An announcement about the plan to expand cable options in residence halls should be made soon, according to Dean of the College James Larimore and Treasurer Win Johnson.
The Campus Cable Television Committee submitted its proposal for expanded cable to Larimore and Johnson last week. Larimore said he and Johnson have not had a chance to discuss the proposal since they received it, but said their decision on the new cable system should come soon after they meet.
According to Michael Beahan, chair of the committee, the proposal suggests about 65 channels -- such as CNN, C-Span, VH1, MTV, The History Channel, and Lifetime -- that could be part of the new cable offerings. He said the price of the new system will be factored into the cost of housing.
The committee has been working to improve campus cable since the beginning of the 1997 academic year, and limited cable in individual residence hall rooms were installed in January this year.
"We've heard a lot from students" Beahan said. "They really feel that they're sort of cut off from sources of news, culture and entertainment that they had access to where they came from."
He said it is important that students get "broader varied perspectives on the news" and that right now that is being accomplished to a certain extent through the available foreign language stations, but that it will improve with the implementation of the new system.
Beahan also said Dartmouth has to compete with other comparable schools that have superior television systems available to students.
Larimore said the College "wants to make sure that students have access to a variety of programming" but that right now, that is being accomplished through cable access in residence hall lounges.
However, the student representative to the committee, Matthew Benedetto '00 pointed out that it is often difficult to reach agreements when many students are trying to decide what to watch on one lounge television set.
He said the selection of stations that is currently available in dorm rooms was never intended to be permanent when it was instituted last winter.
"It was always looked at as an interim project to build support and to get people involved with it," he said.
All of the students who talked to The Dartmouth last night who have television sets in their room said they felt the cable system was limiting.
Yuval Ortiz-Quiroga '02 said many students use television as their source of news. He noted that last year when he was living on campus he would have liked to have CNN as an option in his room.
Keith Lively '00 said he does not have a television in his room, but he would consider getting one if more channels were available. He said he would like to have ESPN.
Another concern about Dartmouth's cable system was expressed in the Afro-American Society's proposal to the Residential and Social Life Task Force.
It said Dartmouth would benefit from "more diversified programming options," including BET -- Black Entertainment Television network.
Benedetto said the committee has been telling the College since it began working two years ago that changes to the television service should be made as soon as possible.
He said that the proposal says the deadline for implementing the overhauled system is fall of 2000, but he does not know when the plan will actually go into effect.
