Wayne A. Danielson's
Commencement Speech
May 26, 1973
THE TWO TOWERS OF TEXAS
Last Monday, the University Council came within three votes of turning off the lights in the tower. The student government members had moved to turn off the lights as a sign of the University's concern over the energy crisis. The debate was long and emotional. Advocates of the motion contended that the tower was a blatant symbol of the University's extravagant use of energy. Their opponents countered that the student's motion waw just tokenism; if they really wanted to saved energy, why didn't they vote to turn off the air conditioners in their dormitories? At the end, a canny dean, Werbow of the humanities, moved a substitute motion to send the proposal to a committee for further study. That's the motion that won by a three-vote margin.
So the matter was settled, at least temporarily. I was present at the meeting Monday, but I did not participate in the debate. I was, however, strangely disturbed by it. All wekk, images of two towers, a dark tower and a lighted one, have lurked at the edge of my consciousness. I knew I had euqated the two towers with different perceptions of the University of Texas -- affter all, the tower is the predominant symbol of the University -- but the source of the images eluded me. Finally, on Thursday night, an insight came. The two towers were from a favorite book of your generation -- J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The second book in his famous trilogy indeed is titled The Two Towers and details the great struggle between the dark tower, ruled by Sauron, the Lord of Darkness, and Minas Tirith, the citadel of Sarumen, where Aragarn at last becomes king. As you will recall, victory finally goes to the forces of the Tower of Light -- not because of any heroic deeds by lordly heroes -- but because a small and insignificant hobbit, Frodo, faithfully carries out an assignment against great odds.
At the end of the first book of the series, Frodo goes to the top of a mountin where he has a vision of the two towers. Of Minas Tirith, the tower of light, we read".... far away it seemed and beautiful: white-waled, many towered, proud and fair upon its mountain-seat; its battlements glittered with steel, and its turrets were bright with many banners." In contrast, he sees the dark tower in this way: "Darkness lay there under the Sun. Fire glowed amid the smoke. Mount Doom was burning and a great reek rising. Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-dur, Fortress of Sauron."
Reading these passages, made clear the message that I wanted to leave with you today -- a message revealed in one of your own favorite stories.
There are two contrasting images of the University of Texas -- the University has two towers, if you will, it has a tower of darkness and a tower of light.
To those who primarily visualize the University in negative terms, as a dark Tower, it stands for the isolation of the campus from the community; it stands for arrogance and pride in athletic victory; it stands for the babel of discordant voices; it stands for lordly unconcern for minorities; it stands for polite lies, superficial truths, and weak minds in high places.
To those who primarily visualize the University in positive terms, as a lighted tower, it stands for the opportunity for all to learn, it stands for the primacy of truth; it stands for the free, undettered quest for understanding, for the enlightened mind, for the examined life, for the enobled character. It stands for the hopes and dreams all of us have for a better life for ourselves and our children.
Both views of the tower are commonplace -- you can hear either description of the University at almost any gathering you attend. Indeed, even in the University Council, both views are present. The interesting question is -- which vision will persist? Which will prevail? Will the University of Texas be a tower of light or a tower of darkness in fact in the years ahead? Is the University on its way up or on its way down? Is it ascending into light or descending into darkness?
In my opinion, Tolkien's strange insight in The Lord of the Rings still guides us faithfully at this point. What ultimately happens to the University of Texas will probably not depend on titanic battles between regents and high administrators and legislative leaders. It will hinge instead on what use you graduates make of what you have learned here; it will depend on the quality of your lives. If you, individually, in your private and professional lives, stand for honesty,
if you are fair,
if you are forthright,
if you are search for the truth behind the fact,
if you keep your minds open to new ideas,
if you serve other,
if you keep on learning,
if you stand up for freedom of press and
freedom of religion
the lights on the tower will never darken. For a University if it has a life at all has it in the lives of its graduates, the young men and women it has had within its walls. In a sense, you cannot do anything for the University; but you can be something for the University.
Well, all this is a long way from the University Council debate on Monday. I hope that tonight as your degrees are confirmed by President Spurr, the lights on the tower will come on in all their splendor, and you will remember a little of what I have said to you.
I'd like to conclude with a poem that is used as a theme in Professor Tolkien's books. Bilbo Baggins started it way back in The Hobbit, and his grand-nephew Frodo carried it on in later years. It is appropriate for beginning a journey on graduation day, I think. Perhaps you will remember it:
The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the Road has gone
And I must follow if I can
Pursuing it with weary feet
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet
And whither then? I cannot say.
if you keep on learning,
if you stand up for freedom of speech, freedom of press
College of Communication Commencement
