After providing a reliable time marker for students making their way to class for many semesters, the Kerns bells are now causing some confusion. Students have recently discovered that the once reliable bells in Kerns were off their original schedule.
“I was walking to class when the bells would ring and I would think to myself ‘well ok, I have time to get to class,’ but then I showed up two minutes late, and… the professor looks down on me because I am late to class. I am like ‘what the heck, the chimes are off…’ they are not ringing at the same time as they used to. It definitely affected me going to class,” said Jason Fugate, sophomore.
Other students managed to take note of the change before being late to class, but expressed dismay about the new time.
“Well, I would normally be able to have a sense of awareness about how I was doing on time as far as getting to class on time. The bells let me know that, ‘wow I still have five minutes I can relax a bit,’ but now when they go off I’m like ‘Oh, I only have two minutes!’ so I know I have to hurry” said Ciarra Davis, senior.
According to a statement put out by the Dean of the Chapel Gary Sandberg, the clock the bells are set to was set back last summer, when it was turned off to enable roof repairs, but it should be back to its traditional time by the start of classes in January.
“The clock on the bells runs just a little slow, losing about a minute a month. I set it so that by the end of the semester it will likely be back to three to four minutes before the hour,” said Sandberg.
While the term “bells” has been used throughout this story, it should be noted that the Kerns Religious Life Center has never had any bells, but rather a speaker that was installed in the early 2000s that plays chimes. Before becoming the chapel, Kerns served the campus community as the Rudolf Library. The only bell to have ever been used on campus is the Victory Bell outside The Capital Center, which itself was part of an earlier structure, Recitation Hall, which was tore down to make room for Blackmore Library.
While many students noticed the bell’s change, many others did not notice, or care.
“It [the bells] is even more arbitrary than I previously thought,” said Nick Bochenek, a junior student.
