Talk:The Albany Academy

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[edit] Herman Melville "alumnus" controversy

Merriam-Webster (m-w.com) offers the following definition for "alumnus:"

Main Entry: alum·nus
Pronunciation: &-'l&m-n&s
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural alum·ni /-"nI/
Etymology: Latin, foster son, pupil, from alere to nourish -- more at OLD
1 : one who has attended or has graduated from a particular school, college, or university
2 : one who is a former member, employee, contributor, or inmate
The vast majority of that definition deals with a subject matter not implying graduation but rather former attendance (75% of the definition). Melville clearly satisfies *both* definitions and by clarifying him as a "non-graduate" is inconsistent with other school articles. Using that line of reasoning, it would be appropriate to further delve into the activities of each alumnus (e.g. "(captain of soccer team)" or "(student council president)") Reverting the page would be more accurate, and would conform to the ways to which he is referred on other sites (see the Wikipedia Article Albany, NY) and by the school itself.
Those who believe that "alumnus" automatically means "graduate" are ignorant, and it is not the job of Wikipedia to dumb down its articles by restating what words mean. It is called a dictionary- something Wikipedia is not. Nbruschi 04:37, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

What is this "vast majority" nonsense? And breaking the definition down into a percentage??? It's an alternate definition. I don't understand why you would rather be more ambiguous than less. IIRC, Melville was at the school for a year or less, and did not graduate from the school. And yes, of course, I agree that the other individuals' information should be delved into more deeply, but I am personally focusing on disambiguating the bit about Melville, because that is the information I currently know. Of course it is better to be less ambiguous than more ambiguous, so why remove the fact that he did not graduate. People will only be confused about what is meant by "alumnus". — ₀₉₁₈^BRIAN • 2006-03-4 05:11

I agree with Nbruschi. Adding that extra information is not consistent with the format of other articles. This article once had a huge "jargon" section, but it was justly removed because, though it offered a ton more information about the inner workings of the school, it was not worthy to be on the page. If people are interested in Melville, have them go to his page where it is clear that he did not graduate. Nbruschi does bring up the point, that by amending Melville it opens the door to offer other unneeded information on each person like "captain of the soccer team" "or "student body president." An alumnus is a former member, and it is clear that is what Melville was.

It doesn't open up a door to anything like that, because the section is called "Alumni". At most, it opens up the possibility of clarifying the years that each person went to the school, and whether they graduated from the school. This would be an important clarification, and help remove the ambiguity of the section. — ₀₉₁₈^BRIAN • 2006-03-5 16:29

Five days have gone by. So I take it people are fine with adding the clarification to Melville's line? — ₀₉₁₈^BRIAN • 2006-03-10 16:08

It's fairly well known in the community that Melville did not graduate from the Academy, so I think it should be specified that he is not an alum. The Albany, NY article has been changed to reflect Joseph Henry along with Supreme Court Justice Rufus Wheeler Peckham.

[edit] Old Academy

Why is there not a single picture of the historic Downtown campus? It was an important part of the Academy's history. I'm pretty sure it's a registered historic place, too. Is the new building registered? Anyway, if I had a car, I'd go take some pictures, but I don't. In fact, looking over to the article again, I see that there is actually very little mention of the old Academy building.

I've added some historical information about the Old Academy and new Academy buildings. Although you can find historic postcards of the Old Academy online, a modern photograph would be better. I'm in Scotland for the autumn, but will attend to it when I can. Aiken1986 11:29, 7 October 2006 (UTC)