16.4% of WSU clocks tock but don't tick

WINONA, Minn, May 9, 2001 -- Marjorie Dorner began her last Introduction to Literature class of the semester by listing what her students needed to bring to the final exam, which was an open-notebook, open-textbook, essay exam. The necessary items included eight sheets of loose-leaf paper, two textbooks, any previous assignments, at least two pens and pencils and a class notebook.

EXPANDED COVERAGE Reporter: Jennifer Selby

"And a reliable timepiece," Dorner added after a pause. "As you can see, this room does not have a clock, and I donÕt want you bothering me or your classmates by asking what time it is." Minne 347A is one of 11 classrooms at Winona State University that doesn't have a clock. Although the other 104 classrooms on the campus have clocks, a room-by-room check found that only 87 display the correct time. "People have lost confidence in looking at clocks," said Dan Olson, a campus electrician at who has been updating campus clocks for nearly a year. Anyone can call the physical plant to request a new clock for a room that doesn't have one or has one set to the wrong time, but people don't call anymore because they have given up on using the clocks on campus, he said. "I hate wearing a watch, but you have to here," said sophomore Calley Peterson, who stopped relying on campus clocks when she was 10 minutes late for a test due to a slow clock in a lounge where she was studying. Olson is replacing the existing clocks with atomic clocks, which receive an electronic signal from the U.S. Naval ObservatoryÕs master clock in Denver. This clock, along with five other main laboratory-built atomic clocks, sets all atomic clocks worldwide to the correct time. Atomic clocks are one million times more accurate than time measurement based on astronomical techniques. The current clocks receive their time-setting signal every hour from a central clock in the physical plant, Olson said, but frequencies emitted by computers in many buildings were overpowering the signal for the old clocks. Olson lowered the frequency of the signal, which has helped somewhat, but the old clocks still need to be replaced, he said. Besides being less accurate, the old clocks are starting to wear out and not respond to the signal. Olson believes that all the clocks in the Pasteur and Watkins classroom buildings are now atomic, although he admits he might have missed a few. He is now working on the Phelps-Howell masscom and psych buldings. Because atomic clocks are expensive, Winona State has applied for funding from the state college system to update all the campus clocks, which number more than 500 including those in classrooms, the library, the student union, hallways, offices.