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Wrinkle in Rye time

By Matthew Chung

Do you know what time it is?

If you don’t have a wrist watch or a cellphone, then you probably don’t when you’re at Ryerson.

“There’s only one time,” says politics professor Arthur Ross with a bitter smile, pulling up his sleeve to display the time on his wrist watch –the only time he trusts. “It’s maddening. It’s ridiculous, and maddening.”

Ross, along with other Ryerson faculty and students, is ticked about the numerous faulty clocks on campus.

In Kerr Hall East, the clock in room 320 reads 1:35 exactly –no matter what time of day it is. Meanwhile, there are no clocks in rooms 321, 323, and 327.

Clocks on campus fluctuate to such an extent that students and staff relying on a campus clock could be either very early, or very late, getting to class.

Ryerson President Claude Lajeunesse said in his October State of the University address he would try to have the clocks ticking in harmony this year, but that hasn’t happened.

“I said I would try to find a clock person, but I haven’t found (them),” Lajeunesse said. “It’s a serious issue … I hope we can solve it, but it’s not the only problem we have.”

In fact, even the clock in Lajeunesse’s office is approximately 10 minutes faster than the one in his office’s reception area.

While defective clocks aren’t Ryerson’s only flaw, they’ve been a problem for as long as Ross can remember.

“I cannot remember the clocks working in a comprehensive or reliable way,” says Ross, who’s been a Ryerson professor for the past 20 years. “It seems to me, that it’s worse than it ever was.”

Fourth-year finance student Sharon Aujba remembers when she forgot to wear her watch to an exam and lost track of time.

“The professor only wrote the time twice,” says Aujba. “I was under pressure. I think I went too fast and rushed over it and I made stupid mistakes.”

Second-year information technology management student Nawaaz Janmohamed says when he first came to Ryerson he would think his class was almost over, not knowing the time was wrong.

“I thought ‘this class must be good because it just flies by,’” says Janmohamed. “But then when I looked at my cellphone and realized how much time was left, it was a big letdown. I’d be annoyed the rest of the class.”

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