Talk:University of Minnesota/Archive 1
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Archive 1 |
Photos?
I think a view of the Northrop Mall would be esthetically superior to the picture that is displayed here now. Are any good pictures of it in the public domain and on the web where they can be copied? Michael Hardy 23:11, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)
This article should be moved to University of Minnesota, and the current article there moved to University of Minnesota system. john k 00:18, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I finally moved the twin cities article as suggested. The University of Minnesota page now describes the main campus, as U of Wisconsin links to the Madison campus and Michigan to the Ann Arbor campus. Subsurd 07:31, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
Campus Size
I'm wondering about the acreage figures used in the article. I found information from the school's web sites that suggests that the Minneapolis campus is 2000 acres with an additional 730 in St. Paul. Figures in the article suggest that the Minneapolis campus is spread across less than 400 acres. I have to question that, as that amounts to about 1.6 square km, and that seems to be quite small for such a large university, but conversely, the figures I looked at put the Minneapolis campus at 8 square km, which seems a little much. My information came from http://www.irr.umn.edu/stsur/stsur96.htm Subsurd 03:44, 9 June 2005 (UTC)
- I added aerial photos of both campuses (taken from when I was flying to DC), and added red lines to show, based off of the official campus maps available on the university's website, the area of the campus. Actually, on the Minneapolis campus I did end up adding the areas immediately next to the river which are considered parkland and not part of the U. As a person who went to the U for grad school, I must say that you're correct: for over 50k students its relatively small. Bobak 21:19, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
Improvement Drive
The related articles History of Minnesota, American Empire,National Football League and Space program of the United States have been listed to be improved on Wikipedia:This week's improvement drive. To support one of these articles you can add your vote there. Also, Rodgers and Hammerstein is nominated at the Biography Collaboration. --Fenice 18:16, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Parking At the U
how many parking spaces are available at U of M —Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.112.24.54 (talk • contribs)
- The short answer is not enough. From Parking and Transportation's FAQ there are 21,000 spaces available for 24,000 daily commuters. Students enter a parking lottery for a small subset of parking facilities on campus (I believe they can also enter a separate lottery in their dorm for spaces nearby, if there are any), ranking three of their top choices. I always "won" the lottery, so I'm not sure how rare it is not to get a contract for a semester. For faculty and staff, they enter a waiting list for an expanded list of facilities at will. More popular facilities like the Washington Avenue ramp have waiting lists in the 1500s (rumor has it that the Northrup garage has a waiting list which would take years to get through), but the more common number is around 100-300, with some facilities having no wait. As far as daily parking goes, rates are somewhat high if you're parking for the entire day, generally around $12. — wheresmysocks 03:34, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
The Barnyard
Hi. I've been putting together pages for each of the Big Ten's basketball student sections and was wondering if someone would be interested in expanding and maintaining that of the Barnyard. Thanks! --BroadSt Bully 13:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
one of the external links is blind.
one of the external links is blind: The Wake Student Magazine.--Pejman47 07:44, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
Urban flagship university
Isn't U. of Minnesota unique in that it is one of two flagship universities to be located in a large urban area as opposed to a college town, the other being Washington? 4.224.120.52 23:06, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
- I'm not sure about its overall uniqueness, but it is one of the main selling points used in prospective student literature. [1] — wheresmysocks 00:40, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
- I would say "no" because it was definitely not an urban area when it was founded in 1851. There was almost no one in Minnesota, or the Upper-Midwest for that matter.
- I don't know that it matters whether the area was urban at the time of the school's founding. The point is that it's now in the middle of a major city, while most flagship schools are in towns in rural areas. That having been said, it's not THAT unusual, unless you only consider flagship schools of systems named "University of This State", and urban areas within the city limits of the area's primary city. Otherwise you could include Berkeley, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Rutgers and probably a few others. But if you do restrict the definition that much, it seems like a silly distinction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 57.69.22.246 (talk) 19:04, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
Driven to Discover
Driven to Discover, the new service mark of the University of Minnesota, is currently missing. Should this be added to the right-hand column? If so, in what order should it fall? Crookedsquare (talk) 15:58, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
Image help
Image:Hiker.gif is slated for deletion due to the new Fair Use rules. The Iron Mike statue, also called the Student Soldier Memorial, is located on the U of M campus, in front of the armory at 15 Church Street. Can anyone snap a photo of it to replace the current fair use image? You don't need to be the greatest photographer in the world, and it doesn't need to be perfect. Anything is better than nothing at all. Thanks in advance! Kafziel Talk 15:07, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
- I won't be on campus again until Tuesday, if no one has gotten to this by then I'll take care of it. -BenFranske 06:44, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
- That would be awesome! Kafziel Talk 13:04, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
- Sorry, I forgot about this, I'll be back on campus this week and have added it to my to-do list! -BenFranske 18:35, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks again! Kafziel Talk 16:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
- The photo has been taken and added to the Iron Mike page. --BenFranske 05:14, 4 February 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks again! Kafziel Talk 16:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
From AfC page
As this is a UofM programme, it would probably be better suited on this page - would someone with UofM expertiese please include, if this is a noteworthy programme. SkierRMH 20:48, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
Multicultural for Academic Excellence
A University of Minnesota program that offers students of different cultural backgrounds academic and social support, scholarships, career development, living and learning communities, and many other programs to provide a community of academic excellence.
