Talk:Franciscan University of Steubenville

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Contents

[edit] NPOV problem, Cite references

The bulk of this article reads like a poorly written promotional brochure intended as an advertisement rather than an enyclopedic reference. In addition, references are not cited for any of the facts asserted in the main text of the article. I challenge those students, staff and alumni of Franciscan University who are contributing to this article to demonstrate an academic ability to properly document their work from reputable 3rd party sources. Please avoid original research and personal testimoniesDismasMama 08:54, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] All facts need to have cited references

The purpose of the [citation needed] tag is not to make an allegation that the fact you have asserted is false, inaccurate or misleading. The purpose is to alert editors that no one knows where this particular fact came from. Please tell us with proper citations where we may look up the source ourselves and verify the facts asserted. It might help to review the policy on verifiable sources:

The policy: 1. Articles should contain only material that has been published by reliable sources. 2. Editors adding new material to an article should cite a reliable source, or it may be challenged or removed by any editor. 3. The obligation to provide a reliable source lies with the editors wishing to include the material, not on those seeking to remove it.

Where did the information for the section on FUS's history? A book? An Article? The University's own self-published website? (This should NOT be the primary refernce for the bulk of the material in this article) Please give us the citation

This sentence has a big problem with no cited references:

Franciscan University has achieved national recognition from a variety of sources, including The Templeton Guide for Colleges That Encourage Character Development, National Review’s Guide to America’s Top Liberal Arts Schools, The Templeton Foundation’s Honor Rolls for Education in a Free Society, Barron’s Best Buys in College Education, and U.S. News & World Report’s list of America’s Best Colleges.

In order to verify these statements, the best SOURCES will not be the FUS website, but rather: The Templeton Guide for Colleges That Encourage Character Development-- include date of publication, page and authors National Review’s Guide to America’s Top Liberal Arts Schools-- include date of publication, page and authors The Templeton Foundation’s Honor Rolls for Education in a Free Society-- include date of publication, page and authors Barron’s Best Buys in College Education-- include date of publication, page and authors U.S. News & World Report’s list of America’s Best Colleges-- include date of publication, page and authors

Someone in the University's public relations department may have the information you need to complete the citations.

The "Household Life" section sounds like a personal testimony. Please avoid original research. Please present facts in a neutral point of view. And please give references that will allow others to independently verify every fact that has been asserted.

Newspaper Name: If someone would cite a real reference source showing the way that the newspaper's name was really chosen it might solve the edit wars on this sentence. Wasn't St. Francis called the "Troubador of the Great King"? Someone please look it up.

  • "Troubador" finds its roots in both the French and the Arabic. It means singer, searcher/finder, and lover. It refers to a medieval poet who wrote or sang poems or such about love or a lover. It usually entailed either a forbidden love (as in another man's wife, a peasant in love with a noble, etc). Or it was in reference to a prearranged marriage.[1] It was the name of a certain order of monks, under which Francis received his tutelage at a young age, but Francis himself was never once called "Troubador of the Great King" as you suggested.[2] --Talhathier 17 December 2006.

Many of the people contributing to this article are college students or even college professors. I expect you to know how to present factual research relying primarily on reputable 3rd party resources and to know how to cite your references. It would be a poor reflection on your school if you failed to do so. Let's show the highest standards and the best quality work. I know you can do it! DismasMama 20:53, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Weasel Words and Misleading Statements

I removed the following statements:

"None of this has been recognized or commented on by the Church's hierarchy"

It is a misleading commentary. The Catholic Church's hierarchy typically does not conduct such reviews of Catholic Universities. This statement is almost like saying: "Mr. Brown did not abuse his wife on Saturday." It implies that he usually does so on other days, but we don't actually have that information.

"It has received no recognition from the Previous Pope, John Paul II, despite having visited Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, only a half-hour away."

This, too, is misleading commentary. See above.

"However, some are concerned with the Households apparently cultish nature."

