Much to the dismay of students, the South College bell once again failed to ring at the top of the hour this week after repairs were conducted less than a month ago.
Liv Chioccariello ‘25 said that her consistent annoyance with the bell largely has to do with her living in Keefe, right next to the bell.
“I do have very strong feelings about the bell,” Chioccariello said. “It bothers me a lot that it’s been one minute late. And then it was two minutes late … I have to hear it every single day.”
Ian Duffy ‘24 echoed Chioccariello’s sentiments and said that it was particularly frustrating due to the bell having been previously fixed.
“Obviously when the bell went off-schedule, it was easily noticed,” Duffy said. “I thought the problem was fixed, and here we are at the problem again … I think fixing the bell would be rather simple and should be done as soon as possible.”
However, other students do not necessarily see the bell being off time as a pressing issue. Sean Duffy ‘24, Ian Duffy’s brother, said that he enjoys the presence of the bell on campus, regardless of whether or not it rings on time.
“I think the bell is a good aesthetic to have. It kind of reminds you of a church ringing on the hour,” Sean Duffy said. “So it kind of gives Lafayette that nice small community feel. I don’t think it being off by one minute is the biggest deal. I get how maybe for the residents of South it’s a big deal because they hear it the best, but I just think that nowadays, people don’t really use the bell as the metric for their time.”
President Nicole Hurd said that she is committed to working with facilities to fix the bell.
“I’m happy to call facilities to make sure that we get it aligned,” Hurd said. “I know it was late, and then it was early, and then … it’s wrong again.”
The bell did appear to be fixed as of Wednesday.
“It’s … a simple thing. A bell just needs to strike on the hour, every hour, so pretty simple,” Ian Duffy said.
