Talk:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

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Here are some tasks you can do:
  • Copyedit: Proof-read for general flow, grammar, any remaining NPOV issues, etc.
  • Expand: 1824-1900
  • Update: Find better image of RPI coat of arms or RPI seal (current one has been enhanced)
  • Other:
    • de-listify and possibly expand "Student Body", with possible merge of enrollment figures into History
    • Find or take high quality images of interest we do not have (that are not washed-out)
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Contents

[edit] Dorky Aspects

Don't you guys think we're missing some of the more.....dorky aspects of RPI? Like what's said at hockey games, or our traditions etc. A lot of the student body history is missing too! No mention GM week I think!!! No mention of antics! I mean, from this page, you get the idea that this place is pretty boring....oh wait. --BAP

It might be interesting to talk a bit more about that part of life at RPI, but does that really belong on Wikipedia or elsewhere? --djopie 06:02, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, well, it might be nice to expand the history a little, and maybe clubs and activities, as long as there are no plugs for specific clubs or anything too trivial. Also, List of RPI Grand Marshals, which is on the template, needs context. If someone wanted to explain GM week there, that would be great. Danski14 22:12, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Notable Firsts

Latin American fraternity? Uhm. OK. Uh, I that maybe my alma mater had a few other notable firsts. Maybe?

I can't think of any off the top of my head. -Michael

Well, I guess being the "oldest" is still first, but that is already covered in the intro. There has to be some other stuff, but I suppose it also has to be a substantial "first" in order to avoid seeming silly.

RPI had the first Ben & Jerry's on campus. Besselfunctions 03:20, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Wasn't RPI the first college to offer a Civil Engineering degree? Christopher 06:37, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

  • Yes, I believe so, but rather than 1860, 1835. This is according to an article called Amos Eaton was Right! in the Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice , Vol. 123, No. 1, January 1997, pp. 30-34 by Francis E. Griggs, Jr.

According to the exibit in the Folsom Library it was started in 1860. Christopher 06:41, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

1860 was the year when the Civil Engineering degree was extended to a four year program. I misread. Christopher 05:19, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Status as Oldest Technological University

Is it correct to call the U.S. Military Academy a university?

  • Yes. RPIRED 18:10, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

The IP range 128.113.x.x belongs to RPI. Christopher 05:38, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

This is true. Besselfunctions 05:40, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

  • No, west point's focus was civil engineering until after the Civil war.

[edit] List of Faculty

Does anyone else feel that it would be a good idea to include a list of faculty in the article? If so, should we limit it to just professors who have tenure or include all professors? Christopher 09:01, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

   Why do you feel as though this would be a good idea?  Besselfunctions 15:05, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

I believe we can file this under "unnecessary additions." - RPIRED 20:14, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] clubs etc

I think the Nigerian Students' Association link is going to cause a spate of entries from other countries' student associations. If this happens, I'm going to remove it. Cribananda 09:09, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

  • I agree, but this holds true for any of the clubs in the list. In fact, all 130+ clubs would be just if they were to appear on this list. Instead of listing clubs, why don't we solely provide the link to the actual list on RPI's server? https://clubs.union.rpi.edu/?content_id=1 is where all of the clubs are listed in an easy to navigate manner. Unless anyone has any blaring objections, I'm going to update the page in a couple days. --Kevin Morenski 15:50, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Puckman? Pac-Man?

