Representatives of the College Television Network (CTN) and members of the Coalition for Social Justice and Nonviolence were unable to negotiate a compromise last Thursday regarding the televisions in Dewick. Executives from CTN visited campus last week to obtain student input on the television programming, but left with no intention of accepting the Coalition's terms.
Both CTN Vice President of Affiliate Marketing Carlo DiMarco and CTN Affiliate Relations Manager Jodie Cadigan met with Coalition members in Oxfam Caf?© Thursday to address the students' concerns. From the outset, however, the CTN executives would neither discuss the contract with the students nor agree to remove any of the TVs at this point.
"The contract is a confidential agreement between the company and the University, and the power to agree to your terms does not lie in my hands," said DiMarco, who told Coalition members that the binding nature of the contract rendered Tufts and CTN partners, and that the University must approach the company and express its position before any action could be taken. DiMarco also warned the students that their terms, if carried out, would involve a breach of contract and thereby result in a definite penalty for the University.
The Coalition 's listed their three main demands on a petition to CTN and dining services, cosigned by over 600 students. The Coalition called for the ability to turn the monitors off, the removal of all five TVs on the second level of Dewick, and the rearrangement of the remaining monitors to less prominent areas of the dining hall. They passed out their own fact sheet and handed out potatoes to individual students during dinner, asking them to deliver the potatoes to DiMarco as a sign of protest by saying that Tufts students are not "couch potatoes."
"They didn't really give us a viable option not to give them a hard time," said Coalition Leader Roger Winn, who pointed out that students were greatly frustrated because their more passive efforts to oppose the TVs, such as filling out comment cards, were being ignored. "We haven't been left with any other options," he said.
DiMarco said that before the TVs were installed last spring, CTN already offered a compromise by covering only half of the area in Dewick with monitors. He told the students that they were seeking too complex of a solution and encouraged them to explore other ways to deal with the problem, citing the possibility of rearranging the tables in the dining hall so that more people could sit in the section without the TVs. Students attending the Oxfam meeting showed little satisfaction for the outcome.
"His initial 50-50 compromise argument was rather specious," said junior Douglass Hansen. "The whole idea of a compromise is to sit down and talk about it and present judgements. These kinds of arguments don't go anywhere in the end," he said.
The Coalition members later expressed their intent to continue with their opposition and said that their next step was to turn to the administration to fight against CTN.
"We're going to keep putting pressure on the issue," said sophomore Lou Esperanza, who has been spearheading the campaign. "This is not the end." In spite of organized opposition to the monitors, a number of students remain passively in support of or passively indifferent to the monitors.
"I really don't understand why the TVs being here is such a problem," said sophomore Connell Cloyd. "As much money as we pay to come here, anything offered as a service and for free should be taken advantage of," he said. Junior Matt Rydzewski agreed.
"I don't understand why people are complaining about something so insignificant," he said. "If people are going to give us televisions, why not take them? Since when are TVs such a bad thing?"
Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator Melinda Coolidge, who chairs the Senate Dining Services committee, hopes that the Senate will help students and administrators resolve the conflict. The TCU student services and student outreach committees will survey students in Dewick this week to obtain an accurate portrayal of student sentiment towards the TVs.
"If students feel this is the most important thing in their life right now, then I respect that and I'm glad CTN respected it too in their visit," Coolidge said.
CTN tabled throughout the day in Dewick, handing out information sheets, free magazines, and T-shirts, while raffling off palm-pilots in an effort to encourage students to fill out feedback forms surveying their satisfaction with the TVs and the programming aired on the network.
"It's interesting because we're gaining a lot of knowledge in terms of getting student feedback," said Cadigan. "That's what the focus of CTN is all about; the network is programmed through interaction with students."
DiMarco mentioned that it was human nature for those opposed to a situation to be more vocal and confrontational about their cause, while those who don't mind the network will express their opinion more subtly.
"I certainly don't want to be a cause for students fighting with one another," DiMarco said. "My objective is to provide a service that on a national level is a benefit to students... I think my presence here today can attest to the fact that I am here to do something of value," he said.
The presence of the two tables in Dewick further increased student awareness of the situation, stirring up controversy from both sides of the issue. A number of students were impressed by CTN's visit.
"While I don't appreciate the programming, I admire [CTN's] attempt at addressing what college students want," said junior Kenny William.
