Talk:Roanoke College

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[edit] Park Hee Byung

Roanoke was one of the first colleges in the United States to welcome Korean students. The first Korean to graduate from an American college or university, Surh Beung Kiu, graduated from Roanoke in the class of 1898. Kim Kyu-shik, an early Korean independence leader who campaigned against the Japanese annexation of Korea, also graduated from Roanoke.

Park Hee Byung, another early Korean independence leader who lived the last years of his life in Colorado, graduated from Roanoke as well. Park's wikipedia page has appropriate references justifying this information, thus, it seems unnecessary to have the same reference(s) in the Roanoke College article (no other listed alumni have external cites; those with wikipedia pages such as Park have references on those pages). Park should be listed the same as all alumni (and again his page has appropriate references).

Hopefully this addresses the concerns of the person who initially added Park to the Roanoke College website. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Korea2006 (talk • contribs) 02:23, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

First, sign your comments with four tildes. Second, all facts in every article should have citations, regardless of whether those facts appear in other Wikipedia articles (and in many cases, those other articles too are unreferenced or poorly referenced). This serves to assure the reader that someone is actually doing fact checking; also in lists like this, it helps to demonstrate the notability of the person added to the list. The fact that the authors of this article have not bothered to add any citations does not mean you delete when one gets added because its not "the same as all alumni"; it means you should be looking for external cites for those alumni also, along with every other fact in the article. Really, verifiability is absolutely basic policy around here. cab (talk) 02:30, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

There's a difference between verifiability and needlessly duplicating citations. If one Wikipedia article is already linking to another, it shouldn't need to duplicate the linked article's citations simply to mention a fact from that article in passing. If that were necessary, inter-linking Wikipedia articles would quickly devolve into nothing more than a mess of duplicated citations ;) Ubernostrum 17:43, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Roanoke and the Railway

The Norfolk and Western Railway, now Norfolk Southern Corporation, has provided career opportunities for many Roanoke alumni; the NWR was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia until 1982 and is a major employer in western Virginia. Roanoke graduates who have advanced to leadership positions include Stuart T. Saunders and John P. Fishwick, former presidents of the NWR; John R. Turbyfill, retired vice-chairman, NSC; and John S. Shannon, retired executive vice president, NSC.

Roanoke has strong historic ties to the railway due in part to the alumni connections. The NWR named a Pullman car "Roanoke College" in honor of the college and Fishwick's Salem, Virginia residence is now the college President's House. Saunders and Turbyfill served as chairman of Roanoke's board of trustees. In 2007, David R. Goode, retired chairman, NSC, endowed Roanoke's Center for Learning and Teaching in honor of his father, sister, and brother-in-law, all Roanoke graduates.

[edit] CO leak death

On July 14, 2006, a carbon monoxide leak in a Roanoke residence hall contributed to the death of a 91-year old retired pastor who was attending a three-day Lutheran conference. More than 100 conference attendees were affected with a small number admitted to a local hospital. A number of Upward Bound students being housed on campus were also affected. No Roanoke students were involved. The leak was caused by a malfunction in the residence hall's gas-powered hot water system, which had passed a state inspection in October 2005 and was certified through October 2007. The residence hall, known as Sections, is a row of three adjoined buildings, Wells Hall, built in 1910; Yonce Hall, built in 1913; and Fox Hall, built in 1956; the combined halls were last renovated in 1986. The incident has prompted discussion about possible state legislation to require carbon monoxide detectors in residential buildings (Virginia law currently does not require such detectors). The college has indicated that, regardless of future legislation, it will install carbon monoxide detectors in all campus buildings.