By Becca Robb | Echo
For whom does the bell toll; does it toll for thee? Actually, it doesn't toll for anyone at Taylor, because the bell tower uses a speaker system.
The so-called "bell tower" does not house a single bell. No little man with back problems scuffles around the scaffolding, ringing the bells at every quarter hour. The music actually comes from a small room in the Recital Hall, where it is controlled by an electronic bell system.
The Rice Bell Tower rises 72 feet out of the heart of campus, and students and teachers shuffle past it every single day. But does anybody give it more than a moment's thought?
Sophomore Jaylin Gadel joked, "Do I think about it often? Oh, I dream about it!" This conveys the feeling that many students hold about the bell tower.
"I'm pretty indifferent about it," junior Jessica Wise said. "It's a nice thing. It blocks the wind when I'm walking through, so I enjoy that.
Few people know that the original bell tower (yes, with real bells) stood on campus long before the Rice Bell Tower. It was attached to the top of an administrative building, but lightning kept striking its tip. Eventually, it became such a fire hazard that the administration decided to lop it completely off the building.
This drastic surgery must not have been enough, because some time later the remainder of the building caught fire and burned to the ground. Taylor was bell-tower-less for 26 years until 1986, when Jay Kesler, Taylor's president at the time, commissioned the Rice Bell Tower into service.
The Rice Bell Tower was a gift from Garnet Rice, honoring her late husband, Raymond E. Rice, a businessman who invested significantly in Taylor. But it wasn't just meant as a kind memento or a pretty structure; it carries a deeper meaning. For those who didn't get this drilled into their heads during orientation, the bell tower's two pillars symbolize the integration of faith and learning. Though they may appear separate from an angle, a different perspective reveals that faith and learning join together at the top.
Because many students don't know much about the bell tower, a certain sense of mystery surrounds it. Sophomore Cora Starke compares the bell tower to the all-seeing Eye of Sauron.
Wise describes a secret tunnel which goes up into the tower, apparently for the sole use of Jay Kesler keeping watch over the campus by night.
"One night last year, it was like 12:17 a.m. that the bell tower went off. It was because Jay Kesler caught people doing bad things," Wise explained. "That's Jay Kesler-protectorate of Taylor."
Even though we don't completely understand the bell tower, or even think much about it, we still have a sense of its importance to our campus. "If I picture Taylor in my mind, I picture the bell tower," said Wise. "I don't picture the DC."
Regardless of what students know or don't know about the bell tower, its music serves to unify us. Sophomore Heather Stedt says she loves the music it plays before Chapel, because it makes her feel like everyone is about to circle together and sing the "Dah-hoo Doray" song from 'The Grinch.'
Some remember the days when the bell tower would ring out classic film scores and Broadway tunes. "I feel like there's a good mix of a lot of classic oldies," says senior Kathryn Romine. "It's random, too, but I like it when it plays 'New York, New York,' or 'Cabaret.' I'm down with that."
The Rice Bell Tower seems to grow on even the most apathetic of students. Maybe one day students will find that it tolls for them, after all.
Starke agrees on the bell tower's importance and says she would notice if it failed to toll. "Because I'd always be late to every single one of my classes," she declares. "And so would everyone else."
