Talk:Rutgers University

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Rutgers University has had a peer review by Wikipedia editors which is now archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article.

This article is part of WikiProject Rutgers, a WikiProject to constructively prepare and present information associated with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (also known as Rutgers University). If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page (see Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ for more information)

	NJ Portal This article is part of WikiProject New Jersey, an effort to create, expand, and improve New Jersey–related articles to Wikipedia feature-quality standard.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale.
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the importance scale.

This article is part of WikiProject Universities, an attempt to standardise coverage of Universities and colleges. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this notice, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.

The following users are actively contributing on this topic and may be able to help with questions about verification and sources: ExplorerCDT (talk • contribs • email)

Archives

#1 November 2004 to January 2007

Contents 1 WikiProject Rutgers 2 Peer review 3 Straw Poll: Which name to be used? 3.1 Support 3.2 Oppose

[edit] WikiProject Rutgers

FYI: I've started a WikiProject, hopefully to be under the auspices of the New Jersey and Universities WikiProjects to direct efforts to articles related to Rutgers University, at Wikipedia:WikiProject Rutgers. —ExplorerCDT 16:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Peer review

A very solid article. Very few content issues at all. I say look over my suggestions, maybe one more copyedit, then it looks ready for FA nomination.

• Logos needs fair use rationale. Also, there might be an issue about the seal being too large to be considered fair use. (On an unrelated note, might want to remove the logo from your userpage and that violates fair use criteria #8.)
• The use of Milton Friedman's image on this page violates fair use criteria.
• Specify a source for how many lives streptomycin has saved.
• May want to double check my punctuation, but are two periods needed after John McComb, Jr.?
• "Later, University College (1945), founded to serve part-time, commuting students and Livingston College (1969), emphasizing the urban experience, were created." This sentence seems a little awkward to me.
• Fix ref spacing. Refs should be placed outside of spaces. I saw numerous instances where the ref was before the period and where there was a space between the period and the ref.
• There is a parenthesis issue in the "Diversity and locations" section.
• May want to fix the citation needed in the Alumni section before going for FA.

Let me know if you have any questions.--NMajdan•talk 18:10, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Straw Poll: Which name to be used?

Should we name this article Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey or Rutgers University? Naming the article just Rutgers is not an option, since it has to have the "university" quality in some way shape or form.

Rationale:

1. The Institution was known as Rutgers University from 1924 to 1956 when it was renamed Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, which it has used 1956 to present. (Before that it was Queen's College 1766 to 1825 and Rutgers College 1825 to 1924) but even those weren't technically correct given the institution's charter and legislative actions (it's official corporate name in 1766 was The Trustees of Queen's College in New Jersey)
2. Most t-shirts and promotional items just say Rutgers or Rutgers University, but Degrees, letterheads, websites, are officially instructed to say Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (see [1] and [2])
3. Official, self-identifying name of the institution is currently Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
4. The "Rutgers Law" which makes the institution the State University (NJSA 18A:65-1 et seq.) just says that it is called Rutgers, The State University, but allows for permutations The University and The State University of New Jersey[3]
5. Google Results: 906,000 for "Rutgers University" (minus "state") [4] and 759,000 for "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey" [5] so arguably, the spirit of Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names) would lean toward Rutgers University.
6. There's currently a big debate going on about whether to use a common or official name for an institution or entity, we should wait until it's resolve, or we could admit that it likely will never be resolved.
7. Redirects are cheap and easy.

[edit] Support

(This article should be renamed to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, with Rutgers University redirecting)

1. —ExplorerCDT 08:59, 27 January 2007 (UTC) (I'm inclined to think Official Names should trump Common Names)

[edit] Oppose

(This article should remain at Rutgers University, with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey redirecting)

1. The naming convention is to use the most common name. Wikipedia consistently eschews using full formal names. Official names do not trump common names. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is a redirect, not an article. Turdus migratorius is a redirect, not an article. Moby Dick; or, The Whale is a redirect, not an article. Rutgers is frequently referred to as "Rutgers" and frequently referred to as "Rutgers University." But is almost impossible to imagine anyone referring to Rutgers as "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey" except at the top of a letterhead or on a diploma or in a legal paper. To move it would be pompous and pedantic... and, as you note, clearly outside the spirit of the naming convention. Dpbsmith (talk) 13:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

• ExplorerCDT says on my talk page that Turdus migratorius is not a good example, because apparently the issue of common versus scientific zoological nomenclature is in dispute. So I was going to replace it with another, but unfortunately the first two that came to my mind didn't turn out the way I wanted—New World Symphony redirects to Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák), not the other way around, and Quaker, a familiar term, redirects to Religious Society of Friends, which is quite unfamiliar to people who aren't QuakersFriends. So, in the interest of intellectual dishonesty, I'm not going to mention those counterexamples. Dpbsmith (talk) 15:46, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
• Explorer, have you prepared a resumé or CV in the last decade or so? What form of Rutgers' name did you use on it? (My own does say Massachusetts Institute of Technology rather than MIT.) Dpbsmith (talk) 15:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

• I've wrtiten that my B.A. came from Rutgers College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey on my curricula/resumes since 2000, including not only the long form but my degree-granting residential college affiliation because RC has more stringent admissions and graduation requirements (and historical significance being the 1766 core of the university) than other residential colleges like the affirmative-action/civil rights baby "Livingston College", founded in 1969. Though, I am jealous and feeling inferior because my ancestors who attended before Rutgers was annexed by the state not only got to use A.B., but received degrees that were vellum and inscribed in Latin. —ExplorerCDT 17:15, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

• I just made the embarrassing discovery that The boy stood on the burning deck is a redirect to Casabianca (poem)... embarrassing because I created both the original article and the redirect myself. Dpbsmith (talk) 17:30, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

1. Like Dpbsmith stated, the Wikipedia naming conventions ask us to use the most common name of institutions rather then official ones. I think people are most likely to search for "Rutgers University" when looking for this page rather than "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey" and that is what is most important.--Jersey Devil 18:41, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

• It's rather funny that you raised the idea of a name change last time around (see archive), and I opposed. Now I raise the issue and you oppose. Odd. Don't forget, redirects are cheap. —ExplorerCDT 18:46, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

1. I am inclined to disagree with the idea of officialdom trumping common usage (for example, my arguing over the planethood of Pluto after Pluto got plutoed). In this case, the shorter version of the name is more likely what folks are going to be looking for, and thus it makes more sense to keep the article where it is. — Rickyrab | Talk 17:47, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

4. Oppose rename per WP:COMMONNAME and Dpbsmith above. — mholland 17:50, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Extra Non-Vote Commentary

• Just to note, I did disagree with such a move last time someone brought this up. Convictions change. —ExplorerCDT 10:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
  • "What? Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."—Whitman Dpbsmith (talk) 17:30, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
    • In this world second thoughts, it seems, are best. —Euripides —ExplorerCDT 17:41, 27 January 2007 (UTC)