http://www.mcae.umn.edu/ 134.84.146.96 17:36, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
University Armory
If someone's qualified, an article about the University Armory would be warranted. It served as the basketball team's arena for twenty years, so it meets notability, and it's been around on campus long enough that there should be other interesting stuff about it. If anyone knows enough, it would be a good article. I might start it as a stub, as I'm working on the men's basketball article right now. matt91486 01:38, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Animal Research Controversy
If that is okay with everyone else, I'm going to add a section related to the controversy about the primate research going on at the U of M. More info here: www.minnesotaprimatefreedom.org Mnpfp 19:47, 15 June 2007 (UTC)
-Is this really an issue that is unique to this institution?
I personally feel it's not but I agree with MNPFP, that there should be a separate section. I've read a lot about the primate research controversy at the U of M. It is not a small issue. More and more it's becoming more controversial.Carniv 00:20, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
- WP Policy: Wikipedia:Complete bollocks It appears this stuff has been taken out. Let me state that WP is an encyclopedia, not a crystal ball, it does not predict nor analyze possibly occurring events. In fact it's content is more dry than you think. WP in the past year has also mandated new information be backed up by multiple sources and publishers, meaning if it can be defended over time. Even if there was/is an animal research controversy, it would not last very long and its notability within the larger U of MN topic is highly diminished after 100 years of past history. There has been a lot more serious incidents in U history including riots, arrests, murders, etc but they are trivial in the scope of the U. And most of the time these incidents just happen to be at the U and the methodology of A+B=C is forbidden on WP. And an incident at the U does not necessarily incorporate itself into the U history because it's not instituted into what the U of MN is. The closest thing you can achieve here is a mention of a primate research facility (do they even have one?) because that facility will likely last the century. But to claim the U for the next 100 years will abuse and torture animals (just assuming thats your cause here) is predicting the future -- and to suggest it is part of the academic curricula of being at the U is bollocks. If you feel Animal Research Controversy falls under WP:notability then you should create your own WP page or news story in Wikinews. I'm sure theres a generic Wiki page about animal research, you could go there. Should your page and comments hold up over time then come back and we can talk about including it into the U page. .:DavuMaya:. 16:46, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Weather section
The "weather" section seems more about the general climate, and less about the actual university. What is in the section related to the university doesn't seem all that notable nor encyclopedia worthy. Can it be removed? Ostap 05:46, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
Rankings
Someone seems to have changed the U to the #4 party school in the nation. If someone in charge could edit as needed that'd be awesome. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.113.165.100 (talk) 01:02, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
Sommers
Hi, Sandcherry. Can you please tell me why no opinions are allowed? Christina Hoff Sommers picked out five colleges in the United States that have been transformed by gender feminism. I couldn't finish her book and I don't align myself with her. The section "Academics" is too thin. -SusanLesch (talk) 05:24, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
- Hello, Susan. The Wikipedia policy WP:ASF addresses opinions. The policy seems clear to me although I could understand there being different interpretatons. Although Ms Sommers may be correct, her view is undoubtedly (my opinion!) not even a consensus opinion, much less an established fact. There are opinions about the U of M published in the Grand Forks (ND) Herald and Madison (WI) Times that, although entertaining and sometimes correct, are not encyclopedic. I agree that the academic section is lean. It would be even leaner without the ROTC sentence which may belong somewhere else. Cheers.Sandcherry (talk) 00:09, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
- Tempting to include Grand Forks and Madison, whatever it is they say. I can see if there is another source. I think there is some truth to Sommers's comment, but perhaps it should have been dated "early 1990s" or some time. Thanks a lot for your hard work on this article. I can try to work on the academics section. -SusanLesch (talk) 03:25, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
Paul Bunyan
Athletics states that the Paul Bunyan Axe constitutes "the longest-running rivalry in NCAA sports". This should probably be modified. Isn't Lafayette-Lehigh the longest? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.154.235.101 (talk) 15:40, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
- The longest-running continuous NCAA Division I football rivalry is Minnesota-Wisconsin. The Army-Navy rivalry also started in 1890, but lapsed for a number of years. Lafayette-Lehigh is longer, but not Division I. Sandcherry (talk) 17:41, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
