Talk:University of Minnesota

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The following comments about the quality and importance of this article have been left: (edit – history – watch – refresh)

In order to reach GA status, the article needs to be better referenced and red links need to be resolved.

I think a view of the Northrop Mall would be esthetically superior to the picture that is displayed here now. Are any good pictures of it in the public domain and on the web where they can be copied? Michael Hardy 23:11, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

This article should be moved to University of Minnesota, and the current article there moved to University of Minnesota system. john k 00:18, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I finally moved the twin cities article as suggested. The University of Minnesota page now describes the main campus, as U of Wisconsin links to the Madison campus and Michigan to the Ann Arbor campus. Subsurd 07:31, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Campus Size

I'm wondering about the acreage figures used in the article. I found information from the school's web sites that suggests that the Minneapolis campus is 2000 acres with an additional 730 in St. Paul. Figures in the article suggest that the Minneapolis campus is spread across less than 400 acres. I have to question that, as that amounts to about 1.6 square km, and that seems to be quite small for such a large university, but conversely, the figures I looked at put the Minneapolis campus at 8 square km, which seems a little much. My information came from http://www.irr.umn.edu/stsur/stsur96.htm Subsurd 03:44, 9 June 2005 (UTC)

I added aerial photos of both campuses (taken from when I was flying to DC), and added red lines to show, based off of the official campus maps available on the university's website, the area of the campus. Actually, on the Minneapolis campus I did end up adding the areas immediately next to the river which are considered parkland and not part of the U. As a person who went to the U for grad school, I must say that you're correct: for over 50k students its relatively small. Bobak 21:19, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Improvement Drive

The related articles History of Minnesota, American Empire,National Football League and Space program of the United States have been listed to be improved on Wikipedia:This week's improvement drive. To support one of these articles you can add your vote there. Also, Rodgers and Hammerstein is nominated at the Biography Collaboration. --Fenice 18:16, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Parking At the U

how many parking spaces are available at U of M —Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.112.24.54 (talk • contribs)

The short answer is not enough. From Parking and Transportation's FAQ there are 21,000 spaces available for 24,000 daily commuters. Students enter a parking lottery for a small subset of parking facilities on campus (I believe they can also enter a separate lottery in their dorm for spaces nearby, if there are any), ranking three of their top choices. I always "won" the lottery, so I'm not sure how rare it is not to get a contract for a semester. For faculty and staff, they enter a waiting list for an expanded list of facilities at will. More popular facilities like the Washington Avenue ramp have waiting lists in the 1500s (rumor has it that the Northrup garage has a waiting list which would take years to get through), but the more common number is around 100-300, with some facilities having no wait. As far as daily parking goes, rates are somewhat high if you're parking for the entire day, generally around $12. — wheresmysocks 03:34, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Barnyard

Hi. I've been putting together pages for each of the Big Ten's basketball student sections and was wondering if someone would be interested in expanding and maintaining that of the Barnyard. Thanks! --BroadSt Bully 13:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] one of the external links is blind.

one of the external links is blind: The Wake Student Magazine.--Pejman47 07:44, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Urban flagship university

Isn't U. of Minnesota unique in that it is one of two flagship universities to be located in a large urban area as opposed to a college town, the other being Washington? 4.224.120.52 23:06, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure about its overall uniqueness, but it is one of the main selling points used in prospective student literature. [1] — wheresmysocks 00:40, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

- I would say "no" because it was definitely not an urban area when it was founded in 1851. There was almost no one in Minnesota, or the Upper-Midwest for that matter.

- I don't know that it matters whether the area was urban at the time of the school's founding. The point is that it's now in the middle of a major city, while most flagship schools are in towns in rural areas. That having been said, it's not THAT unusual, unless you only consider flagship schools of systems named "University of This State", and urban areas within the city limits of the area's primary city. Otherwise you could include Berkeley, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Rutgers and probably a few others. But if you do restrict the definition that much, it seems like a silly distinction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 57.69.22.246 (talk) 19:04, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image help

Image:Hiker.gif is slated for deletion due to the new Fair Use rules. The Iron Mike statue, also called the Student Soldier Memorial, is located on the U of M campus, in front of the armory at 15 Church Street. Can anyone snap a photo of it to replace the current fair use image? You don't need to be the greatest photographer in the world, and it doesn't need to be perfect. Anything is better than nothing at all. Thanks in advance! Kafziel Talk 15:07, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I won't be on campus again until Tuesday, if no one has gotten to this by then I'll take care of it. -BenFranske 06:44, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
That would be awesome! Kafziel Talk 13:04, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
Sorry, I forgot about this, I'll be back on campus this week and have added it to my to-do list! -BenFranske 18:35, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
Thanks again! Kafziel Talk 16:46, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
The photo has been taken and added to the Iron Mike page. --BenFranske 05:14, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] From AfC page

As this is a UofM programme, it would probably be better suited on this page - would someone with UofM expertiese please include, if this is a noteworthy programme. SkierRMH 20:48, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Multicultural for Academic Excellence

A University of Minnesota program that offers students of different cultural backgrounds academic and social support, scholarships, career development, living and learning communities, and many other programs to provide a community of academic excellence.

http://www.mcae.umn.edu/ 134.84.146.96 17:36, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] University Armory

If someone's qualified, an article about the University Armory would be warranted. It served as the basketball team's arena for twenty years, so it meets notability, and it's been around on campus long enough that there should be other interesting stuff about it. If anyone knows enough, it would be a good article. I might start it as a stub, as I'm working on the men's basketball article right now. matt91486 01:38, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Animal Research Controversy

If that is okay with everyone else, I'm going to add a section related to the controversy about the primate research going on at the U of M. More info here: www.minnesotaprimatefreedom.org Mnpfp 19:47, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

-Is this really an issue that is unique to this institution?

I personally feel it's not but I agree with MNPFP, that there should be a separate section. I've read a lot about the primate research controversy at the U of M. It is not a small issue. More and more it's becoming more controversial.Carniv 00:20, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

WP Policy: Wikipedia:Complete bollocks It appears this stuff has been taken out. Let me state that WP is an encyclopedia, not a crystal ball, it does not predict nor analyze possibly occurring events. In fact it's content is more dry than you think. WP in the past year has also mandated new information be backed up by multiple sources and publishers, meaning if it can be defended over time. Even if there was/is an animal research controversy, it would not last very long and its notability within the larger U of MN topic is highly diminished after 100 years of past history. There has been a lot more serious incidents in U history including riots, arrests, murders, etc but they are trivial in the scope of the U. And most of the time these incidents just happen to be at the U and the methodology of A+B=C is forbidden on WP. And an incident at the U does not necessarily incorporate itself into the U history because it's not instituted into what the U of MN is. The closest thing you can achieve here is a mention of a primate research facility (do they even have one?) because that facility will likely last the century. But to claim the U for the next 100 years will abuse and torture animals (just assuming thats your cause here) is predicting the future -- and to suggest it is part of the academic curricula of being at the U is bollocks. If you feel Animal Research Controversy falls under WP:notability then you should create your own WP page or news story in Wikinews. I'm sure theres a generic Wiki page about animal research, you could go there. Should your page and comments hold up over time then come back and we can talk about including it into the U page. .:DavuMaya:. 16:46, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Weather section

The "weather" section seems more about the general climate, and less about the actual university. What is in the section related to the university doesn't seem all that notable nor encyclopedia worthy. Can it be removed? Ostap 05:46, 1 February 2008 (UTC)