I noticed that "Puckman" redirects to "Pac-Man." Does Puckman warrant his own article? I mean, he's easily one of the most recognizable and beloved mascots in all of college hockey. And I'm not just saying that, I've had plenty of people from other schools - Cornell, St. Cloud, etc. -tell me how great Puckman and the Puckman logo is. -- RPIRED 22:35, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how much history puckman has behind him, but I say go for it. At the very least, an article of his own will let people know that he represents RPI, and give them a little information about him. JesusjonezTalk 23:02, 8 February 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Motto

There appears to be some disagreement over this university's motto. Please discuss here what it ought to be listed as. Besselfunctions 15:28, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

The school motto is "Knowledge And Thoroughness." "Why not change the world?" is an advertising slogan. - RPIRED 17:52, 14 April 2006 (UTC)


[edit] External Links

At present, it seems to consists links that promote special interests. I think it has the potential to get out of control. I think it there should only be links to the most pertinent information. Besselfunctions 17:22, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I will decide for myself if I have no input from other Wikipedians. Besselfunctions 15:29, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Greek Life

Does anyone else think that giving some more information about greek life besides Psi U and APO is a good idea? -Nicole

Yes, feel free to do some good research and expand the section on RPI's greek life. Cite some reliable sources if it's not too much trouble. Besselfunctions 19:47, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

The current events part of the Greek life/clubs and organizations section is fairly POV. Anything giving the administration's view on the subject? I'm not familiar at all with the issue... -VetteDude 18:08, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

The current events part is definitely biased and should be edited to indicate what is actually happening. Seems like some frat kid at Rensselaer has some axes to grind and did so in this forum, which is not necessarily appropriate. -skfl

Comment: If someone felt inclined they could make a page Fraternities and Sororities at Rensselaer Polytechnic, using the list found on the union website. We could merge Epsilon Iota into it, and also make redirects to each specific section. Danski14 22:12, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Update : I created the page List of RPI fraternities and sororities, as I discussed, but I am afraid it is quite incomplete. I used all of the fraternities and sororities found on the union website, but I know there are more (around 30 fraternities is what this article says). So, contributions would be greatly appreciated. What I would like to see is a short statement under each one about when they were founded, where they are located, and what they do. As far as I know, there are no centralized lists (at least on the internet) of all the fraternities and sororities, so this might be usefuly. Danski14 16:24, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I wouldn't have a hard time getting a much more complete list together. Besselfunctions 19:17, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Main picture

I think the primary picture at the top of the article is particularly unflattering and unrepresentative of the appearance of the campus. Can we please have it changed or exchanged with one of the other pictures in the article?
Rockchops 16:10, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

It can be removed all together. I took some pictures and put them on Commons. That's the most convenient place to look, in my opinion. Besselfunctions 17:20, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

The placement is a little weird too since it pushes the infobox down. Can we maybe improve this page by finding a GIF or something of just the seal, larger, without the "Rensselaer" after it? That would make the infobox look better and something that would be more presentable than it is now. I uploaded the current picture directly from a place on the RPI website which allowed its fair use, but I was hoping someone would be able to come along and put up a better representation of the school symbol. - RPIRED 19:42, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

About the school symbol, it would have to be either the coat of arms [1] or the seal (which has coat of arms on it)[2]. (The colors look a little pale, but those were the only images I could find). I think if we put the coat of arms in we should move the "RENSSELAER" logo down to the bottom of the info box. Any comments? Danski14 22:12, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Student Body Statistics

The article "Admissions exceeds target for freshman enrollment" in the July 10, 2006 issue of the "Polytechnic" released some new statistics for the class of 2010 stating that:

  • Percentage of applicants accepted: 67% (Down from 78%)
  • Average SAT combined: 1322 (Up from 1320, The article does not specify whether this is only from the Math and Verbal sections of the New SAT without the Writing section.)
  • Class of 2010 comes from 49 states (No one from Iowa)

These statistics have not been posted on the Quick Facts & Figures page or the RPI Common Data Set page. Do you think we should update these numbers? Thanks (RCX 17:45, 26 August 2006 (UTC))

That's odd. My class (Class of 2004) had students from 49 states at convocation, also just missing Iowa. What's up with Iowa? Hawkeyes aren't Redhawks? :) - RPIRED 22:15, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
Cyclones aren't Redhawks either. I'd say it would be fine to include the new statistics and cite "The Polytechnic." Besselfunctions 22:22, 26 August 2006 (UTC)


