Administrators Halt Cable Plan

Concerns from administrators have halted a plan that was in the works last spring to bring cable into the Houses, leaving the students involved and College officials with differing views as to the status of the “Crimson Cable” project.

According to the original proposal, students would be able to access 250 channels offered by DirecTV in their dorm rooms, with the signal sent over the Houses’ power lines, for $25 to $35 a month.

Nicholas J. Castine ’09, who had taken charge of the technical aspects of the proposal, had hoped to do a test-run over the summer, but minimal progress has been made in the past three months, with several e-mails and a meeting in late August being the only steps taken.

Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd—along with representatives from FAS Computer Support, University Information Systems, and Facilities Management and Operations—met with Castine and Uundergraduate Council (UC) Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 several weeks ago. Also present at the meeting was an outside technical consultant hired by the school.

“They hadn’t really been very forthcoming with us—they didn’t tell us they were getting this consulting company,” Castine said.

Castine said the administration did not inform him of the concerns the consultant would be raising at the meeting—leaving him no time to confer with engineers he has been working with and see if the issues could be addressed.

“The meeting couldn’t be productive,” Castine said. “You’ve got to give the other side a chance to look into what you’re looking into.”

Echoing these concerns, UC President Ryan A. Petersen ’08 was also critical of the administration’s actions throughout the summer.

“When the administration is unwilling to give us access to the consultant or provide us with written documentation of problems, it’s impossible for us to be part of a constructive solution to this with the University,” he said.

However, according to Kidd, Castine did receive an e-mail detailing the school’s concerns. Kidd said the meeting was productive and served to end the discussion on bringing television into the Houses at this time.

“At this point I consider the conversation about cable TV to be closed,” Kidd said. “I’ve brought in as many resources as we can. I’m comfortable that we’ve followed a good process on this.”

The concerns brought up at the meeting included the quality of the picture, the need to cool the room in the basement of each House where the power source would be located, and the possibility that the signal would interfere with other signals, such as those used by Cambridge residents for television service.

In e-mail correspondence between Kidd and Castine in late July, obtained by The Crimson, it appeared as though some of the concerns brought up at the meeting were mentioned beforehand while others were not.

While Kidd was emphatic in her assertion that “the College is not going to re-entertain this question,” Castine said he was still waiting to get the specific concerns in writing so that he could pass them onto the engineers he had been collaborating with.

Petersen believes that the issue is still up for discussion and said that he plans to pursue the Crimson Cable project, whether Castine’s plan survives or not.

“I think that shutting the door on this is not an adequate response given the time and resources that students and the administration has dedicated to the issue,” he said.

—Staff writer Victoria B. Kabak can be reached at vkabak@fas.harvard.edu.