Talk:Brown University

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Archive 01


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[edit] Removing claim to sole Egyptology department in Western Civilization

Dartmouth's claim of having the sole Western Egyptology department is incorrect. Oxford University has a long history of Egyptology, and has had an undergraduate degree program in the subject for many years.

This edit is a little baffling to me. First, the school in question is Brown not Dartmouth and the claim is that Brown has a department of Egyptology, not merely a degree. This is not to say that the field is not studied elsewhere -- UChicago, UPenn and Yale spring to mind immediately. However, none of these schools have a "Department of Egyptology," as such. At these universities, the field is more broadly considered as Near Eastern Civilization or such. However, Brown seems to be in the process of expanding the department, as evidenced by the change of name from "Egyptology" to "Egyptology and Western Asian Studies."82.226.175.224 12:29, 13 March 2007 (UTC)micahross

[edit] Removing unsourced material: Naked donut run, Naked party.

The following items have been tagged with requests for references for about a week; none have been provided. I am removing them from the article and parking them them here. They can be reinserted in the article when they are accompanied with verifiable source citations, per Wikipedia's verifiability policy and citation and reliable sources guidelines.

The verifiability policy is linked at the bottom of every edit box, and can be summarized: 1. Articles should contain only material that has been published by reputable sources. 2. Editors adding new material to an article should cite a reputable source, or it may be removed by any editor. 3. The obligation to provide a reputable source lies with the editors wishing to include the material, not on those seeking to remove it. Dpbsmith (talk) 00:21, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Naked donut run

At the end of each semester, usually on the night before the first day of exams (the last day of "reading period"), naked students walk (despite the word "run" in the name) through the Rockefeller and Sciences Libraries and hand out donuts to their peers. Neither the organization nor the precise timing of the "run" are publicly known, with the recruitment of participants usually occurring within 24 hours of the actual run. The role of head organizer is secretly passed from an upperclassman to an underclassman every year or two, and has usually been associated with one of the campus's co-ed fraternities or residential co-ops. If a naked donut run fails to occur during a semester, a new organizer will often take up the tradition the following term.

[edit] Naked party

Every fall, the Brown Association for Cooperative Housing (BACH) throws an invitation-only "naked party" where all guests remove their clothes upon entry. The hosts aim to create a comfortable setting where people of all body types can celebrate the naked human body. In contrast to the sexually suggestive dancing that can be found at many college parties, dancing at a "naked party" is paradoxically much more tame and devoid of physical contact.

[edit] A capella

Back in my day, the a capella groups often sang under Wayland Arch; is this still done? The strong tradition of a capella appears not to be noted anywhere in the article. stylobix 19 May 2006

The a capella groups still sing under Wayland Arch, in addition to several other places around campus, such as the Mochamp arch. NBS525 23:36, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Concentration List/Organization section

I've edited out the concentration/graduate school offerings list and placed it in a separate article; however, the entire section could probably use an overhaul. billobob 25 Jun 2006

[edit] History of Mathematics.

I edited the line that "Brown has the only undergraduate History of Mathematics Department in the world." The last faculty member who had an interest in teaching undergraduates retired in 1986. The last faculty member died in November 2005. Currently, there is one graduate student finishing a dissertation and no courses are offered.

I don't think it ever offered undergrad. degrees, did it? JJL 00:01, 11 July 2006 (UTC)
No, it never did. Although it is a bit unencyclopedic, it might be interesting to preserve the history of the dept. [1] ----micahross —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.226.175.224 (talk) 12:39, 13 March 2007 (UTC).
Your statement, "The last faculty member who had an interest in teaching undergraduates retired in 1986," is incorrect. As of only a few years ago courses were still offered to undergraduates in the department. Here are reviews of some of those courses, for example: [2] [3] NBS525 13:11, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Why have the edits been reverted so that it looks as if the Hist. of Math. dept. is still active? It's not and all the books once associated with the dept. have been moved out of Wilbour Hall.Micahross 11:38, 7 October 2007 (UTC)micahross

[edit] FROM ARMPIT OF THE IVIES TO HOT IVY

Consider adding a discussion about this part of Brown's history.

The basic points of this section would be:

1. From the late 19th century until after 1960, Brown was a regional college drawing students mostly from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Nationally it was known as a less rigorous elite college, where less ambitious, more sociable sons could study. (I am trying to find the source for this - I read it in a history book while an undergrad at Brown, I think example students of this ilk were son of IBM founder, Tom Watson Jr., (1937) and son of the Standard Oil founder, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1897).)

