The Syracuse football team is 1-5 and, as senior linebacker Kelvin Smith says, the Orange has its hands full.

But this week, something besides improvement has been on the team’s mind. Smith and most of the Orange have been preoccupied with minority issues in response to the stereotypes projected by HillTV’s ‘Over the Hill’ program.

Athletic director Daryl Gross and four football players joined hundreds of students at Hendricks Chapel to discuss the recent minority issue struggles at SU on Thursday night. Smith, Kellen Pruitt, Eugene Newsome and Thomas Whitfield each arrived at Hendricks after practice to hear the array of opinions voiced in an open speak-out.

‘I found it important to come here tonight and see and hear everybody’s views,’ Newsome said. ‘I was really disturbed and appalled by what I saw (in The Daily Orange on Tuesday). I was oblivious to it before then, but when I saw it, I was like, ‘Are you serious?”

Pruitt said football players have been talking about HillTV’s programming this week, including during breaks at practice. Smith attended the town hall meeting Wednesday in the Schine Student Center to voice his opinion.

‘As a student-athlete, I felt like everyone should know that we’re part of the university, too,’ Smith said. ‘I felt it just like everybody.’

At the end of practice Thursday, Pruitt and Smith encouraged some of the players to head to Hendricks. Several campus leaders spoke out against HillTV, describing in detail how they were affected by ‘Over the Hill.’

Chancellor Nancy Cantor spoke first, announcing that HillTV had been disbanded and that a new campus television station will take its place.

Gross, who is part of Cantor’s Cabinet, said he thought the move was appropriate.

‘We came here supporting the decision we made,’ Gross said. ‘And as athletic director, I’m always interested in what’s going on, on campus.’

Gross said the athletic department will address minority issues within its teams in the coming weeks.

Gross has worked with the HillTV sports department in the two semesters he’s been at SU. He expressed regret that the whole station suffered as a result of ‘Over the Hill,’ but believes HillTV needed to be abolished.

‘There’s obviously some people (at HillTV) that have no affiliation with ‘Over the Hill,” Gross said. ‘Since I’ve been here, they’ve done a nice job. We just have to move from this point forward.’

Newsome and Pruitt agreed that HillTV should be dissolved. They added that the students responsible for the content should be expelled from the university.

Smith, though, wasn’t so sure.

‘I’m still debating that,’ Smith said. ‘It’s so hard to judge. That’s a big decision, because this is so new to me.’

Smith said he spoke with SU Director of Football Operations and Player Development Reggie Terry earlier this week about barring HillTV from interviewing the football team.

It was a discussion negated by Cantor’s announcement on Thursday night.

‘As a student-athlete, I just find it disrespectful that you can give me an interview and then go do those things,’ Smith said. ‘I felt like I was lied to.

‘As athletes, we were brought to play for the school and represent the school and you’ve got people who bring us down. It’s bad enough with (the football team’s current 1-5 record).’

Pruitt said he watched HillTV before this week on the Orange Television Network. He had previously seen clips of ‘Over the Hill’ and said he was disgusted with the quality of the program, but did not know how racist it was until this week.

‘The show just sucks,’ Pruitt said. ‘I could make my own show and it would be better. It was just bad.’

Though Gross did not yet know what he will do specifically to address minority issues in the athletic department, he was at Hendricks to support Cantor on Thursday night.

‘Thank God for Dr. Cantor’s passionate commitment to diversity,’ he said. ‘We’ll continue to (promote diversity), and I believe in it. We do everything we can to promote open communication with our coaches.’

Published on October 20, 2005 at 12:00 pm