Huge Controversy at Syracuse with Racist TV Programming

Anger and emotion exploded Wednesday night at a student-led discussion at Syracuse University in response to material of a student-run television station that is considered racist and sexist.

?We?re angry, and we demand change,? screamed Joan Gabel, a junior at SU.

More than 200 people filled the Schine Student Center Underground nearly to full capacity to discuss issues surrounding the content of ?Over the Hill.? The show came under fire Tuesday following an article in the university?s student newspaper, The Daily Orange, that featured material from the show.

The night started with a compilation of clips from the show?s previous season, which featured references to date rape, vulgar comments about women and stereotypes about African Americans, Indians and other ethnic minorities.

"Over the Hill" staffers apologizing and explaining their decisions were interrupted by Winston Grady-Willis, associate professor of African-American studies, who grabbed a microphone and berated Gaetjens and HillTV for trying to justify their actions.

?I wouldn?t have to leave quite yet, but I?m trying to make a statement,? Grady-Willis said, explaining why he was walking out of the forum. ?For you to sit condescendingly in front of people you hurt is profoundly offensive.?

When Gaetjens made objections asking to be allowed to finish his statement, he was shushed by the audience. Grady-Willis and Paula Johnson, professor at the college of law, then walked out of the room to applause.

?To have the audacity to try and school us is profoundly offensive,? Johnson said before leaving. ?I?m not going to listen in this context to another word you have to say.?

Another forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in Hendricks Chapel.

A Syracuse University student-run television station may cancel one of its shows because of repeated offensive content, including disparaging racial and gender comments about individual students and the SU chancellor.

The show's description on the station's Web site invites people to "watch, get informed and get offended," and it seems to have hit its mark when it comes to being offensive, making light of issues such as eating disorders, date rape and lynching.

"We've had an unusually high number of problems regarding content sensitivity with their shows," said Rich Levy, HillTV's general manager and an SU junior. "I have seen some of the most recent episodes . . . I found a lot of their content to be highly offensive. A lot of it was just wholly inappropriate."

Levy took over the general manager position about three weeks ago. Some HillTV executive staff members saw episodes of "Over The Hill," described on the station's Web site as a mock news show like Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," and were upset about the content, he said. They pulled some of the episodes from the station's Web site, www.hilltv.com.

The executive staff plans to meet Monday to decide whether to cancel the show. Links to "Over the Hill" episodes are no longer on HillTV's Web site. SU's independent student-run newspaper, The Daily Orange, had links on its Web site (www.dailyorange.com) Tuesday to some of the broadcasts.

Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor said through a spokesperson that she was "horrified" by the "hurtful and divisive" videos on HillTV and the still-video photographs with captions of the corresponding commentary in Tuesday's Daily Orange.

"Of course I believe in the First Amendment and the independence of student media, but at some point you need to think about the painful impact on others. . . . At the end of the day, we are all interdependent," Cantor said. "Building a community that recognizes that interdependence and creates a place for everyone takes hard work, and this sets us back."

In addition to its Internet presence, HillTV began broadcasting

this semester on the Orange Television Network, which is accessible in campus buildings. That move made HillTV, and "Over the Hill," more prominent around campus, said Levy, who has a dual major of television, radio and film, as well as information management and technology.

SU officials are trying not to interfere or make decisions for the station because SU wants the students to learn from the experience, said Kevin Morrow, a university spokesman.

The station has a faculty adviser who has been providing closer monitoring of "Over the Hill" content, and the station implemented a script review process for the show, which is not the norm for HillTV programs but became a necessity for "Over the Hill," Levy said.

I will provide more as my friends tell me but apparently city cops have shut the station down and the Chancellor is outraged.