Now that I am an English major, I spend a lot of time on the older side of campus. If the Brickyard and Harrelson Hall are the things people think about when they think of campus, the Bell Tower has to be the third. Being over there in Tompkins several hours each day, I hear the Bell Tower quite often. Throughout my time at the University, the tower has gone above and beyond its call of service.

Most of you probably know its primary purpose was to serve as a memorial for the State College students who died as soldiers in service to their country during World War I. However, for the current students of the University, the Bell Tower is much more than a testament to our fallen brethren.

The Bell Tower is also a marker of ACC triumph, turning red when we win major games. It is a place of dedication and remembrance for important University figures like coach Kay Yow, and also as a site of protest for issues from tailgating to the Vietnam War.

Most notably, however, the Bell Tower is a keeper of time, with a chime that marks the changing of hours, and therefore classes, throughout the day. Recently, however, I learned that there is something hollow in the ring of the chimes I find so quintessentially N. C. State. The bells now ring falsely for me, and as it turns out ,that’s because there are no bells in the Tower.

I was surprised too, kids, but the truth of the matter is that the Westminster chimes you hear on the hour are actually controlled from Holladay Hall. Speakers broadcast the sound at the Tower, amplified from a machine.

A student-led initiative has been formed to remedy this issue, and to complete the Bell Tower as it was meant to be finished. The group has a Facebook group which states its mission is to raise enough money to put a 54 bell carillon in the tower as was originally intended. The group has plans to raise the money themselves through T-shirt sales and through the donations of alumni who are not currently donating to the school. They don’t want to divert funds from the academic departments or the operating costs of the University.

As students, I think we should get behind this initiative and support it whole-heartedly. Especially the senior class, I think this could be a great opportunity to leave a lasting legacy to our University. Join the Facebook group “Finish the Belltower!” buy a T-shirt, donate $5 to the cause and show the University and the alumni that even though we are poor college students we are willing to forego a Cookout tray to contribute to the betterment of our Wolfpack community.