2.In the early to mid 1970s, Brown had to draw down its endowment to meet operating expenses and was considered to be on the verge of bankruptcy.

3. The combination of Howard Swearer's leadership (he was president from 1977 to 1988) and the appeal of the New Cirriculum in attracting top applicants led Brown to be labelled the "hot Ivy". It had one of the lowest acceptance rates and in 1988 was ranked #4 in the U.S. News and World Report rankings (they put more emphasis on selectivity and reputation and less on financial resources).

4. From the mid 1980s, Brown differentiated itself through its reputation for drawing children of celebrities and left wing politicians, and as a hip and trendy place. The 1998 Vanity Fair article on this subject captured the dominant campus culture from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s.

(An aside: as the student body continues to become truly national and less New York-centric, and more conventional and career oriented, question whether Brown will continue to differentiate itself from financially stronger peers).

Cbmccarthy 14:56, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pacifica House the remaining active secret society on campus?

I am confused to the "long standing consensus" of the diminished activities of Pacifica House at Brown. One quick example I found of recent Pacifica work is noted on the CCC (College Curriculum Council) Report on Grading, http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Dean_of_the_College/documents/Grading_Report.pdf Would someone please enlighten me before I revert the edit to include the portion in the 'secret society' section to include Pacifica as an active society?

Here's the last time we discussed it. "Present-day existence of some organization related to Brown calling itself 'Pacifica House'" isn't the issue. The specific problems to my mind is (still) lack of WP:V WP:RS for it being a "secret society", it being related to the secret societies from the days of yore, vs being anything WP:NOTABLE beyond any other student club giving itself that name. Note that the CCC report does not speak to the concept of a "secret society". The only ref to Pacifica House in it is to that organization's own publication (which again does not support the secret-society connection nor notability of the present-day group) and as a self-pub does not really qualify as a good source for info about the group itself. DMacks 06:54, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

The Trivia section says that Andrea Sachs from "The Devil Wears Prada" graduated from Brown. If I remember correctly, they went to Northwestern. The Northwestern page says this also... Can someone verify this for me? --Sbrools (talk . contribs) 04:19, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Andrea goes to Brown in the novel, but attends Northwestern in the movie. The screenwriters felt that Northwestern was a stronger school to emphasis her journalism degree. Brown doesn't have such a degree, whereas Northwestern is known for at least "producing" strong journalists.

[edit] Modern Traditions Section

I deleted the entire section. It consisted of three "scandalous" parties and a naked run. These issues were carrying far too much weight in the article, and not painting an accurate, dispassionate picture about Brown. The issue of scandalous parties should maybe be condense to one small section, but I don't think it belongs in the article at all.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.81.249.92 (talk) 11:28, 16 February 2007

The modern traditions have had a long and troubled history on this page, but they have always endured. You're more than welcome start another discussion about whether they should be removed, but until then, it should stay. --seliopou 21:13, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Ok. I feel entirely justified in removing the Starf*ck section though. While Sex Power God is a big deal on campus, Starf*ck is poorly attended and just not a very important fact at Brown. It's a total joke that it should have a line in the index. There are dozens of traditions and recurring campus events that are far more significant. Whatever the past discussion has been on this issue, I'm definitely in the right on this. Its inclusion in an encyclopedia article on Brown University is indefensible. I feel the same way about the naked coop party, but I'll other users decide if it should be deleted. The coop party is of interest to a few hundred undergraduates, at most. Basically, the modern traditions section makes a point: Brown has some edgy parties and is sexually progressive. This is fine, and it's true. But a short item about sex power god would communicate that just fine--seperate info about all the coop party, naked doughnuts and starf*ck is overkill. It misrepresents Brown and makes for a sloppy encyclopedia article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.153.40.179 (talk) 13:07, 18 February 2007

[edit] 24 spoof video

I've removed its link twice now. Anyone at all think it's actually notable, please speak up... DMacks 19:22, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Conservapedia vs Brown

On today's front page Conservapedia claims Brown are racist vandals. Here are the details and be sure to read the talk page. Mr Christopher 18:19, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who's Joe?

