Editor’s Note:At 5:30 on Oct. 19 The Daily Orange chose to remove the link to the video clips of ‘Over the Hill’ from our Web site. We stand behind the original decision to post them because it was important that members of the campus community have a chance to view a compilation of the clips for themselves. At this point, the vast majority of those people who need to see the clips, have seen them.

We favor complete disclosure and transparency, especially in such a serious situation. But we in no way wish to perpetuate the actions of ‘Over the Hill’ in a way that threatens or offends members of the Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF community. And do not wish to appeal to the carnal or voyeuristic interests of those far outside SU.

If anyone would like a electronic version of the clips we are happy to furnish a link by email. Please contact us at [email protected] and we will be happy to furnish a copy.

– Jared Novack & Elyse AndrewsEditor in Chief & Managing Editor

Recently an episode of HillTV’s comedy show ‘Over the Hill’ was removed from the station’s Web site due to concerns about offensive content.

For the last year, the parody news show, modeled after ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,’ has been filming and broadcasting on the station’s Web site and the Orange Television Network. While the original premise of the show was to satirize campus and national news, it has since deviated into segments about ‘smelly Indian kids,’ jokes about mentally retarded people and Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s desire for ‘thick black sausage.’

‘Over the Hill’ and all HillTV programming is funded through a significant portion of the Student Activity Fee.

In the removed episode, anchor Shawn Abraham, one of the co-creators and producers, jokes about September’s Student Association-University Union conflict about the possibility of bringing Kanye West for a benefit concert. He says ‘Well, I guess this confirms what we already knew: President (Travis) Mason does not care about black people.’ Former HillTV General Manager Chris Milkovich, whose term ended about one month ago, and his staff removed the show by choice because they felt the comment could be offensive, he said.

‘There were no implications there, no harm,’ Abraham said.

The joke was meant to play off of West’s comments on Sept. 2 at NBC’s live Hurricane Katrina benefit, Abraham said. West stated President George W. Bush doesn’t care about black people and cited the government’s slow response in New Orleans.

On March 17, HillTV aired a skit that said former SU basketball center Craig Forth should have been born black and that he was mildly retarded. Soon after, Forth complained about the episode, and Milkovich pulled it.

In the show, reporter Nate Mattise said Forth was ‘unable to get into college like normal teenagers because of his mild retardation,’ so to stand out, Forth won a spelling bee against ‘a field of poor-smelling but intelligent Indian kids.’ The sketch also said that ‘(Forth’s) life would have been much different had he been born into the world of cornrows and rims.’ Mattise declined comment, referring all questions to current General Manager Rich Levy.

Though the March 17 episode is no longer linked on the HillTV Web site, it still exists on its servers and is linked from Abraham’s personal Web site.

The show’s pilot is not on the HillTV Web site, but 11 shows dating back to the spring 2004 debut still remained linked on the site until Monday evening. The episodes are no longer linked on the ‘Over the Hill’ page, but are still publicly accessible on university servers.

All contain potentially offensive jokes about black people, Indians (both American and those from India), women, date rape, eating disorders and even lynching.

Racist or racial?As Abraham watched a compilation of clips throughout the show’s history, he laughed at first, but then grew silent. He clasped his hands as the scenes rolled.

In one episode, reporter Christopher Whalen reflects on the differences between SU today and when it was founded.

‘Today, students enjoy Frisbee, football and cricket on the Quad. Back in 1870, fun on the Quad was all about lynching people. Doesn’t get much more fun than that, folks,’ Whalen says in the segment, as a black-and-white photo of two dead black men hanging from a tree overtakes the screen.

In the holiday episode, Whalen describes what to get a black friend for ‘Christ … no, Kwanzaa,’ including fried chicken, a black glove (‘If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit,’ he says, alluding to the O.J. Simpson murder trial), and a 32-ounce orange soda.

‘This one’s for me’ he says, taking a sip. ‘And this is for my homies,’ he says as he pours some onto the floor. ‘Happy fucking Kwanzaa.’

Whalen declined to comment, saying the show’s producers could speak on his behalf.

Whalen’s sketches were always more of an inside joke than anything else, Abraham said. They often played off Whalen, who is white, and his love for rap music.

‘We were absolutely not trying to offend,’ Abraham said. ‘It was just looking at an aspect of that culture that (Whalen is) just totally disconnected from but so infatuated with.’

Black people were not the only group that was a punch line to jokes. Women, and often sorority sisters, were targets as well.

In the 2004 Halloween episode, HillTV aired a fake murder story titled ‘Whorrer strikes.’

In the show, Abraham details the murder of 10 Delta Delta Delta sisters, who were killed with a candlestick by an unidentified man.

‘Some say that the seemingly supernatural killings had to do with Halloween spookiness, but we all know it was because they couldn’t keep their legs closed,’ he says.

