D-Hall Clock Controversy Explained

JMU students have anxiously been awaiting the completion of the new D-Hall, which is expected to be complete by this August. With each passing day, a new development in the construction seems to pop up, most recently, the clock.

The clock recently placed on the new D-Hall gained a lot of attention from some observant students who noticed that the number four on the clock is represented by the Roman numeral IIII, not the most recognized Roman numeral for four, IV.

In other news, JMU’s new dining hall has the wrong roman numeral on its new clock. It’s IV not IIII… lol pic.twitter.com/td1gAt16nU

— Nic. (@uhhhnic) January 12, 2018

when will @JMU realize that the new clock on d hall has the roman numeral for 4 as IIII instead of IV??

— spencer (@official_slaw) January 14, 2018

However, this “mistake” is no mistake at all. In fact, using IIII to represent the Roman numeral IV was done intentionally for symmetry purposes, as well as to match the clock on Wilson Hall which also features IIII for the Roman numeral “four.”

Wilson Hall clock featuring the same Roman numeral for the number “4.” Photo by Carrie Chang.

According to the Electric Time Company, the radial symmetry that results from using IIII instead of IV is preferred as only “I” appears in the first four hours, only “V” in the second four hours, and “X” only appears in the last four hours.

Header image by Carrie Chang.