- Nine years after the above comment, this still is incorrect and hasn't been updated. Yes, Lafayette-Lehigh is up to 154 games through the 2018 season whereas Minnesota-Wisconsin is at 128. It could be restated as "the oldest rivalry among major public universities" but it is not the longest-running rivalry. Even the Wikipedia page that lists "most played college football rivalries bears out the statistics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-played_college_football_rivalries_in_NCAA_Division_I — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thomas G. Anderson (talk • contribs) 12:11, 28 August 2019 (UTC)
- You are correct Mr. Anderson. The football section includes the following: "The 128 games played against each other is the most-played rivalry in NCAA Division I FBS college football." which is correct as of 2018. Lafayette and Lehigh are NCAA Division I FCS. Sandcherry (talk) 02:30, 29 August 2019 (UTC)
Shyamala Rajender
I was surprised that there was no article about Shyamala Rajender, so I created one. It's severely stubby and needs work, both within the article and in other articles that should link to it. Please help. Michael Hardy (talk) 05:05, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
"The U"
An editor recently added "The U" as a nickname for this university, citing the university itself as the sole source for this claim. A cursory search seems to show that the only sources who have used this nickname are controlled by the university. Is there any evidence that this nickname is in widespread use and should be included in this encyclopedia article? Does anyone outside the university's marketing group and senior administrators use this nickname? ElKevbo (talk) 17:14, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
- Some false positives in this search but also enough to see that the term is used. I really don't care if it shows up in the article or not, and I can't speak for all of Minnesota, but the term is certainly widely used in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. AlexiusHoratius 18:15, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
- It's a very widely used shorthand and you can find examples from student and regional newspapers, but I don't know about calling it a nickname like U of M. It's just a short way of referring to the University of Minnesota when it's clear just which university you're talking about; probably most very large universities in the U.S. are called the U. I don't care either, though. —innotata 21:12, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
- Yes, the U is a nickname for the University of Minnesota as well as other Big Ten and other universities. The U of M is referred to the U locally and in the movie Miracle on Ice. That being said, retaining the nickname in the article is a borderline keep IMHO.Sandcherry (talk) 00:00, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
- As an alum (1969) and a Minneapolis native, I can verify that locally it is almost always known as "the U." Sca (talk) 21:31, 31 January 2014 (UTC)
- Yes, the U is a nickname for the University of Minnesota as well as other Big Ten and other universities. The U of M is referred to the U locally and in the movie Miracle on Ice. That being said, retaining the nickname in the article is a borderline keep IMHO.Sandcherry (talk) 00:00, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
- It's a very widely used shorthand and you can find examples from student and regional newspapers, but I don't know about calling it a nickname like U of M. It's just a short way of referring to the University of Minnesota when it's clear just which university you're talking about; probably most very large universities in the U.S. are called the U. I don't care either, though. —innotata 21:12, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
Journalism
U of M School of Journalism and Mass Communications [2] seems to be missing from list of colleges and schools. Sca (talk) 21:28, 31 January 2014 (UTC)
Greeks, honor societies, professional societies
The University of Minnesota article links to a separate page regarding the 200 or so academic, social, honorary and professional societies that exist - or have existed - on campus. An anonymous editor (156.98.4.11) deleted several well-referenced sentences because they were first published by Greek friendly sources. However, they have nevertheless been adopted and written in to the public record in cited Regents meetings, and later cited by Regents and the president. I think the edit was too zealous. This section on Greeks is fairly short. In an article which can cite the types of glass used in a building or reference the fact that we have 200 AED devices on campus, it seems within reason to allow ~300 words to describe organizations that have been a part of campus life for 140 years, attracting a substantial minority of students who participate in them, in which any student can participate, and whose alumni members have contributed greatly to buying that glass or those devices. The facts deleted are positive in nature, as sometimes such facts are, and are not "blatant advertising," as was the thin rationale for deleting them. Jax MN (talk) 17:29, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
