Talk:University of King's College

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There are a lot of incorrect pieces of information in this article, mostly satirical and humorous, so I'm not sure what you guys think of that. Most of it is basically correct.


Moved from Wikipedia:Votes for deletion:

Unless the referenced website is an extremely elaborate spoof, then the article is all true - the "stone frigate" part seems strange, but it's not unique; HMS Ganges in the UK is similarly bizarre. Stan 03:14 Apr 18, 2003 (UTC)
Really? The Windsor campus was commissioned by King George III, after he had largely gone insane; he requested that they build "an Mother [sic] of a University."
for two years classes were held in the woods.
King's maintained its ideals simply by admitting only students from Toronto
Zoe
7440 hits for Google search "king's college" "nova scotia", many of which are from unaffiliated sites, such as www.gov.ns.ca. If that's a spoof, I think it sets some new records for elaborateness. And George III did go insane -- he had porphyria. The article certainly makes interesting reading doesn't it? -- Tim Starling 12:55 Apr 18, 2003 (UTC)
The university is definitely there, even if portions of the article are spoofs (spooves?). I just emailed them asking for any help they could provide in sifting fact from fiction. - Montréalais 18:39 Apr 18, 2003 (UTC)
I'm not sure you should have bothered. http://www.birthplaceofhockey.com/ confirms the hockey story, http://www.ukings.ns.ca/about/kings/president/history.htm confirms that the place burnt down in 1920 and was rebuilt with Carnegie Foundation money. It also confirms the "stone ship" story: "From 1941 to 1945, the College buildings became His Majesty's Canadian Ship, 'HMCS King's', where officers were trained for the Royal Canadian Navy." It even confirms the College's Anglican Loyalist roots. All the most extraordinary stories here appear to be true. I think we can thank the anonymous author for an enjoyable read and a valuable contribution to Wikipedia. -- Tim Starling 04:07 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC)
The anonymous author, who once went to King's long long ago and now lives far far away, gratefully thanks you. Incidentally, I'm not really anonymous. I have a name. I also contend that all of the "silliness" made much better "history" than "reality." Oh well, I know, it's an encyclopedia, need to get the facts straight, so I'm sorry. There are, however, several delightful pieces of silliness that no one has found yet. HOORJ!
The silliness does make it better, and its only because of my good graces that it remains :) I also feel that the article is much improved by the slight humour that is inserted. Peregrine981 13:36, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I just read what the article was like before Montréalais fixed it up. Now I see why you were so keen to check for any more misinformation. -- Tim Starling 04:19 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC)

I'm a student at King's and I've gone through to finish cleaning up some of the misinformation on the page. The reference to accepting students only from Toronto is a joke on campus -- there are many students from all over, including Nova Scotia, though Torontonians are indeed disproportionately represented. I've removed the joke and replaced it with a mention of how many Ontario students there were in the first-year class. The reference to King George wanting to create "an Mother (sic) of a University" is incorrect; the Royal Charter (included at http://www.ukings.ns.ca/about/policies/president/pdf/purple_book.pdf) states the royal intention to create "the Mother of an University" (emphasis added). I'll admit I'm not completely clear on what this was intended to mean, but it doesn't mean what the original article implied, that the King wanted a really super university. I also removed the reference to King George III's insanity -- this is true, but did this insanity in fact cause the foundation of King's College? If not, it's not relevant to this particular article. I've rewritten the sentences about King's being forbidden from offering programmes that Dalhousie also offers to be more in line with the actual agreement between the two institutions, also included in http://www.ukings.ns.ca/about/policies/president/pdf/purple_book.pdf. Finally, I included the mention of the Wardroom and added two more "famous grads" to the page. -- greyfedora 02:28 Mar 20, 2004 (UTC)

Although it is a common joke that so many students come from Ontario, I think the actual figure is usually about 30-40%. There are still more Nova Scotians at UKC, although 03-04 may be an exception because of the double cohort. Maybe I should look into this. I think there was an article about it in the watch or tidings a few years ago.

Peregrine981 14:39, 21 Mar 2004 (UTC)

There was an article in The Watch -- I wrote it. I no longer have my notes from my interviews but the article says "slightly more than a hundred of FYP's 274 students come from Ontario." I will change this article to reflect that (it isn't really all that close to half). -- greyfedora 17:06 Mar 22, 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] King's College New York and Columbia College

This entry seems to raise doubts about the connection between King's College, New York and Columbia College. But I don't think there really is any question about the continuity between King's and Columbia. While it is true that loyalist members of the original King's College left New York in the Revolution to start a new institution in Canada, that does not really show any fundamental discontinuity between King's and Columbia. The 1789 opening of Columbia involved a restructuring of the institution internally, most importantly with a new system of internal governance and a state-issued charter to replace the George II's royal charter, but the teaching staff and clientele of students from among New York families remained largely unchanged. To this day, Columbia honors its royal roots, everything from the inclusion of the Crown of St. James in its official arms and other symbolic devices and the celebration of charter day.

There's no connection to speak of - Columbia was founded as a "King's College" of George II and King's was founded by George III. In both cases the colleges were founded to serve as the "mothers" (so to speak) of greater universities that would evolve around them. The arrival of English Loyalists after the revolution probably did focus George III's attention on Nova Scotia, but the establishing of the college was entirely the work of the King, who wanted to rebuild the institutions that had been lost in the revolution. Geoff NoNick 04:41, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Crash course??

I wonder about that phrase. Sure, It's a one year course, and it's not the highest level of study for any of the materials covered, but the words "crash course" always invoked a hap-hazard, incomplete kind of study. I don't know, anyone else think we should change it?

Seems to me "crash course" is an exageration at best. It was a comprehensive course taught all at once without the benefit of practical training on-board ship (due to the exigencies of war), but the Long N was the regular force officer navigation course; reserve officers (of which a great many more were produced) received far less instruction. If anything, the Long N was the "cadillac course". To put it into context, modern Canadian Navy navigation officers are given the bulk of their training in three separate courses (MARS III, MARS IV, and the NAV course) that total about 14 months - not far off the Long N. Geoff NoNick 17:19, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bookstore

I added a small line about the UKC bookstore as it is an important addition to the campus. It also is perhaps a show of independence from DAL, their bookstore, and their courses. Feel free to add, please don't delete.

[edit] Bays going co-ed

The article says that "for 2006, two of the five bays will be converted——for the first time ever in their long history——to co-ed living spaces while one becomes entirely female and two remain entirely male."


However, at least two of the bays were co-ed several years ago. So, are we referring to two specific bays (ie Chapel, Middle or Radical) which are newly co-ed, or is the statement saying its the first time any bay has been co-ed? If its the former we should clear that up, if the latter then its wrong. Peregrine981 04:25, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Formatting and Tone

The article looks really informal right now... if anyone has a lot of free time could they install the same template that all other Canadian universities seem to have? It would look a lot more professional.


As I've noted in my recent edit, the information in the article is, for the most part, correct, and the language is more or less correct. Still, the whole thing needs cleanup for consistency, preservation of neutral, encyclopaedic tone, and general mature treatment of the subject. Crane 16:53, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Notabable academics

This section needs to be seriously edited. The vast majority of the faculty on this list are very popular at King's but are virtually unknown outside of the college. Notable academics should at least have one notable publication, or a background outside of teaching/research (i.e. notable media personality) which makes them notable. They can't just be well liked teaching fellows. I will edit when I have more time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.7.169.68 (talk) 20:26, 12 November 2007 (UTC)