Talk:University of Wisconsin/Archive 1

A new survey has been created to assess consensus with respect to university naming conventions, specifically regarding the usage of terms like "University of Texas" vs. "University of Texas at Austin". The poll addresses this issue both in the specific case of the "University of Maryland" and proposes an amendment to Wikipedia:Naming conventions which could impact a large number of additional pages, including this one. Dragons flight 17:48, Mar 27, 2005 (UTC)

Personally I prefer "University of ...at...." for readability. I have always found it awkward Univeristy of Wisconsin - Madison. It all sounds so bureacracy sounding and cold. I can't speak to other schools, but in the 70s when the state system in Wisconsin went to this it was all to make all the other campuses in the system rise above being "state colleges" and have them rub elbows with the big guys reputation in Madison. This sorta was to give the state colleges some added cache and access to more academic funding from the state.

Please don't accuse me of Madison elitism. I've always maintained that if you are not a genius that for the first two years of undergraduate work seriously consider a "state college" because they are more in the business of seeing the students succeed. I just have never believed that facultys with 35000 plus students care much more for the freshman and sophomore than getting their money.Kyle Andrew Brown 04:59, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

Page history

This page's true history was lost when it was manually moved by WikiFan04 from University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 20, 2005. Is there any admin out there who could move the history from here? --BaronLarf 07:14, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)

Wisconsin Union

The Wisconsin Union was founded in 1907, second only to Harvard's among U.S. universities — What is the meaning this sentence from the article? --Blainster 20:06, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

If the idea stays, it probably should somehow express that the Wisconsin Union shares with Harvard some unique characteristics (historical, functions, idea?) The actual comparison to Harvard seems awkward. (As as a heated shortcut from Langdon Street towards Bascom Hill in winter when it is -20 it is second to no Union!)Kyle Andrew Brown 06:31, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Stem Cell

Could a writer give some attention to this section. It's okay to bring out the controversy about stem cells, but as written it sorta has George Bush all alone out there negatively attached to the policy. A POV would have some considering it a positive policy. As it stands, the policy is actually official United States Government policy and as written there a reader could say what is in the section is a POV that attacks George Bush rather than bring out the dynamic of the debate that recognizes the evolving political consideration of the ethical dimensions of the research.Kyle Andrew Brown 06:27, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

The section you are talking about is just sloppy. The ethical/policy considerations sentence is a jumble of phrases. In fact, the link pointing to GWB's domestic policy is a waste, since there is nothing but a mention on the page. Rather than get to the flesh of the issue here, a simple link to a better discussion would be preferable (to me). However, I know of no such page. Rkevins82 06:56, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Basketball

UW-Madison has one of the best basketball teams in the nation. Why is there no metion of the team in the sports section?

Done. I wasn't sure if the gender ID was absolutely necessary, so any contributor can feel free to dispense with it, at the risk of NOW's ire.

History

Movement of longstanding text of the history of the University to "Sterling Hall" without going to TALK was not appropriate. If you choose to have a Sterling Hall subheading and collect information there, go to it.

However, removing this CENTRAL event and the Vietnam War from the main page remove both the impact of the period and its direct effect and reflection of what the university is and was is -- trivilizes it, removes it from contemporary thought, and makes the history section totally sanitized.

The University of Wisconsin has been made strong by avoiding the sanitization of history, and your movement of this text away is POV and sanitization.

And not going to TALK was inappropriate.Kyle Andrew Brown 01:10, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

• It probably would have been a better idea for the editor to go to talk, but I think he has a good point since a single event such as that doesn't need to take up an entire paragraph where previous historical paragraphs are more chronologically based. If the page gets too long, we should probably think about cutting it down some. (Also, be sure to relax while you're doing this, Kyle, it's supposed to be interesting and fun, etc.) Madmaxmarchhare 19:53, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Numen Lumen

I changed another editor's translation of Numen Lumen to the orignal and popular translation offered by its creator based on what I found here (it's not the most PC translation, but it is traditional): Madmaxmarchhare 19:48, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

'Numen Lumen' is popularly held to mean 'God our Light' (not a literal translation); it is the motto on the UW seal. The UW seal may be seen at Memorial Library; it is inlaid in the second floor, just north of the Information Desk. For more information contact University Archives at B134 Memorial Library (262-5629); they have a 'Numen Lumen' file.

From "In the Loop" by Melanie Conklin in Isthmus, 8/23/96: "Q: What does the UW motto Numen Lumen mean? A: Chancellor J.H. Lathrop translated it as "God our light" when he proposed the alleged Latin phrase for the university seal in a letter dated Feb. 11, 1854. A number of scholars have since challenged that interpretation. Some could find no example in classical Latin of the two words standing together to make a phrase, and concluded that it was untranslatable. Others defined lumen as "light" and found in numen such variations as "Providence" and "the quality of divinity in a deity," resulting in such clumsy translations as "The devine within the Universe, however manifested, is my light." Small wonder the big W has eclipsed Numen Lumen on Badger T-shirts and letterhead in recent years."

http://www.google.com/u/univwisc?q=cache:iBvM_8A1fyQJ:dir.civc.wisc.edu/view.asp%3Fcat%3D16%26cat1%3D141+numen+lumen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Progressive - or not?

This section doesn't make much sense. There are no citations and multiple use of quotes again with no citations. Seems a little NPOV. I suggest that it be cited or removed.

Formatting

The right-floating image of the capitol/Humanities building/library/etc. (the last image) actually covers up some of the text in my browser. I'm not really sure how to go about fixing this. (I'm using Firefox 1.5) Actually, now that I look at it, two of the other right-floating images also cover up text: the pics of Bascom hill and the Music Hall. Soapergem

I can fix this if you want, I've gotten good with picture problems. Cornell Rockey 18:29, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

Please do, since it still covers part of the text. Soapergem 0:52, 22 December 2005 (CST)

Nevermind, I did it myself (I figured it out). Whoever originally did it was doing some weird thing with <div>'s and they weren't properly closing some of their tags. Soapergem 0:59, 22 December 2005 (CST)

From "Talk:University of Wisconsin-Madison"

I think some things could be done to this page to fix it up a little bit.

• Division into new sections. The WARF might be better on its own page. The Sterling Hall bombing could be put into a larger "History" section. Some background on the early history of the university would be nice
• Organizing the alumni by area (politics, arts, etc...)

Any other suggestions or ideas?

Large Boat 16:11, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I agree. Although this page is somewhat lengthy, it is only so because of items such as teh Sterling Hall bombing and WARF. I believe that this makes the page apperar larger than it is, and is stiffling new additions.

Name (2005)

This page should be at University of Wisconsin, and the article there probably just removed - we can have a disambig notice at the top to take people to University of Wisconsin System. john k 00:19, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Yes, exactly what I was going to say, john. The name is University of Wisconsin, like you said. And I should know. I went there. --WikiFan04 11:59, 20 Mar 2005 (CST)

I've put up a post at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions, to try to get all of these articles involved - most articles on public universities are at unconscionable locations, imo. john k 20:51, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)