In the last episode of the fall 2004 semester, Abraham also calls rape prevention ‘comedic gold.’

Two Rape Advocacy, Prevention and Education Center administrators were shown this clip and watched with mouths open.

‘I don’t even know what to say,’ said Dessa Bergen-Cico, associate dean of students and supervisor for the R.A.P.E. Center, trailing off. ‘I don’t even know what to say.’

Research shows people with such misogynistic views tend to have biases against races and other minority populations as well, Bergen-Cico said.

‘My concern is that these are the kinds of attitudes that promote rape,’ said Janet Epstein, associate director of the center.

Milkovich said many of the clips were inappropriate. Abraham agreed.

‘In the earlier episodes,’ Abraham said, ‘that just wasn’t in my head at all: What will people think about this?’

But not all of those mentioned in segments are as offended.

Though Mason said he did not take the comments about him personally, he noted a double standard.

‘If I were to say that the newscaster who put this thing together hated white people, people would be calling for my resignation,’ he said.

Both Milkovich and Abraham defended the Mason clip.

‘It was not a racist comment, but it was a racial comment,’ Milkovich said.

Racial jokes can be acceptable if done with the entertainment of the targeted group, said Hub Brown, chair of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications broadcast journalism department.

‘The difference between racial humor and racist humor,’ Brown said, ‘is that if you make race jokes and you’re only doing jokes about black people and Hispanic people and everyone’s laughing, that’s a racial joke.’ He shook his head and sighed while watching the Mason and Forth clips. ‘If you’re doing jokes about black people and Hispanic people and only the white people are laughing, you probably just made a racist joke.’

Calls to Forth’s home in East Greenbush went unreturned.

Abraham sent an apology to Forth in March and willingly took the show of the site.

‘It seemed almost impossible to me that that could be seen as offensive,’ Abraham said. ‘Maybe that’s my own shortsightedness.’

Abraham stands by the show and his cast, but now realizes the potential concerns the show could raise.

‘There were a lot more inside jokes,’ Abraham said, ‘a lot more pushing the envelope, a lot of jokes done for shock value, a lot more easy laughs at stereotypes. We weren’t trying to continue them; we were playing with preconceived notions. Our show’s not smart enough to get that across.’

Ignorance or culpabilityBefore this school year, there was never a formal script review process, Milkovich said.

Abraham, who wrote much of the content and often edited scripts with contributors and reporters, was the last person to see the script before it was committed to film, he said.

Abraham, Milkovich, Levy and Carrie Grogan-Abbott, HillTV’s adviser, all said there was not enough oversight or guidance last year.

Though Grogan-Abbott initially said she had seen all of the ‘Over the Hill’ shows, she was surprised to see the lynching scene as well as those joking about rape, calling it ‘very inappropriate.’

‘I watch what I can, but most of the time I trust I don’t need to watch it,’ Grogan-Abbott said, explaining that watching each episode of every show is not part of her role as adviser. She had watched the Forth and Mason episodes before they were pulled, but said she was sorry she had not seen the others.

The HillTV Web site had not been updated for several months, and though that does not excuse the shows remaining on the site, it was a small reason why some questionable content went unnoticed, Grogan-Abbott said.

After the Craig Forth episode was pulled, Grogan-Abbott and the executive staff put the show under closer scrutiny. The last episode of the year never made it to air because of excessive content about alcohol that was discovered in a script review, Milkovich said.

‘It was April, everyone was halfway out the door,’ Grogan-Abbott said. ‘Maybe it didn’t get enough attention last semester as it does now.’

Last year’s episodes were a ‘learning curve’ Abraham said, and admitted he was surprised such content was allowed then compared to the things being removed from shows now.

There were also times when the guidelines were ignored, Abraham said, such as when reporters and anchors were allowed to curse. Abraham said there was confusion as to how much the cast could ‘push the envelope.’

‘As far as what got said and content, it comes through me,’ Abraham said. ‘Maybe I should have been smarter, but maybe someone should have been guiding me a little more.’

More oversight

After the Mason sketch was pulled from the air at the beginning of the semester, Milkovich chose, as his last act as HillTV general manager, to allow the show to stay in production, with the stipulation that it comply with script review before filming or posting to the Web.

At the suggestion of Milkovich and the executive staff, Grogan-Abbott took a more active role, screening the next episode after it was shot with new General Manager Rich Levy, who took the office about three weeks ago. Levy was not general manager for the Mason or Forth episodes, nor any of the episodes last semester.

The semester’s second show never made it to the Web site. The show included scenes of students funneling a beverage while cohorts chant ‘apple cider, apple cider;’ a story that mentions that a kidnapped child is affected with Down’s Syndrome and references, but not jokes about, Mason and Director of Athletics Daryl Gross.

