Tower watches over NE Campus comings and goings
by Brian Wainstein, Reporter

    Every 15 minutes, a well-known melody plays across the NE Campus as the Herman L. Crow Clock Tower tolls the time.

    The clock tower plays a variation of the Westminster Chime every 15 minutes. Originally used in the University Church Tower of St. Mary, Cambridge, England, the melody is thought, by historians, to have been composed by William Crotch. The melody was based on a phrase from Handel's symphony I Know That My Redeemer Livith, historians say.

    The London House of Representatives selected this melody for the Victoria Clock Tower attached to the Palace of Westminster in 1859, giving rise to its current name.

    The NE Campus clock tower delivers its message using four high-powered speakers, each directed at a different cardinal point. The chime used is stored on a magnetic tape and played out, at the direction of the control unit.

    Every 15 minutes, an additional quarter of the tune is played until, finally, the entire melody is played on the hour, and the "hour is struck" with the number of gongs following the melody indicating the specific hour.

    The words, attached by historians, to the Westminster Chime are "Lord through this hour, be Thou our guide. So, by Thy power, no foot shall slide."

    A former faculty member, Crow was appointed president of NE Campus June 1975 and served until his retirement March 1, 1995. The clock tower was dedicated to him in October 1999 in recognition of his achievements during the 20 years he served. Among his contributions to NE Campus were the establishment and self-endowment of the Branding Iron Award to recognize outstanding service to the campus and the tower itself, which was his own idea, design and recommendation.

    Dr. Larry Bell, professor emeritus of government, gave the dedication speech, in which he compared Crow and the tower.

    "Each is solid, steady, dependable, reliable, always thereÑyou can count on them," he said at the dedication.

    "Neither is given to excessive or superfluous communication. Our clock tower Ôspeaks' only in short, meaningful phrases; not constantly, and not very often, and Dr. Crow is a person of few words É he tends to talk mainly when he feels he has something worthwhile to say."

    An elevator shaft was required to comply with the ADA and to give easier access to the second floor of the NE Campus Student Center. During the building process, it was decided to extend the shaft to include the clock tower, George Richardson, TCC director of the physical plant, said.

    "The clock is relatively maintenance free," Victor Garcia, NE plant superintendent, said. "Five years ago, the campus brick masons were called in to reseal the clock face, but since then, the only problems we've encountered have been burned-out relays, summer crickets and daylight-savings time."

    When daylight savings occurs, the time has to be changed manually, and because of the nature of the mechanism, when moving time forward, the individual changing the hour has to plan his entire day around it, Garcia said.

    "Changing it back is easy. We just turn it off for an hour," he said.