Though there are documented concerns out there in the published world, this statement has not cited references. Most imortantly, the weasel words "SOME ARE CONCERNED" and "APPARENTLY CULTISH NATURE" prevent this sentence from being a statement of fact and reduce it to mere gossip. Please state facts and cite references, but leave the rest to another website with a discussion forum.

I'm looking forward to seeing more well-documented factual edits.DismasMama 20:53, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Faith households, small groups of students whose members support, recreate, and pray with one another, break through the isolation that frequently permeates dorm life. Up to 600 students join households that foster Christian values through mutual encouragement and development of positive peer support.

-The article cited for this particular entry does not present a neutral point of view, as any full reading will clearly indicate. The author writes with agenda-driven presuppositions, lacking objectivity. The school advertises only the good aspects of campus life, to attract customers: students. It's an advertisement. Not an encyclopedia article written by an outside source; it is written by an inside, biased position. Further, the article says: "Many of the students here drink... They date, but remain fully clothed ... And as befits their age, sometimes they feel torn between the secular and the spiritual." Fully clothed? The writer said nothing about chastity, just that couples may pray together often. Simply because I pray often and keep my clothes on does not make me chaste. This highlights the author's lack of objectivity, since he is using slanted wording to make a point. Yes, a number of couples pray together every day, and a few households have similar priorities as the "Knights of the Holy Queen." However, the author jumps to the rash conclusion that the majority of the campus is like that. Regardless of whether that is true or not, he does not provide specific, documented instances of his assertions. It's called a logical fallacy: "it may be the case in this instance, so it must be in the case of the campus as a whole!" Hence, this particular entry must be removed, because the cited source is not objective, and certainly does NOT hold a neutral position. 69.243.13.62 21:45, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The "Franciscan University Murders"

Though the events are factual, as far as I can tell, the term "Franciscan University Murders" is an invention of Stubbleboy. In terms of precedence, other crimes have been perpetrated on other college campuses without warranting a link from the College’s wiki article. The deaths of Aaron Land and Brian Muha are tragic, but are not significant enough to the school or its history to warrant this link.Comrade Nikolai 19:14, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. I looked on the University of Miami's Web site, a school plagued with shootings and violence that frequently makes the news and there seemed no mention there. El Clarque 00:17, 9 December 2006

  • Yes no doubt the decision of two either a.)sock-puppets or b.)inexperienced users, seeing as each of you has what about 20 edits a piece? The fact that the University of Miami has so many incidents and Franciscan University has this only one should even futher warrent a link to the page to futher educate individuals on the history of the university. This wasn't just a murder, this was an assault, robbery, kidnapping, gross sexual imposition, shooting murder. These crimes don't occur everyday, the crime itself received tons of media attention. I would however disagree a link if we were speaking in terms of university image, however this is an encyclopedia, not an advertisment. I will leave the link out, although I disagree with both of you. --Stubbleboy 16:21, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Further, Stubbleboy, University of Miami (as everyone knows) is an excellent parellel with Franciscan University in regards to its Catholic heritage and is equally on par in its Orthodoxy. I couldn't agree with the given example in its context of use, in terms of the experts' decision to that specific editing of the article. Hence I must defend these fine examples of erudite, obviously unbiased gentlepersons. They are both shinying, rare examples of presenting a neutral point of view. (There ARE two of them afterall, so they can't BOTH be wrong if they agree with each other). A good reading and research of the University of Miami will show you that not only was that given example the best example that could have been picked to defend their particular editing of the article, but also, it shows their extensive knowledge of the college campus of Steubenville (in regards to the importance of things mentioned in the article). So they must be right. 69.243.13.62 01:34, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Conferences

We should mention the Catholic Youth Conferences that occur there every summer, and their directly related conferences that occur around the Nation. There are around 30,000 youth that attend these every summer. Also, there are other conferences held there every summer. These were contributors to Fr. Scanlan's reforms, and so are essential to the University's history and current state. poopsix 10:36, 6 January 2007 (UTC)