‘We were told not to mention Travis Mason. Period,’ Abraham said. ‘Which I felt kind of weird about because if you can’t touch a public figure, who can you touch?’

The decisions involved in not airing or pulling the last four shows were based entirely on appeasing the Student Association and administration and not about the show, said ‘Over the Hill’ co-creator Matt Herman, who no longer works for the show.

‘Rich (Levy) would rather scrap an entire show,’ Herman said. ‘We were willing to cut an entire block out so we could use it, we said we could edit it, and he wouldn’t let us do it. People are watching their asses because they don’t want to get touched by SA.’

Grogan-Abbott, Milkovich and Levy said the script review is not censorship since HillTV requested it, but rather a way to help improve the quality of the show and help the students use better judgment in writing.

‘What we’re trying to do here is about helping the producers of the show make better decisions about their programming,’ Grogan-Abbott said.

The station has longstanding common sensitivity rules that apply to all shows to help produce quality programming, Levy said. These rules forbid racist and explicit content and content that glorifies the use of alcohol. It also reminds students that their content is not just for college students, but for anyone who may find it on the Web.

‘We just wanted to talk to ‘Over the Hill,” Levy said. ‘We’ve been doing that with all of the different shows: going over guidelines for the common sensitivity. We just need to go over it one more time with ‘Over the Hill.”

‘What (the producers) don’t understand is that HillTV executive staff members are just as frustrated,’ Milkovich said. ‘What they don’t see is the greater implications for the station as a whole.’

The guidelines are too vague and based on Grogan-Abbott’s and Levy’s opinions, Herman said.

‘We’re being held to a level almost like we’re producing shows for ‘Sesame Street,” Herman said.

While the university has the legal right to censor because it funds HillTV, it has agreed not to interfere unless requested with media organizations’ content.

The university’s Student Organization Handbook 2005 states that student publications will be free from advance approval of content, and that advisers encourage responsibility and provide support ‘but they do not have the authority to control the policies and practices of such organizations.’

‘That’s what this is about – censorship.’ Abraham said. ‘It’s interesting to me that we’re being held to a higher standard than the real news when we’re just students.’

Being students is not an excuse for offensive content, said Brown, the Newhouse professor.

‘You’re going to offend folks and you’re going to make people mad,’ Brown said. ‘And that’s fine. But if they want to do this stuff, then they shouldn’t be surprised when someone calls them a racist.’

Though the students need more oversight and more help making educated decisions, the idea of the university stepping in is ‘troublesome,’ Brown said.

The university and HillTV have always had a good relationship, Milkovich said, so the current conflict about what some ‘Over the Hill’ staffers are calling censorship is more a question of how much freedom should college media be given.

‘Should there be more freedom on a college campus?’ Milkovich said. ‘That’s something I think we’re still trying to figure out.’

The area of law about university and censorship is murky, Brown said, referencing the 1988 Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier case, in which the Supreme Court found that principals of public high schools have the right act as publisher and can censor student publications in which content is obscene or defamatory or is inconsistent with the educational mission of the school.

According to the Student Press Law Center, there have been several state cases debating whether a university has Hazelwood rights, but each case has ruled against the university.

‘It’s like a high school paper and our principal is the university,’ Milkovich said. ‘We’re not going to jeopardize that relationship.’

The future Levy said he hopes the script review process is a temporary one, and that the producers will create shows that won’t need oversight.

‘The issue is with one show at this point,’ Grogan-Abbott said. ‘It’s not my role to review scripts, but I think this is a temporary situation.’

The HillTV executive staff, which includes Levy and the department heads of each division, has been reworking the organization’s bylaws, including parts about the selection of department heads and how to cancel a show, Levy said.

‘We don’t want to cancel the shows at HillTV,’ Levy said. ‘It’s not like it was put in there like ‘Oh, we’re going to go use that tomorrow.”

The decision to cancel and how long the script review process will last is a matter of how long the students are willing to put up with it, Grogan-Abbott said.

Cantor was unavailable to comment on the organization or the comments about her.

Grogan-Abbott, Levy and Milkovich all said despite the challenge emulating ‘The Daily Show’ and creating humorous and intelligent content presents, they believe the producers will be able to turn the show around.

‘I have 100 percent faith in those producers,’ Milkovich said. ‘They’re funny kids.’

Milkovich said he believes the new executive staff and the producers will be able to work together to create a kind of show that will not need the script review process.

The writers and reporters are working to incorporate the suggestions and changes, Abraham said.

The sort of content that was typical last semester will never be seen again, both Milkovich and Abraham promised.

‘Over the Hill’ is currently in the process of choosing its new producers, Abraham said. Though the switch would have happened by the end of the semester, because frustrations about the script review process, it is now happening a little earlier, he said.

‘I kind of wish we got in trouble earlier,’ Abraham said, ‘so we could have done this about-face before.’

 

Published on October 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm