Talk:Western Carolina University

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[edit] Millennial Initiative

someone made a change in the article noting the Millennial Initiative was announced 8 years ago, I have not idea where that information was obtained, but the Millennial Initiative was announced in 2006, here's a link to the concept plan.... http://www.wcu.edu/assessment/documents/MillennialInitiativeConceptPlanApril2006.pdf 24.30.116.171 (talk) 22:52, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Catamount

Is there any source available that confirms the catamount is a "fictional" animal? I was under the impression that a catamount was just another name for a mountain lion, certainly not a fictional animal at all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.235.38.201 (talk • contribs) 15:00, 27 April 2005 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamount —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.21.191.176 (talk • contribs) 05:49, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
The catamount is not a fictional animal. Your information is correct. Ezratrumpet 23:42, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge Discussion

Why merge Power 90.5 with WCU? It's not even owned by WCU and plays what Jackson County tells it to :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.15.44.128 (talk • contribs)

July 9: Power 90.5 is owned and operated by Western Carolina University students. Duh. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.142.130.35 (talk • contribs)
No Merge. Radio stations can stand on their own merit as an article cataloging the ownership, station format, etc. There is no need to merge 90.5 with this article. ju66l3r 06:07, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
No Merge. I concur with the aforementioned statement and am removing the banner from the page. Any viable radio station (viable defined as licensed by the FCC) could have a Wikipedia entry, regardless of owner and operator. Ezratrumpet 14:21, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Criswell Lappin

Might want to consider adding Criswell Lappin Creative Director for Metropolis Magazine

http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1681

http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/magazine.php —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.52.128.170 (talk) 19:18, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] David Sedaris

Didn't David Sedaris attend Western? Definitely not an alumni, but pretty sure he attended. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.52.128.170 (talk) 19:13, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

I found this link that says he spoke there but I couldn't find anything that said he actually attended. If he did go to WCU I would have expected the link that I gave to have mentioned it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.30.220.76 (talk) 00:16, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
He was a student at Western, but did not graduate from WCU. I don't think that attending qualifies him for a listing. See this link.Glovejr (talk) 12:57, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Rich Hall

Can someone give a citation showing that Rich Hall attended Western? I've searched and I can't find any proof that he went to WCU. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 152.30.221.68 (talk) 03:52, 7 February 2007 (UTC).

Try this link: http://www.nndb.com/people/267/000108940/ Glovejr (talk) 20:27, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

How accurate is NNDB? I can't find a source on their website and I wouldn't be surprised if they posted that about Rich Hall because it was posted here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.30.139.55 (talk) 18:51, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Eric Rudolph

I have added Eric Rudolph to the list of Notable Alumni two times and both times this reference has been deleted. Granted he doesn't meet the strictest definition of alumni since he only attended for two semesters (a note I have added to my current revision) but he is still possibly the most famous person to attend Western and I think this should be mentioned somewhere in the article even if it may reflect poorly on the University. My source is available here, it's a link to CNN's website which I think is a noteworthy source. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 152.30.221.68 (talk) 21:34, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

Okay since I posted this my addition has been deleted at least twice and both of those times it was by Ermcc8. It's really annoying me because I think that it's a notable contribution but it keeps getting deleted and no one will say anything about it. Ermcc8 if you have a problem with my contribution please post it here and maybe we can fix it otherwise stop. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Culled (talk • contribs) 23:08, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
You are posting Eric Rudolph in an effort to reflect poorly on the university. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.30.116.171 (talk) 05:29, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

The topic heading should be "Notable alumni" not "former students". Someone changed the heading to former students in order to be able to add Eric Rudolph's name. The person that added Eric Rudolph stated that "he is still possibly the most famous person to attend Western", well he/she should look up the definiation of famous. He maybe the most "infamous" person, but certainly not the most famous (saying someone is famous connotes that they have a widespread reputation, usually of a favorable nature). What university wants to highlight infamous individuals that may have attened their university for a short period of time? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Glovejr (talk • contribs) 20:01, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Well it's true that famous has positive connotations that certainly don't apply to Eric Rudolph but really you're just arguing semantics. I think that the point is that Eric Rudolph is notable enough to be included on the page. Now of course he doesn't meet the definition of alumni and I can understand that we want to keep the page consistent with the pages for other Universities but still he deserves a mention somewhere. Also, I'd like to point out that there is precedent here for mentioning people who did not graduate from a university but still attended there. Harvard has a whole page for non-graduate alumni and it includes Sinedu Tadesse, a murderer. Now as to the comment that that no "university wants to highlight infamous individuals that may have attened their university for a short period of time" that's of course true but it's also irrelevant. The university would not be highlighting this fact it would be highlighted by Wikipedia which is supposed to be a neutral third party encyclopedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.30.139.55 (talk) 18:30, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

