(Radio Iowa) – The Sesquicentennial Bell is now permanently installed on Campanile Plaza at the University of Northern Iowa, and leaders of UNI’s 150th birthday bash are hoping students will visit the bell and give it a ring as the fall semester ends.

Randy Pilkington, co-chair of UNI’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, says the bell ordinarily won’t have the clapper inside, but that clapper will be reinstalled on Monday morning and it’ll be there throughout Finals Week.

“This will be a new tradition for us,” Pilkington says. “We’re hoping the students will go out there and ring it once for their celebration, but we know, just with students, they’ll probably want to have a lot of fun with that, and we’ll probably be hearing the bell clanging for most of the week.”

The plan is for students to ring the silver and purple bell to celebrate wrapping up exams, or for graduating seniors to mark the end of their UNI journey and transition into life as alumni.

“With the experience we have with the bells that are in the carillon now as part of the Campanile, you can hear it across campus. There’s concerts every Friday,” Pilkington says. “With this bell, it will resonate throughout all of central campus. It’ll be quite noticeable that this will be going off and students will be having a good time.”

While the bell can’t be rung for most of the year, students are encouraged to rub it for good luck. Pilkington says it’s important to start these new traditions as the Cedar Falls institution marks its century-and-a-half.

“It’s a real milestone for UNI to get to the point of being 150 years old, but then we say what’s next? What is this bold future that you talk about?” Pilkington says. “Well, part of that has to come from the traditions, so that when a student leaves here or a faculty member or staff, they have something they recall as a tradition that brought them back to our university.”

To kick off the year-long celebration in September, the bell was rung three times, marking the past, present and future. Learn more about upcoming events HERE.