Talk:University of Ottawa

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University of Ottawa was a good article candidate, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. Once the objections listed below are addressed, the article can be renominated. You may also seek a review of the decision if you feel there was a mistake.

Date of review: No date specified. Please edit template call function as follows: {{FailedGA|insert date in any format here}}

Archives:

See previous discussion at /Archive1... though I can't imagine why you would. -Joshuapaquin 22:55, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] French and English

Shouldn't the words French and English be capitalised?

Rule 13. Capitalize words derived from proper nouns.

 Example  I must take English and math.

English is capitalized because it comes from the proper noun England but math does not come from mathland. From http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp Tidied up.

[edit] Userbox Template

I've made an userbox for University of Ottawa students, staff, faculty and alumni:

UO This user has an affiliation with the University of Ottawa.

To use it, put {{user uottawa}} into your User page. ----PCStuff 04:18, 30 July 2006 (UTC)



[edit] Expansion needed on "fully bilingual"

I'm aware of the touchy nature of this issue to members and alumnus of this instituion, and subsequently that politics has little place in Wiki content, however I think it is necessary to be truthful to the bilingual issue. This is much more than just a passing. The institution is not bilingual it is rather two unilingual institutions. The only even remote demonstration of bilingual that I have seen is Prof. Raincourt's activism class, which operated in both French and English. Furthermore, the President has been known to favour the francophones on campus in a matter that is unfair and only furthers the frustration by saying that the university would flat out hire a French only employee versus an English only, despite the fact that the university policy for bilingual persons in customer/client care positions is pretty clear.

Clearly, I sit on the English side of this debate, which I precisely why I don't feel equipped to pen this addition or clarification, and why I'm bringing it up here.

It boils down to this: the "fully bilingual" insitituion that exists here is about as coherent as the fully bilingual Canada some might like to beleive exists. There is a pretty strong line that defines who fits into the fully bilingual category, and who is wholeheartedly against English or French in Canada (ala Quebec Separatists or Alberta oil tycoons [yes, i'm aware this is a blanket statement/gross stereotype, but i'm using it to illustrate a point]). The reason why I'm making this link is because the University of Ottawa image/identity is very similar to that of a Canadian. Fragile, at best.

On the note of the English memo trying to recruit anglophones, a bit more clarity is needed to that, perhaps say the uproar that resulted from all points of the institution, including French and English students (as separate groups) and the administrative action/comments that resulted.

Anyhow, hopefully I've stirred the pot a little bit, quite interested in what everyone has to say about this. (and, I'm not hiding, I just dont have a wiki account.) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.25.72.57 (talk • contribs).

It's not expanded because the article has to remain neutral, and anything added has to be verifiable and carefully cited with sources. Ardenn 17:43, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Sources need updates. All metronews sources are voided and unavailable.

Talk about arrogance! This kind of attitude is exactly what ticks off francophones. The whole section on bilinguism refers and promote only the anglophone community's perspective without any source. The given statistics have no source or verification, don't mention anything about the historical majority of francophone vs the recent majority of anglophones while putting little or no emphasis on the enormous lack of classes offered in french in most departments. None of the arguments provided by the french community have been put forward while pleading for the anglophone side and treated as facts. That section is an insult to the legitimacy of the debate and the reputation of an university.
The 'bilingual' status is a mock and a joke especially when you look at the amount of class offered in both language. For the department of economics, only one class was offered in french while 7 classes were provided in english. Ingeenering departments offer most classes only in english while the fledging french taught classes are not sufficient.
There could be something added about the University's recent announcement that it will be creating a body to examine the question of bilingualism in response to some of the complaints that have been brought to their attention. Other than that, bilingualism gripes are just that . . . gripes.
You can read the university's regulation on bilingualism here [1]. It clearly states that French and English are the official languages of the university and that the institution must “further bilingualism and biculturalism and preserve and develop French culture in Ontario”; therefore the wikipedia article should reflect and respect this. Trappy

Removed outdated sources, changed text to reflect a neutral point of view and provide a more fact-based and encyclopedic entry. Francois8

I completely agree with this point of view i think it reflects the university better

[edit] Weasel words

"The University of Ottawa ranks 7th in research-intensive universities and 8th in total research funding in the country, receiving close to $200 million. The U of O also has the 3rd largest co-operative education program in Canada, with a 95% placement rate." Ardenn 04:33, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Endowement?

