While SGA recently acquiesced to CTV's aggressive drive for funding, the station's future is still up in the air.
Columbia Television officials convinced Barnard's Student Government Association to grant them $1,000 for live filming technology in December-but only after CTV weathered a funding drought that began almost immediately after a large infusion of money two years ago. Since then, CTV and the undergraduate student councils have been engaged in an bitter debate about how much the station needs to remain viable, leading to a strained relationship that has put CTV's financial future at risk.
At the beginning of last year, a funding agreement was set up in which SGA would fund overhead expenses, Activities Board at Columbia would fund programming, and the other undergraduate student councils would fund capital expenditures. Representatives of these bodies said, however, that in the intervening years, CTV abused those funds, missed budget deadlines, and failed to produce the kind of programming that would justify an increase in funds.
"This is the student body's money. We don't just give it to groups that can't follow simple rules," SGA Community Affairs Representative Lindsey Summers, BC '06, said. "We hold all our groups to the same standard of accountability, and CTV has not met those requirements, and it's not fair to the other groups."
ABC and the Barnard council de-recognized CTV and cut the station off from all funding last April, citing a lack of transparency in the leadership, unauthorized spending of money, and invisibility to the student body among the reasons for their actions, which left the station with no operating budget at the beginning of this academic year.
Over the summer, CTV worked to repair its relationship with ABC and was allocated $2,600 through a special appeals procedure. This amount, said CTV Communications Director Alisa Gross, CC '07, is not enough to replace broken equipment and recruit and retain new members.
"We need a larger budget," Gross said. "The technology doesn't break because of us. We use things frequently, and we're very careful with them, but they do run out."
"The reason why we haven't maintained a presence on campus is that we've never had funds," Gross continued. "It's hard to explain to people how much money you need to function in the way WKCR does."
In October, the CTV board approached SGA promising to redress the council's complaints of the previous spring. They also came with an ultimatum: if SGA did not fund their request, the station would not allow participation by Barnard students, who currently compose roughly one third of CTV's staff, according to Gross.
Although pleased with CTV's progress, SGA Vice President of Student Activities Gillian DiPietro, BC '07, said she felt "threatened" by the board's statement, as well as frustrated by their choice to work things out with ABC first.
It was "as if to pressure us because ABC had already made this decision," DiPietro said. "If working with SGA was really as important as they said, why didn't they come to us at the same time?"
CTV is currently still unrecognized by the Barnard council, and will receive no further funds this year, according to Summers. The group could apply for the $1000 in December, though, because of a new capital expenditures fund‑set up so student groups, including inactive ones, can obtain money.
CTV president Kwame Spearman, CC '06, and Columbia College senior class president as well as a Spectator columnist, said he believes that the station needs roughly $10,000 per year to operate successfully. With the assistance of the Columbia College and Engineering Student Councils, the station has put in an appeal for funding to the Office of Student Affairs, hoping to be funded in the same way as WKCR, rather than as a normal student club.
"Now is the critical time. Is this a priority of the administration?" asked Spearman rhetorically, noting that the station is "dying slowly" because of a lack of funds. "A TV station can't be an average club. It's either something that's valued, or it's not going to happen."
Representatives of ABC disputed Spearman's contention that the station needs more money. "A lot of groups that actively program with a budget one tenth the size of CTV affect the lives of Columbia students so much," said Daniel Okin, SEAS '07, the station's ABC representative last year. "It's very hard to justify spending a lot of time helping an organization that doesn't act like they belong in the system."
Okin noted that CTV's Web stream, on which the station relies to reach Barnard and students without TV's, can only handle about ten users at a time, and that the station only puts out about three hours of original programming per week (excluding events coverage).
Spearman flatly denied the truth of these statements and expressed irritation with his station's former representative.
"I don't think Dan Okin has ever watched a CTV show, therefore he doesn't know what he's talking about," Spearman said. "Just because we don't have the CTV equivalent of 'Friends' doesn't mean that we don't have original programming. ... We would love to be able to produce higher level TV shows, but we don't have the funding."
SGA council members indicated that Spearman himself-who has been in charge of CTV since reviving it two years ago-has been part of the reason behind their reluctance to fully fund the station.
"The fact that Kwame's gone will change the whole organization," DiPietro said. "Things are going to be handled a lot different."
According to Spearman, the distrust is mutual, but he said that it should not affect how the Barnard Council funds CTV."
"I don't care if you guys fucking hate me, you need to give us money," he said.
Correction: "CTV, Student Councils Spar Over Money" (Jan. 26) incorrectly stated that CTV had been recognized by ABC and SGA. Both councils currently recognize CTV, though SGA categorizes them as inactive.