Controversy over TVs in Dewick revisited with trial period

One of the televisions in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall which caused student uproar two years ago has been turned on for a trial period to see how students respond to new programming on the televisions.

When the College Television Network (CTN) installed the TVs, the network's music videos and consumer programming insulted many students, and the televisions were turned off. But the network has since revamped its programming to include more informative, less controversial material, according to Patti Lee Klos, the director of dining services.

Klos made an independent decision this fall to try and gauge student opinion on operating the TVs by activating one in a far corner of Dewick. "People who are dining alone seem to enjoy it," Klos said. By limiting operation to one TV in an isolated corner, she said, the programming would be available for those who wanted to watch without being invasive for others eating in the dining halls.

The trial period will end in November.

In explaining her decision to resume some TV use, Klos said that experience yields more reliable results than speculation. Klos wanted to involve the students in the decision to turn the TVs back on and gather student opinion before making any permanent decisions. "We respect that students might not want a broadcast on while they eat," she said.

CTN supplied Tufts with the TVs under the agreement that the network's programming, which is beamed in via satellite, would be shown on all but one of the screens. Two years ago the programming attracted complaints from students, especially from members of the Coalition for Social Justice and Non-violence. The Coalition objected to the CTN's anti-intellectual themes and excessive sexual innuendo. Students said the programming undermined the student body of a university as prestigious as Tufts.

The most hotly debated _ and most dominant _ program on the network was a music video program that offended students with its sexual content. Emily Good, a Coalition member and a freshman at the time, said the program featured "half-naked women and soft-porn music videos."

Although CTN programming has changed since the network first aired at Tufts, the music videos remain the most popular CTN programming.

Since the TVs were installed, CTN has been bought by MTV, a unit of Viacom, resulting in alterations to the programming line-up, which Klos thinks may warm student opinion to the television. The network will become a "'Reader's Digest' of television programming," said Carlo DeMarco, vice president of affiliate marketing at CTN. There will now be a more cohesive, structured broadcast, with specific time slots for different shows, instead of scattered programming, he said.

CTN has made arrangements with CBS's news and sports divisions, The History Channel, ESPN Sports, and Glamour magazine. The network will also feature a special program adapted from MTV's "Fight for Your Rights" campaign on the importance of voting and more programming involving the interaction of college students on campuses throughout the nation.

Two years ago, all of the TVs operated at once, and much of the airtime was used to advertise products such as Nike, Coke, and Slimfast. "Usually, mealtime is a time when you connect with your peers," said Good, the Coalition member. "The TVs made it impossible to do that."

Although students expressed disgust with the content of the previous CTN programs, Klos said students watch significantly worse content on MTV and VH1.

The Coalition, the most vocal opponent to the TVs, negotiated with Dining Services many times, but no consensus was reached. Less patient members of the community even vandalized the TVs by cutting their cables.

The TVs were finally turned off, and have remained dormant until this semester. The screen of the single operating TV has already been smeared with food.

Originally, the agreement with CTN was based on students' desire for a TV in Dewick that would exclusively broadcast Tufts announcements and daily information. CTN proposed an agreement in which the network would buy all equipment if Tufts would agree to use only one television for university announcements. "CTN was a way to serve a need without making a big investment," Klos said.

Ever since TuftsLife.com installed screens to air daily university announcements in Dewick and other locations across campus, the necessity for CTN's TVs is less clear.

Alison Clark, chair of the services committee of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, said that the greater student body did not get a chance to voice their opinions about the TVs two years ago because the trial period was over the summer. The current trial situation will allow students more of a voice in the issue, Clark said.

If the student response to the revised programming is positive, Clark said, the television in the far corner would be left on. If reaction is negative, the TV will be turned off.

But many students have already voiced negative opinions, including the TCU president. Melissa Carson said the University "doesn't need televisions in our dining hall.