University officials confirmed yesterday that the hands of Healy Hall’s massive clock were stolen this weekend and that an investigation into the theft is ongoing.
University spokeswoman Julie Bataille said that the hands of Healy’s Dahlgren-facing clock were stolen sometime this weekend. She said that the Department of Public Safety is still gathering information about the theft.
“DPS is currently investigating and trying to locate the individuals who may be responsible,” Bataille said.
The side of Healy facing Dahlgren is currently undergoing renovations, and a large scaffolding structure, including a set of stairs reaching to the top of the building, has been erected on the side of the building.
Although a gate near the scaffolding is padlocked, it appeared to be possible yesterday for a person to jump around the gate into a space next to Healy Hall, then ascend the stairs. A fifth-floor window near the top of the scaffolding was also open, and could have allowed access into the clock tower itself.
The hands on Healy’s east-facing clock face were not stolen and remain on the tower.
David Morrell, vice president for university safety, declined to comment on the incident yesterday. DPS Director Darryl Harrison was on a business trip and unavailable for comment.
The theft of the Healy clock’s hands has been a well-known tradition among Georgetown students for much of the university’s history. Students removed the clock’s hands on numerous occasions over several decades before the tower was sealed.
Attempts to take the clock hands were particularly frequent in the late 1960s, when students scaled the tower so frequently that the university began to replace the hands with plywood, and at one point stopped replacing them at all.
The clock hands were last stolen in 2001.