A useless clock at UWI – for 50 years

THE EDITOR: About five years ago I was asked by Jason Dhun of UWI to assist in remedying the elegant timepiece in the humanities building which overlooks the campus plaza. Dhun is UWI’s facilities manager and UWI’s campus clock has been redundant for half a century, or perhaps since installation.

After several site visits, I advised that the clock controller was improperly installed in an area inaccessible for servicing. The meagre cost (about $2,000) to relocate the controller was deemed unnecessary by the powers that be and UWI opted to maintain the status quo and the useless clock. My daughter Pauline, a UWI student in 1975-78, and other observers have confirmed that the campus clock never carried the correct time.

Resetting the controller takes just ten minutes and some clocks need resetting after any power failure. Accessing the UWI controller is via the roof of the adjacent building, two flights of stairs, up a 12-foot ladder in the kitchen to open a trapdoor in the roof and, weather permitting, walk 100 feet to a three-foot parapet wall to reach the controller.

This surely is a task for a monkey and unless Dhun can find such a creature, the students, staff and principals at UWI may never see a functioning clock on their campus.

MICHAEL J WILLIAMS

timekeeper