- I think that this is unfair being that you haven't answered 156.98.4.11's edits, you just re-added your material. As an example you seem to have forgotten to add information on this main page concerning the controversy surrounding several of the Greek Society fraternities/sororities including numerous sexual assaults, underage alcohol consumption, violence and other issues that have been reported in the news. The 'well-referenced' citations for which you added numerous claims, are based on documents that are published in part or by Greek sources. They do not differentiate between the type of organization that appear to have been grouped together in the Greek system (unique to the UofMN?). These are neither reliable nor are accurate sources of information. When you can produce unbiased sources your claims may be accurate. They can certainly be viewed as biased per WP:Common Sense, and WP: NPOV. Let's try to keep this section more concise and limited to notable subjects. I agree that the architectural features of campus buildings are not really notable either and should be removed. Randomeditor1000 (talk) 22:01, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
- My response to this anonymous editor's changes was the first paragraph under this Talk section heading. I thought his/her edits were overly-zealous, in considering the rest of the page. This is the normal back-and-forth of the editing process, and I explained my rationale here on the Talk page. Your point, that over the years there have been misdemeanors and felonies by Greek members, is correct. But on the balance, these are outliers and individual misdeeds, not representing a systemic cancer in these organizations: Regardless of popular myth, Greek organizations and members provide a popular, positive culture and extensive benefit to the campus. Further, incidents of such misdemeanors and felonies happen from time to time in the dorms, at near-campus non-Greek parties, or among student athletes. Ought we insert these facts into the small sections that talk about the dorms or student athletes? While true, I don't think these rise to the level where they need mention in such a summary article. Even walking around at night on an urban campus, any campus, can be dangerous, and the University seems to be doing an effective job at minimizing the risks to students with lighting, safety escorts, security, and awareness-building. So too, the highly-scrutinized Greeks generally do an effective job at self-policing. So I thought it unnecessary to note either the risks or the responses in a summary paragraph.
- I'd certainly agree with you on the issue of scope creep. But this article isn't too bad on the balance, compared with many other university and collegiate pages. (ex: see any of the Ivy League pages or other Big Ten schools.) Some offer endless recitations of academics patting themselves on the back, and much hand-wringing over the minutia of annual collegiate rankings. As to your point on mixing types of organizations, I only follow here the standard practice in reference materials on such societies that have been in place for over 150 years. Similarly, other WP pages use this format, and schools themselves commonly group them - at least the professional along with the academic/social houses if not also the honor houses. They tend to run together. As to your point on source validity, if it was a single, friendly source I'd agree with you. It's why I added multiple references, all available in the public record along with dialog pro and con. Anti-Greek references tend toward the polemic and into opinion pieces, which are themselves less helpful as a reference. An anecdote about a dumb kid who harms another and gets kicked out of his or her chapter remains an anecdote without a summary statistical analysis of overall trend. And the trend appears that these are sad or tragic outliers and neither condoned, taught, nor tolerated. The hatlink'ed article has a dozen or so various references that support the main point, and I would therefore offer that this matter is more well-supported than many other items on the page. Jax MN (talk) 16:27, 20 September 2014 (UTC)
More content on academics
As the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities is a flagship institution, the article should include more academic content. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.127.23.230 (talk) 05:15, 20 March 2016 (UTC)
Assessment comment
The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:University of Minnesota/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
In order to reach GA status, the article needs to be better referenced and red links need to be resolved. |
Last edited at 15:16, 29 November 2006 (UTC). Substituted at 09:40, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
Please add coordinates
The Minnesota Republic
This publication got national media attention with it's coverage of the student government's rejection of a call for a moment of recognition for anniversaries of 9/11/2001. It was a controversy for the school which reached significant media including the Washington Post twice leading to much backlash from alumni during the university's major fundraising push of the year. This lead to the school's administration to intervene and overturn the decision, and it is an event which put this publication on the map. It is of much more significance for the university's reputation then The Wake's loss of and return of funding, which has multiple paragraphs and no citations. It also shows that the student government engages in a number of activities outside of legislative advocacy, which is what the section for the Minnesota Student Association currently says. Tyrsan (talk) 20:36, 5 August 2016 (UTC)
- This article has a lot of big problems, unfortunately, so it's important not to 'cite precedent' too much when trying to improve it. For example, trimming unsourced content about The Wake would be productive, but using that content as a justification for adding more is not.
