New Face Graces the Square

The times are a-changin’ in Harvard Square, with the introduction of a new clock on top of the Cambridge Savings Bank (CSB).

Though many students said they weren’t aware of the change, some students said they are unhappy with the new clock, which was installed Monday, April 3, and which replaces white digits with yellow ones.

Rohini S. Rau-Murthy ’08 said she noticed the sign was different shortly after returning from spring break.

“I remember noticing it and thinking it was incredibly garish,” she said.

Like Rau-Murthy, who said she was “distracted” by the color change, several students criticized the clock’s appearance.

Elizabeth R. Considine ’07 said that the new clock was not “as aesthetically appealing” as its predecessor.

Tom G. Beatty ’06 added that the digital clock seemed out of place in contrast to the more dated architecture of the Cambridge Savings Bank façade.

“It looked like something that had been stuck there in the 80s and didn’t quite fit,” he said.

Ivo I. Parashkevov ’06 expressed the same sentiment: “It doesn’t fit, [but] modernity never fits in.”

According to Jeri Foutter, a CSB representative, the new clock uses LED technology and has a lower energy consumption level than the old one, which adorned the building for six years.

Foutter wrote in an e-mail that the new clock possesses better visibility in variable light conditions and from different angles. The light bulb will also need to be changed about once every five years, less frequently than the old clock’s bulb.

Regardless of what students call its aesthetic failures, most of the students asked expressed appreciation for the clock’s utilitarian value. Quad residents surveyed said the clock was an especially integral part of their lives.

William A. Rodger ’06 said that he relied on it daily upon being dropped off at the Soldier’s Field Park shuttle stop.

“I always look as I cross the street to see how late I am for class,” he said. When asked how he would feel if the clock were to be removed Rodger replied, “I love that clock. I would be destroyed.”

Several students pointed out that the CSB clock was the only working clock in the square, but noted that the clock standing outside of Bank of America rarely seems to keep accurate time, while the CSB clock matches the shuttle times.

When the clocks are not in sync, quadlings notice.

Rau-Murthy said the clock regularly aids her in making the crucial decision of whether to walk or wait for the shuttle. Losing it, she said, “would be an inconvenience.”

Even students who identified themselves as apathetic about the clock change admitted that the clock was a landmark.

“I don’t necessarily look at it,” Matthew J. Amato ’06 said. “But I can feel its presence.”