Here's what it would look like. Changes I made are bold. The SAT scores and percent applicants accepted are the only relevant statistics from the article. Please tell me if this is ok (I am new at citing references on wikipedia). Thanks! (RCX 14:45, 27 August 2006 (UTC)):

Statistics for the undergraduate class of 2009 (and 2010):

  • Percentage of valedictorians and salutatorians: 9%;
  • Percentage of students who were Rensselaer Medalists: 24%;
  • Percentage of students in top 10% of high school class: 61%;
  • Percentage of applicants accepted (Class of 2010): 67% [1];
  • Average SAT combined (Class of 2010) : 1322 [1];
  • SAT 50th Percentile: 1220-1420;
  • Average SAT Math: 686;
  • Average SAT Verbal: 634;
  • Average ACT score: 26;
  • Average high school GPA: A−/B+[2];
  • Percentage of students with SAT Math above 700: 46%;
  • Percentage of students with SAT Verbal above 700: 22%[3];


  1. ^ a b The Rensselaer Polytechnic - July 10, 2006
  2. ^ RPI Facts
  3. ^ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – Common Data Set 2005-2006


Go for it. Be bold. Besselfunctions 02:42, 6 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Criticism of The Rensselaer Plan

This article could sound less like a PR puff piece if it could source criticisms linking Shirley Ann Jackson to the Plan and how it ostensibly seeks to replicate MIT (her alma mater) as "Rensselaer University"; hence all the "research and need for grad-students" (and subsequent lack of actual teaching or respect for students in the undergrad courses). 71.162.141.218 20:49, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't think those criticisms are very well justified. MIT is a great model for a school like RPI! Additionally, RPI is working on new research centers different from those at MIT, and will always have a different flavor as a smaller undergraduate school, while MIT is primarily a grad school. If you look at the plan's website, I think about 25% or so of the money goes to core teaching funds. But research is the primary goal, which is great because it means RPI's relatively small endowment will be boosted in the years to come. ~~danski14

[edit] Rensselaer vs. RPI

What's going on with the naming in the article? The school's name (whether or not Shirley Ann Jackson likes it) is RPI. The administration has been calling it "Rensselaer". We have a random mix of both here, albiet with more "Rensselaer"s in the sections that sound like PR pieces. Would anyone mind if the name was standardized across the article as RPI or Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? --Alynna 00:22, 3 December 2006 (UTC) (Yes I'm an RPI student)

Yes, I was also wondering about the name. Problem is, the administration insists on using Rensselaer as the official name, but fact is, RPI is the real name used by everyone else. I like 'RPI' better because it follows in the tradition of other schools like MIT, RIT, and WPI, making it easily associable. Plus it's much easier to spell! So I for one would have no problem with standardizing the aritcle to RPI. Additionally, it would be nice to make "RPI" link directly here, but we should probably keep the disambiguation page, right? ~~danski14

If the school uses “Rensselaer” as the short form of the school's name rather than “RPI”, shouldn't the article use that (outside of the introduction, which should obviously mention “RPI”)? In other words, if the school changed its name to Rensselaer House of Pies, this page would get renamed and changed to reflect that, why should the short form be any different? (Perhaps Wikipedia talk:Schools has some insight?) —Ben FrantzDale 18:04, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

