UWI 'powers' on cloud nine?

THE EDITOR: Open letter to Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, UWI St Augustine Campus principal.

In most countries where literacy is not a problem, a public clock will tell the correct time, and more so on the campus of a university.

It would be unthinkable, for instance, to find a stopped campus clock at Toronto University, Harvard, Yale or Oxford.

Students and staff at The UWI St Augustine Campus are surrounded by impressive structures and classrooms, and the humanities building even has an elegant clock overlooking the campus plaza. For 50 years or more, this clock has been merely ornamental and not carrying the correct time, since the clock controller was incorrectly installed, ie, out of reach for servicing.

Correcting the problem will cost just $3,000, but the person titled "facilities manager," one Mr Dhun, responsible for managing the multi-million-dollar St Augustine facility, could not get approval from "the powers that be."

The powers that be seem not to care whether the campus clock is giving the correct time; getting their salary seems all that matters.

Many St Augustine administrators, indifferent to the uselessness of the campus clock, and blocking the $3,000 expenditure, seem to be on cloud nine.

My objective in seeking a meeting with you is to plead for Dhun's authority – and hope that you too are not on cloud nine.

MICHAEL WILLIAMS

via e-mail