NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY

North Carolina Central University Relies on Time Warner Cable Business Class Raleigh Division for Campus-Wide Cable Television Services

Background

North Carolina Central University was chartered in 1909 and opened its doors to students in 1910 as the National Religious Training School. The school was sold and reorganized in 1915 as the National Training School. In 1923, the General Assembly of North Carolina appropriated funds for the purchase and maintenance of the school, which thus became a publicly-supported institution as Durham State Normal School. Two years later, the General Assembly redefined the mission of the school, naming it the North Carolina College for Negroes, thus becoming the nation's first state-supported liberal arts college for African American students. The General Assembly of 1939 authorized the establishment of graduate study programs in liberal arts and the professions. Graduate courses in the Arts and Sciences were offered that year, while the School of Law began operation in 1940, and the School of Library Science was established in 1941. In 1947, the General Assembly changed the name of the institution to North Carolina College at Durham. North Carolina College at Durham became North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in 1969.

Challenges

NCCU requires campus-wide cable television services in all of its residence halls, student union building, and cable-accessible classrooms as appropriate. Ten of the campus residence halls are operated by the university’s Residential Life department and cater to up to 2,400. One additional hall is privately-operated and operates at capacity with just over 400 students.

The university previously received basic cable television services across its campus from a competing provider. However, only a small number of basic cable channels were provided and the company was not based locally. As a result, if a problem arose with their cable service, a university administrator was required to call the company’s regional office to schedule a service call. On average, the previous provider took between 2 to 4 business days to respond to the issue. As a large university system, NCCU could not afford to operate with such significant delays and cable downtime.

Solution

During the summer of 2004, NCCU moved its cable television services contract from the competitive solution to Time Warner Cable Business Class Raleigh Division. Time Warner Cable offered the university a much more diverse cable channel package customized with over 77 channels that were better-geared toward the needs and interests of typical college students.

Installation took place over the summer while school was not in regular session. In conjunction with the university’s IT department, Time Warner Cable first installed new equipment and services in buildings that housed summer school students and classrooms before moving on to other buildings across campus.

“Overall, the process went very smoothly and was painless from our point of view,” said Jennifer Wilder, Director of Residential Life for NCCU. “Our summer school students experienced very little downtime during the transition and were very excited when the new upgraded service was implemented.”

By using Time Warner Cable Business Class, NCCU is able to take advantage of the benefits of using a locally-based cable service provider. Broader offerings, quicker response times and better overall customer service have decreased the university’s operational expenses and have negated previous frustrations due to lack of channel diversity and downtime.

“We have received great feedback from our students and other university administrators who are very pleased with the level of service and diversity of channels Time Warner Cable has provided across our campus,” said Wilder. “We are now able to offer our students and university community a more diverse channel selection that better suits their needs and interests and a more responsive customer service team – both of which are vital ingredients in being able to attract and maintain a satisfied student housing population.”