For 27 years, chimes have rung out from Warriner Hall's bell tower all across CMU’s campus, but by May graduation, a new, yet familiar tune may be heard.

“Our hope at this point is to have the school song play for graduation on May 5,” said Ricardo Rinconeno, Student Government Association Spirits and Traditions Committee member and North Branch senior.

In the future, this may be a reason for people to unplug their headphones for a few seconds while walking through campus.

“Future plans entail having seasonal music play before specific breaks in the school year,” Rinconeno said.

The tower in Warriner Hall does not have actual bells, but a new system was added more than two years ago.

“Mr. Vokes showed me the room, which used to actually house the original bell chimes, which have since been removed,” Rinconeno said. “Now the only thing in the room is a keyboard and the synthesized chime system.”

The system added in place of the chimes has the potential to hold more than 40 songs he said.

“We feel that allowing the tower to play additional sounds on special occasions would be something that increased school spirit whether it was at graduation or even before winter break,” Spirits and Traditions Committee Member and Chesterfield Township Freshmen Charles Mahone II said.

The spirits and traditions committee has made it their mission to start a long-lasting CMU tradition, Mahone said.

“The idea is to create something that will spark new life and pride into the campus,” Rinconeno said. “We just hope that it gets people excited.”

Other schools have made similar traditions on their campus.

“I had heard about another university that had a professor play Lady Gaga from the campus clock tower and I thought that that would be something fun and engaging to add to (CMU’s) campus,” Rinconeno said.

After seeing a previous article in Central Michigan Life about the tower, Rinconeno said he found that the school had just changed to a system capable of playing different sounds.

“We decided that keeping the music as a novelty and playing them every once in a while during special campus events like games, graduations and before holiday breaks would be the best course to take,” he said.

As of now the spirits and traditions committee believes this change will only have a positive impact on CMU.

“When it comes to negatives I currently can't see any, but if any concerns do become apparent then they will be taken care of,” Mahone said.

Rinconeno said when he first brought the idea to attention Keith Voeks assistant director of University Events and many others have shown much interest.

“The spirits and traditions committee as well as SGA also had overwhelming support for the project,” Rinconeno said.

Spirits and traditions committee member and Waterford junior Jacqueline Maggioncalda said she hopes the new sounds will add a new character to campus.

“We hope to create a lasting tradition for students and the community at CMU that will encourage school spirit and campus pride,”Rinconeno said.