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Students Say "College Hill" Not for Howard U.

By Jana Homes
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Howard University Students call it unlikely that "College Hill" would be allowed to film at Howard University.

The second season of BET's "College Hill" features a new cast of stereotypes, including "the baby momma," "the rump shaker" and "the punk rocker." At Howard University, students were critical of last year's season, and many doubted that Howard would allow the show to be filmed there.

The first season was filmed at Southern University, and the representation of that school reflected poorly on all HBCUs, they said. It was a sentiment not expressed just at Howard.

"The trailblazers who worked to create an educational oasis are turning over" in their graves, said Southern alumna Niki Moses on a message board on the Web site of The Southern Digest, the campus newspaper.

However, not everyone saw a problem.

"I don't at all think it would take anything away from the school just because you witnessed someone trying to get her some on the last episode," another Southern alumna, Cyana Campbell, wrote on the same message board. "Be it Southern University's campus or Howard University's, [negative behavior] is popping up everywhere."

Some at Howard said that no matter the institution, the show would portray the most negative aspects possible.

"I would hope there wouldn't be a Howard version of the show, because I feel like whatever footage they shot would be strategically edited to make the participants out to be sex- and alcohol-obsessed fools," said Nicole Cuellar, a sophomore art major who said she did not enjoy the way the show painted Southern University students.

"If they had [a reality show] on Howard's campus, there's no telling what would happen," said Chris Lewis, a senior political science major. "I think we, as a college community, are too proud of the legacy we carry on here to really get caught up in that. But I'm 100 percent sure that there are at least eight people on this campus that would fit the bill for their exhibition of young, black dysfunction . . . I think every season will end up being the same -- embarrassing."

Others agreed that some students would be happy to give the network the fodder it needed.

"The network would probably pick the wildest people that auditioned to represent the university as a whole," said Cassie McGill, a freshman biology major who said she didn't believe that Howard's administration would allow the show to be filmed there.

"Howard is a prestigious school and I don't think that the administration would be open to any of the negative media attention that the show would attract," McGill said. "But I didn't let that influence my opinion of HBCU life, because I knew it was a misrepresentation and that the majority of the students weren't like that."

Others said they believed that it was the nature of the reality show beast that caused the problems -- not just the misbehavior of a few students.

In its casting and advertising, the show took a cast member from each of eight stereotypical groups and ran commercials that labeled each student as one of the stereotypes.

The program ran under the advertising campaign, "8 students + 1 roof = 2 much drama."

Jana Homes is a student at Howard University who writes for The Hilltop.

Posted Jan. 31, 2005