Earlier this month, BET debuted its latest drama, called The Quad. As its name suggests, it takes place at and tells the story of students at a fictional HBCU. Despite solid reviews, one HBCU president has taken issue with the show, despite only seeing the debut episode.
Hampton University president William R. Harvey wrote a very angry letter in response that criticized the show for representing HBCU’s poorly, both in their students interests and their administrative handling of events. His letter (which you can read in full here) concluded that The Quad, “feeds a false narrative about the irrelevance of HBCUs.”
In an interview with Ebony, BET CEO Debra Lee said she had a private conversation with Dr. Harvey and that she respects his opinion. During the conversation, she stressed to the Hampton University President that “this was a fictional story. It’s not representing any particular college.”
Anika Noni Rose, who stars in The Quad also responded in slightly less conservative fashion, saying, “the show is a fiction, but the show is a fiction based on fact. A lot of the things that we are dealing with and talking about are taken straight from the headlines of what has happened at schools, so to pretend that these things don’t happen is ridiculous.”
Rose concludes, “if it’s not for you, turn the station.” Has anyone been following along with The Quad through it’s first few episodes? The next episode airs on Wednesday at 10pm on BET.