In this article, it says that UOttawa has over a billion, but according to the Group of Thirteen (Canadian universities) article, Uottawa has only around 60 million.

Its endowment is not close to a billion. The only university in Canada receiving over a billion is UofT. This needs to be changed. This whole article is full of selective puffery - someone with illusions of grandeur wrote it. While the University of Ottawa is a high-calibre academic institution which is well known for CERTAIN programs, this article makes it seem as though it is the BEST school in Canada. However; the statistics (a variety of statistics) don't give the same perception. The article should be edited to represent a more un-bias, accurate point of view.--74.98.113.160 01:33, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Largest bilingual university in North America

Reverted, I think it's verifiable, unless you disagree with Hilary Weston [2] [3] [4] -- Samir (the scope) धर्म 06:08, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

It's not NPOV. We've already had this discussion. Read the archives. Ardenn 06:10, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
I read them. Couldn't find the consensus. -- Samir (the scope) धर्म 06:16, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
The consensus is that it doesn't belong in the article. I argued with a troll over this, I'm not going to argue over it again. If I have to, I'll slap an NPOV tag on the article, again. Ardenn 06:19, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
I wasn't aware of the past history. I personally see no POV in saying that it is the largest bilingual university in North America, and I see enough WP:V for it, which is why I made the reversion. But if the consensus was as you mentioned, then I won't argue with it. -- Samir (the scope) धर्म 06:36, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
As was mentioned somewhere before, you don't see a lot of boasting over at Harvard University so why is it needed here? Ardenn 06:37, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
There's also other info there that isn't verified. Don't assume I meant the first paragraph put in. Ardenn 06:10, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
Guys, u can check out all the info at University of Ottawa Website. All the facts are right there.Darylm 06:30, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
Please read WP:NPOV. It's up to you to cite reliable sources, not us. Ardenn 06:31, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I slapped an NPOV tag on the page. Ardenn 06:32, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I added a link http://www.media.uottawa.ca/mediaroom/resources_facts-e.php , now can u remove the tag. Darylm 06:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

That doesn't cut the mustard. You have to show each and every case where it applies. Ardenn 06:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

ok, i added a link in the first para Darylm 06:49, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, it verifies it, but doesn't take care of the neutrality of the article. Ardenn 06:50, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Ok, i added a few more links, check it out. Darylm 06:59, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Can you verify...

"The average entering grade for the University of Ottawa admissions this past fall semester was 84%, and increases for limited enrolment and more popular programs such as criminology, political science, law, pure sciences, health sciences, biopharmaceutical sciences, and medicine." Ardenn 06:12, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I can't -- Samir (the scope) धर्म 06:15, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV

How is it not neutral??? All the sources have been cited. Aloha1212 17:34, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

POV != verified. Read WP:NPOV. I have reported you at WP:AN/I for removing the POV tag. Ardenn 17:44, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
Whoa there, if we're going to be throwing around policy pages, let's try to remember WP:FAITH too. -Joshuapaquin 18:34, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
I also don't see the point of the POV tag, and I see no consensus at all in the archives on anything. Reporting users to AN/I will not achieve consensus. I intend to seek consensus here, else straw poll it. Also, I'd appreciate if the Faculty of Medicine - University of Ottawa link not be reverted without discussion. -- Samir (the scope) धर्म 02:32, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] GA failure

This has failed Good Article status. There are lots of lists and not enough prose. The references are not cited properly and there is a citation tag. Many of the statements are unverified. Many headings are in caps for each word. It needs a fair amount of work.Rlevse 18:41, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What about Tom?

