Bells chime once again atop Keating Hall

After a hiatus of a few years, the bells of Keating Hall are chiming once again — every hour on the hour between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., seven days a week, to be exact. Though administrators are considering suspending the chimes on Sundays.

Vincent Burke, the university’s director of capital programs and planning, declined to say why the chimes were brought back to campus other than to say, “The project was assigned to our group like other project assignments.”

Jeff Lewis of Verdin Bells & Clocks, the company responsible for servicing Keating Hall, said the mechanical clock mechanism had become problematic and outdated.

The chimes are now operated by a “modern pulse setup,” which uses audio recordings of bells ringing, he said.