31 that day before being shot to death by lawmen.