The official name of the school is still Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (abbreviated RPI). While the administration most commonly uses "Rensselaer" in communication, the student body generally uses "RPI" or the full name. --Beezhive 20:59, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I honestly don't if one is really better than any of the others, but if anything perhaps it is good to expose the reader to both usages. However, if we were going to standardize it, I would lean towards RPI as opposed to "Rensselaer", as I have never heard "Rensselaer" used colloquially. So, if anyone wants to change the "Rensselaers" to RPIs, I don't have any problem. Also, about the redirect for RPI I mentioned, does anyone think it's a good idea? I noticed MIT and RIT link directly to their pages. The only thing is that a Google test shows that "Ratings Percentage index" has high usage. delton 22:54, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree on using "RPI" as opposed to "Rensselaer". For what it's worth, most people I've met (excluding faculty or students) seem to refer to the school as RPI. As for the redirect of RPI to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, I'm not sure it's a good idea. Just because 2 other schools do redirect, it doesn't mean that RPI should. MIT is much better known than RPI, and is therefore probably not comparable. RIT is probably comparable, but I'm not sure about how "Rapid Intervention Team" vs "Rochester Institute of Technology" compares to ""Ratings Percentage Index" vs "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute" in terms of common usage. The safe thing would probably be to leave it as is. --Beezhive 23:25, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Agree, we won't change the disambiguation page. delton 02:05, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, well, an anon ip just changed all the Rensselaers to RPI's. I guess that is fine, but we probably shouldn't be too dogmatic about it. I reverted back names like "Rensselaer Technology park". By the way, I think I've seen the school referred to as "Rensselaer" in some news sources, (probably handed to those sources from the administration). Danski14 16:55, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia Section

Perhaps a section for the geeky trivia, such as the names of the email servers or the allocated IP range, would be appropriate (against WP guidelines, but this information doesn't really fit into the rest of the article). Alec 09:50, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

It would probably be best just to link to that kind of information elsewhere, as further reading, if one wanted this information. As you said, it doesn't really belong here. --djopie 06:09, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA on hold

This is a great article, with a lot of references, pictures, etc. However, I'd appreciate improvement on the following things:

—Disavian (talk/contribs) 18:25, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks so much for your time/ useful comments! I'll get to work on this. I had many of the same ideas, and agree with these suggestions. Danski14 18:50, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
I added a little to history..and will be back to work on this later. If people are interested, there are a lot of historical materials available at the Archives website, http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections/index.html, which may where the information in the first paragraph was taken from, but I may not have the time to delve in deeply. Also, I don't know much about athletics, but may be able to clean it up a little. Danski14 20:13, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
While I'm thinking about it, I'd like to point out an example of a good Alumni section: Duke University#Alumni. It uses text and pictures to illustrate the most notable alumni. —Disavian (talk/contribs) 23:12, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

While it's not directly related to the GA nom, I suggest you add images of RPI to Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; add alumni to Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni; and add presidents to Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute presidents. Done—Disavian (talk/contribs) 23:19, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

A few comments,
  • Hopefully someone can expand the athletics section, and perhaps create a separate article, but I am not sure. Keep :in mind Georgia Tech is a much larger school.
  • I think it's ok to have a few lists. Wikiproject Universities says bulleted lists are ok.
  • Presidents category seemed a little small, (4 pages), but I might create it.
  • article is looking good!
Danski14 02:53, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
Looks like you've covered all the bases, and the article is looking great! However, I think the following could use more improvement:
—Disavian (talk/contribs) 17:39, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Do you are anyone else have suggestions for anymore subsection titles for History or Research? Also, I've tried to add to athletics, but beyond Hockey, I am not sure what to put in. Apart from Hockey, I don't think athletics are really that big here. I mentioned the PuckMan mascot, who has his own article. Danski14 23:45, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

If you honestly can't think of anything to add to athletics, that's fine. Some schools don't focus on it. As for #History, you could go 1900-1950 and 1950-present. #Research? I have no idea. —Disavian (talk/contribs) 04:53, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
After taking another good look at the article, I'm satisfied. :) I suggest you get a peer review for more ideas on how to improve the article. —Disavian (talk/contribs) 04:57, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
By the way, I'd appreciate it if you went to WP:GAC and reviewed a few articles there. :) There's currently a horrible backlog, and the more you put in, the more you get out, so to speak. —Disavian (talk/contribs) 05:00, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Great! Yeah, I think I def will take a look at a few GACs. Danski14 05:39, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Athletics

As was mentioned above, the Athletics section may not have complete coverage. I recently found this [3].. on the "College Hockey Wiki". Material from there can be merged in from the open GFDL license I think, and only if it is notable. Danski14 05:39, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

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