In response to a handful of complaints regarding WNTV’s airing of R-rated material on television screens on campus, the student-run station submitted a proposal to air movies exclusively in the dorms.
The proposal was submitted on Tuesday to the board of vice presidents. The board will need to decide if it is feasible to air movies solely in the dorms and not on any of the other sets on campus, which WNTV is streamed in to.
Some of the complaints resulted from the movie Baby Boy, which aired on WNTV and had sexual content.
As a result of the complaints, rumors fluttered around campus that the university was considering pulling the plug on WNTV, a rumor which Dean of Students Kent Kelso said isn’t true. He said the issue is not that serious.
“It was one of those things that was blown up out of proportions,” Kelso said.
WNTV’s general manager Jeff Miller agreed that too much was made of the issue and said the charge in the Jan. 30 issue of the Northerner that WNTV was airing explicit content is completely untrue.
“We don’t air explicit content. We don’t air pornography,” Miller said. “At worst, we were airing an unedited movie.”
Miller said he has not heard one complaint himself and has heard everything second hand. This made some of the accusations harder to take, he said.
“How can I fix a complaint I don’t get?” Miller questioned. “Everything I heard is hearsay.”
Lindsay Hunter, president of the Residential Housing Association, which helps pick the movies, said streaming Residential Life Cinemas only to the dorms is an ideal solution.
“You can tell by the name it is for the residents on campus,” Hunter said.
If WNTV finds it unable to broadcast movies exclusively in the dorms, Miller said WNTV would air a combination of blue screen and original programming during daylight hours.
Miller also contested rumors that appeared in the Jan. 30 Northerner that they are at odds with the Residential Housing Association. The article said their was tension between the two groups about who chooses the movies to air on the Residential Life Cinemas. Miller said there were some misunderstandings last semester on who would have say over the programming, but that was all resolved. He said the feud didn’t last long, however, and a happy medium was forged. RHA and WNTV now meet once a month to decide what movies to air, giving both entities a voice.
“It is a utopian relationship,” Miller said.
Many students said they are pleased with how RHA and WNTV are running the Residential Life Cinemas.
“I think they have a good selection,” said freshman and RHA member Michelle Lecompte. “It is cool to be able to take a break from your studies and watch a movie.”