- Anyway, that a story was picked up by other outlets is entirely routine, and is almost never noteworthy by itself. None of the sources you've cited actually mention anything substantial about The Republic as a publication, they just cover the original incident. Using these sources to give importance to the paper would be WP:SYNTH, and would also be non-neutral, since it's effectively promotional. It's indistinguishable from the paper bragging about having broken a story, but Wikipedia isn't the place for that. The Daily Caller is also... borderline as a reliable source. This lengthy discussion (one of several) has the gritty details, but as a rule of thumb it should be avoided if there is anything better covering a topic, which in this case there is.
- I will respond to comments about coverage of the incident and the student government in the next section. Grayfell (talk) 21:37, 5 August 2016 (UTC)
Student Government
The Minnesota Student Association took a controversial stance against a commemoration of anniversaries of 9/11/2001 on their campus. They received nationwide media attention including in the Washington Post. Given the current status of the page as only listing legislative advocacy successes, it would be good to include a balance of everything they do, including the moments when media, alumni, and university administration backlash overturn a controversial decision. Legislative advocacy is quite clearly not all that they do. Tyrsan (talk) 20:43, 5 August 2016 (UTC)
- Since it's not saying who was doing the criticizing, the phrase "subject to national criticism" is a WP:WEASEL. It's also misleading, since the Washington Post news article is unambiguous in pointing out that this was rejected for several reasons, mainly practical. To bluntly summarize, they didn't want to do a half-assed job, so they put it off until they had more info. This seems like a tempest in a teapot, and Wikipedia isn't a gossip site, so we need to be cautious here. It's important to distinguish between opinion pieces and news pieces. The Volokh Conspiracy loves covering campus political correctness outrage, but any opinions of his need to be clearly attributed, not just puffed up as "national" criticism. As far as I can see, this incident fails WP:NOTNEWS, as the coverage is minor and passing, and there is no indication this has had any lasting impact on the school.
- The paragraph before that about medical amnesty does need more attention and should, at a bare minimum, link to Medical amnesty policy. It's not perfect, either, but that's not a good reason to 'balance it out' with negative info, because that's false balance. Grayfell (talk) 21:56, 5 August 2016 (UTC)
Sexual misconduct sections
I removed a fair bit of a "sexual misconduct" section in the article because of: Wikipedia:Citing sources/Further considerations, Template:Infobox university, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Universities. Russel Harrison (talk) 04:58, 30 December 2016 (UTC)
New subpage for Extension
Hello, I am the librarian that serves the University of Minnesota Extension. I have the digitized records in our online archives. Can we create a University of Minnesota Extension subpage that I may populate with information? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meye0539 (talk • contribs) 04:02, 10 May 2018 (UTC)
Bob Dylan is not an alumnus of the University of Minnesota.
I was just reading the article about the University from where I am an alumnus and I read the following paragraph at the end of the introduction:
The University of Minnesota faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 29 Nobel Prizes[11] and three Pulitzer Prizes.[12] Notable University of Minnesota alumni include two Vice Presidents of the United States, Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, and Bob Dylan, who received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.
To me, this implies that he graduated from the University. I am quite sure that he did not. It is common knowledge that Bob Dylan attended courses (well he registered for them anyway) at the U in the 1959-1960 school year. It is also common knowledge that he did not graduate. He even says that he didn't go to class very much.
While I have no access to the actual graduation records, could it have been Bob's dream to get a degree and somewhere in the 1980's he earned a Bachelor's Degree through Extension? I suppose it could have happened and he has chosen not to make it public knowledge. But until we find that out, I propose the following change to the second sentence of the paragraph:
Notable University of Minnesota alumni include two Vice Presidents of the United States, Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale. Bob Dylan, who received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature also attended courses in the early 1960's.
Bobberino12 (talk) 22:34, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
- "Alumnus" and "graduate" are not synonyms. Some people believe that they are and perhaps they were at one point but in most cases "alumnus" is synonymous with "former student." (I suspect that the definition changed or was expanded as it makes fundraising a little bit easier for colleges and universities but I don't know for sure.) ElKevbo (talk) 23:04, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
OK, I'll buy it. It's still stretching things a bit though. I have read about Dylan for many years, and I would be surprised if he actually finished any of his courses. Bobberino12 (talk) 21:42, 26 December 2018 (UTC)
- I agree. It's easy to imagine the education at this University was not very influential on Bob Dylan. Then again, I guess he was an alumnus. It just turns out that doesn't mean a whole lot. Vrie0006 (talk) 04:59, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
Linux Kernel Submission Ban for UMN
Hi! I'd like to initiate a discussion of the (non)inclusion of the fact that UMN was banned from submitting patches to the Linux Kernel.
