If something goes perfectly, it is said that it runs like clockwork. It’s hard to run a class that way—but now, your classroom has some clockwork in it.

The majority of the classrooms on campus now have standard clocks, bearing the logo of the St. Edward’s University Student Government Association. The clocks, all 50 of them, made their way into classrooms over the summer.

Krista Heiden, vice president of SGA, said the idea dates back to last year.  Some professors without watches were teaching for more than a class period.

“People were talking about classes going late, and being late for their next class,” Heiden said.  “When SGA started talking about installing clocks, a lot of students really liked the idea.”

The clocks were placed on the back wall to keep students from watching the clock as class inches to an end.

 “Students aren’t distracted by them and professors can look back at them,” Heiden said.

Not every classroom on campus was reached, though.  Clocks were installed in Doyle and Trustee Halls, but not Moody Hall.  Any rooms that already had clocks were left alone.

 “They were all set to the same watch,” Heiden said. “But some clocks have suddenly stopped working. I have one in my class that’s three minutes off.”

Student opinions range from happy to oblivious. Freshman Claire Bellamy arrived on campus just weeks after the clocks did.  She noticed the clocks, but not the logo.

Sophomore Mart Cartwright had already mapped out which buildings had them and which didn’t.

“The ones in [the science building] do, the ones in Moody don’t,” Heiden said. “I don’t know about the other buildings on campus.”

Professor Peter Beck said he hasn’t noticed the clocks yet.  

“Really, it’s rare to find clocks on a campus,” Beck said.  “Maybe because people find them distracting.”

Heiden said that a lot of students don’t notice the everyday changes in their classrooms.

But for the students who do, the three-handed beacon of SGA now beams from the back of the room.  The logo, Heiden said, shows that they care.

“Students know that we are listening to them,” Heiden said. “And we are doing what we can to help out.”