How is it arguing just semantics? Read the definations, that is not just arguing semantics, that is arguing facts. This is not the Harvard page, and it does not matter if they have fifty murderers listed on a non-graduate alumni page, this is not a non-graduate alumni page, this is not Harvard, and the heading is Notable Alumni and he does not fit that catagory. Glovejr (talk) 20:55, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it is just arguing semantics. Famous means well known, it generally has a positive connotation, but I still consider it to be a neutral term for well known and a quick check of several online dictionaries seems to agree with me (Webster has the first definition listed as 'widely known' and the second as 'honored for achievement' while dictionary.com has 'having a widespread reputation, usually of a favorable nature' both of which acknowledge that there are positive connotations but also acknowledge that it is not strictly a positive term). And while we're at it semantics is "the study of meaning in language", which is what you're doing when you're arguing over the definition of a word. But, of course, this is completely irrelevant to the actual matter at hand.
Now I only brought up the Harvard example because the section was ostensibly changed to 'Notable Alumni' in order to be consistent with the pages for other Universities. If the heading is Notable Alumni because that's what it is for other universities then the Wikipedia pages for other universities should be relevant to this discussion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.30.220.76 (talk • contribs) 05:57, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

As you say, "but still he deserves a mention somewhere." yes he does, and that somewhere is on his own page, not on ANY university "notable alumni" section where he attened less than a full academic year. Glovejr (talk) 21:07, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

It's not that important but according to the CNN citation he attended for exactly one academic year. Whether or not that's important enough to be included is what's under debate. My basic point is that Eric Rudolph is the most notable person to attend WCU (he bombed the Olympics for goodness sake), I have never heard of any of the other people on that list. I mean come on, the list is made up of a bunch of minor athletes, the CEO of a furniture company that only has one store outside of North Carolina, and a bunch of other random not-so-famous (or infamous) people. I really do just want to have the most useful and informative page possible not, as someone earlier suggested, to make the university look bad. And, for what it's worth, at least for the time being you can leave the page Rudolphless. I'd like for some other people to give their take on this and for a rough consensus to be achieved. I don't want to get into an edit war. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.30.220.76 (talk • contribs) 05:57, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Third opinion

I am responding to a request for a third opinion. As referenced in the Rudolph article with a CNN citation, Rudolph attended WCU for two semesters. It is a minor item in that biography and not sufficiently notable for inclusion in this encyclopedia article about the university. — Athaenara ✉ 12:36, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I'll respect that decision. 152.30.161.46 (talk) 00:11, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

Is it just me, or is the "Only at Western Carolina University" violate Wikipedia's NPOV policy? It reads like a college admissions junk mail letter. 64.53.208.15 05:36, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

I think you are right. I think that this section must be cleaned up to appear less like a recruiting letter. To start with, I think that the statement "At Western you’ll find educational opportunities you simply can’t find anywhere else." is insignificant, since many schools offer unique opportunities. The other comments are all over the map, and I am wondering how it could possibly be rewritten in a paragraph. HokieJC 04:05, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
Some googling reveals that the entire first section was just copy and pasted from this site for Western's Athletics. It's clearly NPOV. I also don't think we really need the list of all the majors and frats/sororities since it's really just taking up space and a link to Western's web site would suffice.

[edit] NCAA Record

"The Catamounts currently hold a NCAA Men's Basketball record for their 1996 2-point loss to Purdue University."

Is this really a record? Other 16's have lost by 1...but I don't think that is any type of record in any case. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.109.131.140 (talk) 22:02, August 22, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:WCU Seal.gif

Image:WCU Seal.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 05:24, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] List of Majors?

Do we really need to include the list of majors on the page? It seems like a link to the site would make more sense. It's maintained by the University so presumably it won't be out of date when they add or remove majors and it would take up less space here. Petraz (talk) 17:07, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I have removed the list of majors twice, both times they were automatically returned by a bot. I even created a "new page" to move this information to, added a link, moved the majors to the new page, and someone i'd classify as not knowing what they were doing, almost immediately deleted the new page and classified it as "blatant advertising". I have no idea how this information on a new page is advertising, but on the Western page, it's not. Glovejr (talk) 00:41, 29 May 2008 (UTC)