Like it or not, MTV has established itself on campus, and the student body is feeling the effect. Whether walking through the Student Union or driving through University Heights at night, the camera crews and microphones are impossible to miss.
If the immediate changes that having a professional reality production on campus bring are disregarded, a pertinent question arises: how do students really feel when reality TV becomes a part of their everyday lives?
Some students have mixed feelings about the idea and question not only the presence of the camera crews, but the general premise behind the show.
"I don't think it accurately depicts Greek Life at UB. There is just no way that you could show reality - true reality - on MTV," said Michael Messeroff, a junior finance major.
"It's more dramatized than what the actual campus life in general is," said Heather Masker, a freshman pharmacy major.
Other students question whether the sorority and fraternity pledges that star in these shows will have a realistic experience.
"No one acts naturally on film . that means no real pledging, no real hazing, no underage drinking, or anything remotely questionable involving Greek Life," said junior Sara Sheffer, an English major. "Sure, the university receives free positive publicity, but take away drinking and pledging away from a fraternity, and you're left with any other house full of sober friends with very little to do."
"MTV comes in, dresses them, feeds them, furnishes their house, and now you have something that looks nothing like a fraternity or sorority," she said.
Messeroff agreed.
"People should know that this is a watered-down version of pledging and the benefits of Greek Life at UB in general," he said.
While some students are very open about their feelings, UB Vice President of Student Affairs Dennis Black sees the student body's reaction to the taping in a different light.
"For the most part, students have ignored it. I've seen 50 tables in the Student Union where there's a camera crew around one, while the other 49 go about their business," he said. "I think that after the first week, it sort of set in, and the rest of the students have taken it in stride."
Even though the MTV camera crew films all over campus, the school administration itself has almost nothing to do with the show.
"This is an arrangement between the students and the MTV network. (The administration has) no control over content or production," said Black.
While filming at the university is to be expected, students have been interacting with the occasional camera crew at bars and parties.
Senior English major Nora Hasson, who is a member of the Sigma Delta Tau sorority, said the presence of cameras has created a sense of aggravation among some students.
"A lot of people behave differently with cameras around. People get crazy when they go out to the bars and see cameras," said Hasson. "They've been at the Steer, and a bunch of drunk guys are pushing around the camera."
Rachel Kochmanski, a freshman English major, worries that the unnatural behavior will reflect negatively on UB.
"Since it is so dramatized, it's not really a good advertisement for the school," she said.
Kochmanski said that the inaccurate view of sorority life at UB is going to be magnified by the recent Princeton Review report naming UB as one of the nation's top party schools.
Although a number of students have voiced their displeasure with the "Sorority Life" filming, many admitted they will probably watch the show once it premieres.
"I will probably take a look because it's our school. I think that the only reason I'll tune in is because it's fun to watch, simply because of how ridiculous it is," said sophomore Jordan Rosen, a political science major.
"I think that 'Sorority Life' is more like MTV's creation than a depiction of actual reality. But I still watch it, so they must be doing something right," said Hasson.