"Joe will never get into this college" ?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.155.28.89 (talk) 09:59, 3 April 2007

It was childish vandalism. It's gone now. -- Rob C (Alarob) 12:04, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Boldly Brown

Should the Boldly Brown campaign for academic enrichment be added into the recent developments area of the university article? It may be fitting considering the developments that are taking place in campus expansion and faculty enlargement (an attempt to lower the student:faculty ratio). Seems to be a large component of the administration's undertakings. Also, swim center construction and the old stone bank? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.235.246.164 (talk) 20:12, 4 June 2007

I trimmed this section as it read as original research and also per relevance. I left the lead and fixed the reference. Anyways, --Tom 13:25, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV

This article, especially under the section Academics, reads to much like admissions literature and seems somewhat promotional. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.140.251.83 (talk) 20:55, 6 June 2007

[edit] Unsourced material

Can be tagged or removed by an editor. I removed the following "Brown was also one of the first institutions to emphasize computer science as well as media studies, with its department of Modern Culture and Media, where students study film production, film criticism, and critical theory." since you probably won't find a source for this. If you do, please post it here and I will add this material back. Thanks! --Tom 20:20, 30 July 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Rankings and International Recognition

Did someoen remove the rankings section on here? Also does anyone know about Brown's international reputation? Is it even that well known outside the US? Should this topic be included in the article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.245.75.17 (talk) 19:43, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Brown Template & Wikipedia Presence

I created the Brown University Template. Please feel free to add this to all the different pages that deal with Brown and add new content to the template as you see fit.

Furthermore, I would really like to see Brown's presence on wikipedia increased. There is a lot of random information about the school that is still missing or scattered in unorganized pages. I think we are missing a lot of pages that the other ivy league schools have. Maybe we should start thinking about breaking up the main page into separate sub-pages?

Pages that I would like to see created or worked on:

  • College and Graduate School (Brown University)
  • University Hall (Brown University)
  • Board of Trustees of Brown University
  • A separate page that discusses Brown's athletic programs
  • Information about notable buildings?

Apavlo 14:27, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Unless anybody vehemently objects, I am going to try to clean up the main page and break out certain sections into their own pages. I really like how the Dartmouth page is less cluttered than ours. In their article, long sections are broken out into separate pages with the link at the top of the section. I see this as having two benefits: (1) the main page has a cleaner look, and (2) things that may not be notable enough for the main article will certainly be germane in the sub-articles. I think that unless we start breaking things out into their own pages, the article is just going to get larger, messy, and unwieldy.

So to start, I am going to break out the following pages:

I also realize that there is already the Encyclopedia Brunoniana which has a lot of information about various aspects of Brown, but it was written 15 years ago and does not contain all the information about things and it does not contain any pictures. Apavlo 03:45, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unreferenced Tag on New Curriculum

I just moved an {{unreferencedsection}} tag from the bottom of the History section to the New Curriculum section. Per edit number 91472679 by GearedBull, this tag belonged on the New Curriculum section (see [4]). - AWeenieMan (talk) 02:08, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Some good refs are probably the Encyclopedia Brunoniana entry, the original GISP paper, and any of many BDH articles covering "how things are now" or "how to take advantage of your opportunities" or "they might change things". Thanks to short institutional memory among undergrads, there are many such articles over the years, such as this recent and detailed one. Can we slap those loose as "References" for the whole section or do we need to add specific ones as footnotes supporting specific statements? DMacks (talk) 02:37, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
I {{fact}} tagged where I think we need citations. Some of them will probably be duplicates. I also uploaded a photo of Robinson Hall I took this summer (apparently there was one there before without copyright information). - AWeenieMan (talk) 03:05, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
We are down to 2 {{fact}} tags, both of which I believe can be satisfied with the original GISP paper, however without seeing the text myself I cannot be sure. It also might be worth citing the line about the curriculum itself being different then the GISP with the BDH article you linked. - AWeenieMan (talk) 04:34, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] College v. University

I am curious: If Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Universities, among others, retain at least nominal subunits known as Harvard College, etc., why doesn't Brown? Is the undergraduate college within Brown U. also known as "Brown University" in somewhat the same way as the whole university surrounding Dartmouth College is also known as "Dartmouth College"? Greener08 (talk) 12:36, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Within the university, the undergraduate programs are within an administrative unit called "The College", separate from the Graduate School and the Medical School. There is a separate dean in charge of each. DMacks (talk) 13:56, 2 April 2008 (UTC)