After countless years of heated debates and futile efforts, it looks as if television-deprived students will finally get their wish.
Boston University has finally announced plans to bring cable television to campus.
The school already started testing the networks in the Student Residences at 10 Buick St. during the summer and plans to bring cable to more dorms by the end of winter break, continuing the wiring of campus into next summer.
This major victory is primarily a result of the openness of President ad interim Aram Chobanian, who said himself that he made up his mind about students’ right to cable access after talking with a small group of them at the breakfast meetings he held last year.
Chobanian said from the beginning that his first priority during his short term would be student-life issues. Because he is an interim president, he said he would not try to make major transformations for BU, but would instead make small changes that would still have a significant impact on students’ lives.
The decision to hit the switch on cable television, long sought after by the entire student body, is a perfect example of the type of change Chobanian hoped to have on the campus. It is a change that will not bear a terribly large burden on the school but will vastly increase student satisfaction.
While the announcement is good news for South Park-hungry students, it will not translate into immediate and universal access to cable for BU students. Wiring major dorms such as Warren Towers and the aging brownstones of Bay State Road and South Campus will be a major undertaking for BU and students will likely see the cost of cable installation reflected in their housing fees.
And while the plans are not yet in place for the payment and administration of cable on a room-by-room basis, the best and most feasible solution will likely be to give every room on campus cable access without giving students a chance to stick with network TV.
The thought of turning one room off and one room on just seems too cumbersome to consider. Universal cable access would also alleviate problems that could spring up if roommates did not agree on whether or not they wanted cable in their rooms.
Still, the benefits of cable television will be worth the extra cost, which the university should bend over backwards to keep as low as possible. With so many rooms signing on for cable access at the same time, it seems reasonable to believe that monthly cable rates should not be nearly as high as the nearly $40 a month Danielsen Hall residents fork over each month.
Television students in the College of Communication complain regularly (with reason) that they are unable to see their very own productions that are available to the surrounding community.
WTBU could easily find another outlet for their work by teaming up with the university for a 24-hour BU information channel that could also allow students to more easily listen to their student radio station.
And while many students probably want to see cable in their rooms just so they can get their “Sex and the City” or “Sopranos” fix, there are lots of other benefits to some cable networks that most of us might have ignored during our high school years.
During important news events like the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 or the invasion of Iraq, BU students have been forced to stare through static and fiddle with their rabbit ears.
Finally, students have a chance to not only watch their favorite entertainment programs, but stay in better touch with the current events that are such an integral part of a college experience.
Cable can not only provide simple fun but can become a necessary earning tool for many BU students.
In every aspect of student life besides television, BU stays technologically ahead of the game.
BU is constructing state-of-the-art workout facilities in Agganis Arena and the Fitness and Recreation Center, and has installed computer kiosks in the George Sherman Union. The high rise buildings of the Student Village are some of the most luxurious student residences in the nation, but the school still does not have cable television.
With all of the changes happening on this side of the Charles River, adding cable to an urban campus the size of many small towns seems like a step that should have been taken a long time ago.
At a time when digital cable ports will soon be as common as Ethernet connections, the time to bring cable to BU is long overdue.
Now that cable television is on every BU students’ mind, the administration must hold to its promise. Students are tired of hearing about delayed cable talks or proposals sitting around in committee. After boldly stepping to the plate and promising the installation of cable in many dorms by the end of this year, it is time for BU to follow through and bring cable to as many students as possible – as quickly as possible.