Calvin Video Network (CVN) is a student organization much maligned for its lack of consistent programming, poor quality of shows and repeated showings of past Dance Guilds and Airbands. Even members of CVN will admit that their station needs improvement. CVN is admired for one production in particular, however: Airband videos - the movies, ``commercials'' and faux-music videos re-written with a Calvin theme, emphasizing satire and running jokes.

In the weeks preceding Airband, students involved in CVN were often asked about the theme of this year's show and if such favorites as ``COPS: Campus Safety Edition'' and ``Redballs'' were returning.

Various members of CVN spent nearly every day of Interim and the first two weeks of second semester taping and editing their short videos, most of which ran fewer-than four minutes, sacrificing sleep, homework and the opportunity to see friends in order to finish in time for their one big show of the year.

Last fall, CVN General Manager Teresa Woolworth spoke with Tim Scholten, chair of the Airband Committee, about a time limit for CVN's Airband contributions. Scholten did not provide one until a week before Airband, when he e-mailed Woolworth and asked that CVN keep their total footage to 45 minutes. Luckily for Woolworth, that was the same amount of time CVN had allotted themselves, knowing that playing any more than 45 minutes of video footage might cause the show to go a little too long.

So imagine Woolworth's surprise Friday night when Scholten approached her after the third of 10 acts and asked her to cut CVN's videos because the show was going too long. When Woolworth protested, reminding Scholten that she was well within the limit he had provided her and reminded him of not only the many hours members of CVN dedicated to creating the videos but also the time set aside by faculty members featured in one of the videos to be cut, Assistant Dean for Student Development John Britton and Chaplain Dale Cooper.

That held little weight with Scholten, who told Woolworth that CVN's videos were ``expendable.'' It is utterly ridiculous that a student organization who, after having spent months preparing for an event, picking the order of videos and creating a master tape with all of those videos, be told to just cut in the middle of the show.

Why was the show running longer than expected? Airband started late; the Airband Committee did not enforce the eight-minute time limit (videos included); and the addition of President Byker's 10-minute act came to the attention of the committee only after they had planned the show. None of this is anything over which CVN has any control.

Even worse, after CVN complied with Scholten's request, the show suffered several moments without any videos or acts. This was attributed to ``technical difficulties.'' While there were technical difficulties, mainly because of loose wires, they did not include a lack of footage. The fast-forwarding and rewinding through the master tape in order to cut videos caused additional technical problems. CVN had prepared enough footage to air - and eventually they did - to prevent dead air during the judging. Because of Scholten's direction to cut skits, the video meant to be shown the downtime during judging was actually aired before the last act took stage.

In the end, they chose to run the videos they cut: a mockumentary about the Student Senate Book Sale and a look at ``acts that did not make it into Airband'' as performed by Britton and Cooper.

The result was a disjointed presentation. The videos should have been shown in a certain order with specific introductions and follow-up comments by CVN host Nathan Bierma. When Scholten asked that some be removed, CVN took out what they thought were the weaker videos, only to be played at the end, while the stronger videos, like Cops and Redballs, were played much earlier in the lineup than they should have been.

The Airband Committee should stop taking itself and its own opinions so seriously and start asking students around campus whether or not the CVN videos are ``expendable.'' It is likely that they would discover just the opposite: as Airband acts have begun to look alike (How many times do we need to hear Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and J-Lo in one year?), CVN's videos have been improving, both qualitatively and creatively.

As much fun as the acts are, remember that no one counts on what they learn making an Airband act to make a living, but it is quite possible that students at CVN will enter into some sort of video production as a full-time vocation.

CVN is doing what most student organizations do not: meeting a large goal set at the beginning of the year, namely, producing a show student anticipate. These videos are talked about all year long. Students laugh at them and quote them to their friends. Even better, the concepts for these videos are thought up by students, produced by students and, most of the time, starred in by students, which is more than can be said of Airband acts anymore (particularly if Friday night's performance by President Byker is indicative of future Airbands).

Simply put, in spite of their hard work and dedication to creating high-quality entertainment for the student body at Airband, CVN was forced to cheat students out of the high quality production than they had prepared. Blame should instead fall with the Airband Committee for either admitting too many acts into the show or not running the show smoothly. The Airband Committee has one responsibility all year long: to produce Airband. If they can't even handle that properly, CVN should not be punished for it.

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