The panel of three tenured faculty members overturned Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s decision to disband the student-run television station HillTV, which brings mixed reactions from the station members, faculty and students at the university.

Some at SU feel like the judicial hearing, along with the panel’s decision is a huge step to correct Cantor’s Oct. 20 disbandment.

The biggest problem with Cantor’s decision with HillTV was not that she wanted to disband the station and create a new one, but that she did not allow due process to take place, said professor Joel Kaplan, a communications law professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication.

‘That’s what everyone’s so upset about,’ he said. ‘At least someone finally listened to something they had to say.’

Kaplan said he believes Cantor’s decision to disband HillTV violated free speech and the First Amendment, in addition to due process.

Kaplan, along with other Newhouse faculty members, met with Cantor on Oct. 20 minutes before her meeting with the HillTV executive board, Kaplan said.

‘I was told by her speech writer and by her that they were shutting down HillTV no matter what they said,’ Kaplan said.

There is some confusion as to what actions the university has been taking against HillTV since last semester.

Cantor has said several times since Oct. 20 that the university has been taking actions toward HillTV since last semester, Kaplan said. However, the written copy of the board’s decision does not show any documentation that they took any action before the story appeared in The Daily Orange on Oct. 18, he said.

The hearing board consisted of three faculty members whose names were kept secret until Wednesday night after the decision, Kaplan said.

‘I think from their point of view they did the best that they could but they also overstepped their bounds,’ he said.

One of the stipulations in the written decision by the board is that HillTV is required to rename itself before it can become a station again. Kaplan said this oversteps the board’s boundaries.

Kaplan said he does not know any of the faculty members but he said he feels they made the best decision they could and commends them for their hard work.

He said since this was a judicial hearing, he would have liked to seen students involved in the hearing board. Several Newhouse faculty members felt like the university was treating the SU students like they were in high school, Kaplan said.

HillTV General Manager Rich Levy, along with Entertainment Director Emily Wasco, were the station representatives who presented HillTV’s case to the appeal panel.

Even though the members are excited to get their station back, they realize many students on campus were very hurt by the content on the entertainment show ‘Over the Hill.’

‘We sincerely do apologize to all the people who were hurt by the content of ‘Over the Hill,” Levy said.

Dave Abrams, a member of the Facebook ‘Save HillTV’ group, said he thinks it is good news that the station has been reinstated and he is sure they have learned from their mistakes.

Other executive board members of HillTV agree that the past few weeks have been tough without their station.

‘I’m definitely excited,’ said Fabian Westerwelle, the chief engineer and operations manager with HillTV.

Ben Friedfeld, the HillTV sports director, said he felt relief from the decision.

‘I am very happy,’ Friedfeld said. ‘It’s been a couple of really anxious weeks.’

Wasco said she is stepping down from her position next semester because she is going abroad to Madrid.

‘I was thrilled. We’ve been on edge,’ Wasco said. ‘Nothing that they have requested of us is unfair or unreasonable.’

Now the members of HillTV are going to focus on working to correct problems such as not having enough oversight, said Cristina Redondo, executive producer in the sports department for HillTV.

‘Something we have been commended on throughout this entire process has been our professionalism,’ Redondo said.

Additionally the mood has changed at the station since the disbandment, Redondo said. She remembers it really hitting home when one night General Manager of the Orange Television Network Andy Robinson asked them to leave so he could lock up, she said.

‘We just recently got keys back,’ she said.

Like Abrams, other SU students agree that it was a good decision to have the students’ voices heard.

‘I thought (Cantor’s) decision was bad in the first place,’ said B.J. Steiner, a member of the ‘Save HillTV’ Facebook group.

He said even though the outcry from the students was valid, Cantor should have taken more time to make a decision and that her haste attacked the basic rights as Americans. He said it was sad to see an institution like SU violate free speech.

Not all students said they feel the same way.

LaShauna Carr, a senior design tech major and member of the ‘Cancel HillTV’ Facebook group, agrees with Cantor’s decision and said she thinks something drastic needed to be done at SU to show the problems that occur between some students.

‘I’m really not surprised that it’s back together,’ Carr said. ‘The university doesn’t take things seriously.’

She said she agrees with the board’s decision for HillTV to have an adviser, and it is a step in the right direction of monitoring the station. However, she said, ‘An adviser is just a name on a paper’ for most student organizations at SU.

Despite her disappointment, Carr said she thinks everyone involved and hurt by ‘Over the Hill’ has learned a valuable lesson.

‘What those guys did was hateful, but it doesn’t mean you should hate them,’ Carr said.

Published on November 30, 2005 at 12:00 pm