We’re
addicted to them. On any given day of the week we make a mad dash to the TV or
set the DVR to hear our favorite tag lines in our favorite reality show. Love
and Hip Hop Atlanta, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Married to Medicine and Basketball Wives take precedence during water cooler talk. These shows have instantly made some of the most ratchet of
people household names and dumped a truckload of money in their hands to keep
America occupied with fights, delusions of grandeur and conflict on epic
proportions.
What
if UDC had a reality Television show?
The
idea wouldn’t be so far fetched. Nine years ago, BET began to air an original
series, College Hill that lasted seven seasons. College Hill followed the lives
of Historically Black College students from around the country – which were
some of BET’s highest rated shows. MTV
also followed suit three years ago and released a season of “College Life”
which followed freshman and sophomores at school University of Wisconsin at
Madison.
There
is a specific market for this. Because we are used to watching television a lot
of people are taking advantage of YouTube and webisodes. This allows people to
watch shows on the go that don’t take the standard 30 minutes to watch.
Currently
there is a new reality show being cast called “Dorm Biz” it will be “The search
for American college students who possess the entrepreneurial ambition to
launch the next global brand.” Dorm Biz is being produced by Alloy Digital who
boasts 8 million YouTube subscribers and are currently casting for 8 college
students.
There
are several reasons why UDC would benefit from a reality show. In light of
recent budget cuts and rightsizing, UDC could capitalize on this opportunity by
doing three things which all-equal revenue.
One
of the main benefits of a reality television show for UDC would be to increase
enrollment, which would in turn increase revenue. With more students, UDC cannot
only increase their retention rate from 54% but it would also increase on
revenue approximately 14k per new student. In season 3 of College Hill, Virginia State
University was depicted. According to the University’s website, the University
saw there was a 2 percent increase in out-of-state students, from 1,483 to
1,529 and the number of in-state students increased from 3,343 to 4,572
according to the university’s Web site. With this extra money, UDC could
actually directly invest the extra enrollment revenue directly to departments
to enhance the student experience without relying on DC government to funds to
take care of things that can be handled in house.
A reality show at UDC would not only advertise
our campus, but it would create and present opportunities that would be
beneficial to students and to specific departments. The first benefit would be
to the Mass Media Department, specifically Television Production. A reality
show could mean hands on experience and internship credit for students while
heightening awareness for the program. It would appeal to students who are
aspiring to have careers in television production while giving the program a competitive
edge over neighboring schools - neighboring schools that are costly, exclusive with absurdly competitive programs that do not cater to everyone. With the proper promotion and media attention,
this could also garner attention from local television studios to recruit for
jobs and or receive donations in the form of equipment or other perks to the
Television Production department. With
the strategic highlight of events – a reality show could be easy promotional
tool for what is going on what is going on at UDC, the Good, bad and the ugly.
UDC could take this opportunity to transform the University and showcase it as
the premier public University in Washington D.C.
Overall it would be a call to action for the
educated, philanthropists of D.C. to invest in their own communities. UDC could
take this to the next level, a reality show would mean enrollment, which would
lead to a larger endowment and eventually empowerment for the university.
Finally, a reality show taking place at UDC, a
Historically Black College would specifically change the stereotypes of Black
students in the District. With College Hill, specifically during the second
season at Langston University people complained about the way students and the
University was portrayed. David Stevens, national president of the Langston
University Alumni Association, stated “We are questioning what are the motives
behind presenting many of the negative aspects without showing the good that
goes on."
With most reality shows in the current market
portray Blacks in a stereotypical fashion. We’re mostly displayed as ratchet, “turnt
up,” belligerent, uneducated clowns. That
may be an aspect of culture, however we can also combine that with educated,
talented, innovative, smart, well-rounded students who could potentially
represent a new brand of black students while promoting a new brand of the
University of the District of Columbia.