I added an entry about it under a new section which I called "Criticism" and it got almost immediately deleted as WP:NOTNEWS. I read the general explanation of the WP:NOTNEWS tag and it sounds like it actually means that inconsequential bits of news should be kept out of Wikipedia. "Inconsequential" seems to be the key here, because news stories are often part of Wikipedia articles including this one (e. g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Minnesota#Sexual_assaults).
I believe the information about the Linux kernel submission ban for all of UMN is noteworthy, because the Linux Kernel is a major piece of software that powers e.g. most of the world's smartphones and a university the size of UMN being banned from making contributions to it over their malicious intent is a big deal. The core of the story is that UMN researches tried to covertly introduce security bugs into a widely used piece of software. Had they succeeded, they would've enabled themselves and others to break into smart phones, cloud servers and infrastructural devices (wifi routers, etc.). And the effort resulted in a ban for the entire university.
I anticipate the objection that the nature of this event is too technical and therefore of interest only to the tech savvy. To this, I'd like to say that Wikipedia already includes articles on the Linux kernel, open source and computer security and this is a topic which involves these three things without the need for any in-depth understanding of any one of them.
Thank you for your thought on the matter! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eltomito (talk • contribs) 15:46, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
- This may be an appropriate subject for inclusion in a couple months. For now, the incident is still unfolding, and the exact nature of the "ban" has not been made clear. What I saw reported was that changes tied to specifically-identified researchers were being backed out. I have no idea how many UMN-related commits exist, but I suspect there are a lot over the decades. Cryptosmith (Rick Smith) (talk) 19:52, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
- I agree with Cryptosmith (Rick Smith). The article states "This has led Greg to calling them out and "banning" them from trying to contribute to the Linux kernel in the future." It appears the "them" are the researchers and not the University. Also, banning is in quotations whatever that means. Sandcherry (talk) 20:16, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
- Until and unless we become relatively certain that this will have a significant and lasting impact on the university, this doesn't appear to be appropriate to include. This article has to cover the entire history, organization, funding, accomplishments, and challenges of this complex institution that is about 170 years old; we must be very selective about what information to include and careful to only include the most important information of lasting importance. ElKevbo (talk) 21:47, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
At the very least, this is terrible academic practice, and puts the university's research ethics into question as they are intentionally submitting poor quality and vulnerable patches to the Linux kernel and wasting the developers' time. At the very least, this is human research without consent (which is far outside of acceptable penetration testing ethics), and they didn't even let them know after the patches were published and they got their paper that they have introduced security vulnerabilities. I can see this causing long-term reputational damages for the university and believe it to be noteworthy. 24.163.104.252 (talk) 15:35, 24 April 2021 (UTC)
- We simply don't know enough yet to make that decision. Did the researchers fully describe their work to the IRB? Did one person in the IRB make the decision that this was exempt (this has been my experience with IRBs; exempt determinations are usually delegated to staff who support the board and aren't even members)? Most basically, is this a systematic failure or a one-off event?
- Keep the long view. We can't breathlessly report on every single incident, especially those that are still developing with a lot of unknown information. ElKevbo (talk) 16:15, 24 April 2021 (UTC)
- I agree with the removal for now. Researchers sometimes do things that in retrospect were a bad idea. As ElKevbo writes, wait and see what the actual facts are and how big a deal this is. And including a verbatim statement from the University of Minnesota Department of Computer Science & Engineering which was published on a copyrighted web page (© Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved) is a copyright violation. Meters (talk) 18:11, 24 April 2021 (UTC)
"The U," redux
Wanted to reopen discussion on "The U" as a nickname for the university. Everyone in the Twin Cities at least refers to it as such — it's even the shorthand that the Star Tribune uses on second reference. "The U of M" could easily refer to the University of Michigan. Maybe put in, "or, locally as simply 'the U'" in the first graf? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:240:10D:44B8:C5F6:53CD:5570:D39E (talk) 16:47, 26 October 2021 (UTC)