Is Tom Green not notable?

Is he an alumnus? According to the article on Tom Green he attended Algonquin College and had a radio program on the U of O radio station. There's nothing saying he was a U of O student. Canadiana 17:24, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Peter Jennings?

Is there a source for Peter Jennings being a notable alumnus? The only place I can find is IMDb.com. All other sources say he briefly attended Carleton University and one source called it "Carleton University of Ottawa"... maybe he was mistakingly placed on UofO's list? Ltig3 22:05, 17 March 2007 (UTC)


He did actually did also attend the University of Ottawa briefly. Here's the link. http://www.halifaxlive.com/artman/publish/jennings_080805_7712.shtml

Cosmos416 18:05, 23 March 2007 (UTC)


Thanks! Hadn't seen that link. Ltig3 15:51, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reputation section biased?

I think the reputation area needs to be revamped. Stating that the U of O is "well ranked" in some ranking publications is a little vague, deceiving and ambiguous. This is an encyclopedia. We're looking for facts, not opinions. That's why we use citations here. --Buffer v2 01:33, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] PROBLEM

The endowment is much lower than 1.87 billion Jifdjng 18:25, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

True That! 4fdf323 20:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Strange contribution

A recent international table produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University rated University of Ottawa in the 200 bracket of top 50 universities in the world, placing it amongst the top 6% world-wide [5].

What the heck does that mean being in the 200 bracket of the top 50 Oo. ? Esurnir 22:12, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

A bit new to wikipedia so dont know quite how to refernce my source, anyway looking into universities for grad studies i consulted Times Higher Education Supplement a UK site which ranks universities internationally, anyway the University of Ottawa is not in their top 200 where a few other canadain universities are. A subscription is necessary but you can use a free trial to view the rankings (see http://www.thes.co.uk/ ). Shanghai Jiao Tong University is just a univesity doing a ranking of other Universities.

[edit] This article needs work

The "reputation" section seems to have been copied directly from the university's promotional material. It comes across as somewhat defensive, and one-sided. It summarizes every positive review published about the U of O, but omits all negative ones. As a student of the U of O, I am somewhat biased, but the school's reputation is not that spectacular.

The section on the bilingual controversy reads like it was written by someone with multiple personality disorder. Rather than no point of view, there are two distinct, and very narrow points of view. The real issue is far too complex to be written in a single paragraph by a few people with chips on their shoulder. Being a bilingual institution creates a whole host of issues. What the article lacks is a wholistic approach to the effects of bilingualism on all aspects of the university's existence.

Currently the article focuses entirely on why the school doesn't suck, and the conflict between french and english. There's a lot more to the U of O than that, and I encourage anyone with good info to contribute.

As a side-note, I'd like to vent about my own personal chip on my shoulder. A problem that I've experienced is the large number of courses being taught in english by professors who cannot speak english. Some of these are francophone professors that are hired as "bilingual" professors despite not being able to speak english, while others cannot speak either english or french very well. Either way, they cannot speak the language of instruction well enough to convey the subject matter, make their expectations clear, or even answer simple questions. My own personal experience doesn't belong in the article, but it's an issue that is a real problem for the university.

--70.81.251.32 09:13, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, the reputation part stating that the school continues to perform well in Maclean's rankings has been removed. Totally biased and deceiving. It fails to mention their overall rank, and the word "well" is ambiguous. This is an encyclopedia. We're not looking for bias. Factual information only. Also, people need to watch their choice of words. E.g. the school continues to perform "well" in Maclean's rankings, and describing the G13 as the "top" universities in Canada. This article needs A LOT of work. --68.145.246.117 05:32, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
Looking at it, the whole Reputation section needs to be revamped. Horribly done --68.145.246.117 05:34, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
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