Senior Zhivko Illeieff came back from Spring Break this semester and noticed that there was something different about the University of Richmond. As he walked through the commons, through the library, through the dining hall and through academic buildings, Illeieff saw televisions.
Illeieff, a native of Bulgaria, said that when he saw all of the televisions on campus he felt a weird energy and decided to create a song about the unnecessary abundance of televisions. Illeieff, who has a hobby of creating music and films, also asked a couple of friends to help him produce a video about the televisions.
"The main goal was to make people aware," Illeieff said. "It's hard [for students] to be aware when they don't question their surroundings. Take a minute and look around to see that that many televisions are not normal."
Illeieff said that he doesn't doubt the usefulness of televisions but that he thinks there are more ways to endorse causes around campus. He said that there should be an atmosphere of constant questioning at Richmond among students, professors and administration.
The only open dialogue between the school and the students that Illeieff said he has seen on campus is the board at d-hall where students can make suggestions about the food that is served. He said that he thinks maybe a weird video like his could garner more attention.
"At the most clear state of mind, I want the administration to provide a dialogue with students about their decision making," Illeieff said. "My video could help students start to question the administration and the actions that it takes."
A couple of the questions that Illeieff wants answered include: who made the decision to purchase all of the televisions, why were they placed in the areas where they are on campus, why does the university need all of the televisions and did the people who made the purchases ask the students what they thought about the addition of televisions.
Illeieff said that he is hopeful that something constructive will come out of his video.
"I want to move the spotlight away from me and onto the issue," Illeieff said. "I'm the means by which the issue came into the spotlight."
Senior Phil Opsasnick, a friend of Illeieff's, supports the cause.
"I think it's cool that he saw something that he didn't agree with and he did something about it in a creative way," Opsasnic said.
At the end of the video, titled 'Unnecessary Televisions', Illeieff and the group who helped produce the video asked for student opinions about the televisions on campus. The five students who were interviewed disagreed with Illeieff and said that they think the televisions are useful.
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All of the students interviewed said the televisions in the commons were the most effective in promoting events and one student said that the use of televisions reduced the amount of paper that normally would have been used for flyers for these events.
"It's cool to express my radical views and then see the student population justify it," Illeieff said.
Illeieff, seniors John Alulis and Tyler Fox, and junior Hristiyan Hristov did all of their filming in one day to create the film 'Unnecessary Televisions'. The group shot footage with an HD video camera and used a computer program called FL Studio to generate the music.
The video was posted on Facebook and Illeief said he has had a couple of professors comment that they like the video. He also said that if you type in 'unnecessary televisions' into youtube, his video is the first hit.
"We are young and don't have a lot to lose," Illeieff said. "We should be more open and more critical."
Creating films and music are just two of Illeieff's hobbies. He is also in the process of creating a non- profit organization, with help from a few of his classmates, which will provide technological instruction to communities who have access to digital resources.
The organization, A Voice to the World, began when Illeieff noticed what he calls the 'digital divide'. The digital divide, Illeieff said, is an international problem, as well as a problem in the U.S., where there is a wealth of digital resources in a country but a lack of instruction and awareness for the people who would be using the resources.
Illeieff, an international studies major with concentrations in world politics and diplomacy, said that he is very grateful to his professors for opening his eyes to issues of mainstream media. He said that 30 years from now people will see televisions in museums as a display of technology of the past but he would like to know in the present, why are there so many televisions in an academic institution?
Contact reporter Bria Eulitt at bria.eulitt@richmond.edu.
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