The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is working to bring mtvU, a cable network catered specifically to the collegiate audience, to Tufts.
The station, an offshoot of the larger MTV network, has obtained an audience of 7.5 million students at over 750 campuses since its Jan. 2004 launch. It is offered at no cost to either students or administrations.
According to mtvU General Manager Stephen Friedman, Tufts is one of the last schools in Massachusetts not to have MTV.
Sophomore Senator C.J. Mourning, who is leading the effort to bring the station to campus, said that the project is still in its beginning stages but has promise.
According to Mourning, senators have already met with an MTV representative.
"Now we're talking to different administrators to see if there are any obstacles," she said.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman met with Mourning on Tuesday and the Senate executive board yesterday to discuss the issue.
"[The] student government seems to be quite in favor of it," he said.
And so far, he is too.
"We're doing a little research on it ... but it does not seem that there are obstacles of substance to having this move forward, at least to the next step," Reitman said.
Unlike the original MTV, mtvU strays from mainstream pop music, focusing instead on new, up-and-coming groups that appeal to its target audience.
"We've never played a Britney video," Friedman said. "What we want to do is find those artists that have a real powerful college following or brand new bands that most people haven't heard of that college kids are talking about."
As such, much of the content is student-driven.
"Programming is really coming from the universities," Friedman said. He specifically mentioned the show "Stand In," in which cultural icons come to schools to serve as guest teachers.
But celebrities are not the only ones given airtime as talent-search programs offer students a chance to stand in the limelight.
"We really think of mtvU as an incubator for student talent and we are eager to highlight the students and showcase them nationally," Friedman said.
The network also has an activism focus, which its management displays through weekly grants to "students that are doing something to improve the community or the campus," he said.
Larger awards are available too; mtvU has helped create four Fulbright Fellowships to illustrate the ways "in which any kind of music is an important tool for social change," Friedman said.
The network has also engaged in larger projects such as its Sudan Campaign, which for the past three years has been informing college students about the war-ravaged country.
TCU President Neil DiBiase said he supports bringing mtvU to campus.
"I think anytime we can give students more options, it's beneficial," he said.
"[It] is a great resource for our campus network and will hopefully also be a great resource for our students and student groups."
Reitman stressed that the channel would simply be a new option for students, which they may or may not opt to take advantage of.
"I worry about spam - you know sending out too many e-mails or too much information, but this is just another channel in a lineup that already includes lots of channels," he said. "Students can either turn it on or not so it's really not going to be a presence that anyone can't avoid easily if they don't like it."
Reitman said that things are currently looking optimistic.
"It's not a done deal yet but I think it could become easily become one," he said.
