Talk:Columbia University

GA Reassessment

Columbia University

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • Watch article reassessment page • Most recent review

Result: Delisted. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 13:27, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

I have posted a CCI request that includes as evidence some diffs leading up to this article's original GA promotion. It appears that widespread copyright issues were introduced at that time and unfortunately not caught, with the result that the present article includes some direct and some derivative copyvio from multiple sources. Examples:

• Current article: "The university is governed by 24 trustees, customarily including the president, who serves ex officio. The trustees themselves are responsible for choosing their successors. Six of the 24 are nominated from a pool of candidates recommended by the Columbia Alumni Association. Another six are nominated by the board in consultation with the executive committee of the University Senate. The remaining 12, including the president, are nominated by the trustees themselves through their internal processes. The term of office for trustees is six years. Generally, they serve for no more than two consecutive terms. The trustees appoint the president and other senior administrative officers of the university, and review and confirm faculty appointments as required. They determine the university's financial and investment policies, authorize the budget, supervise the endowment, direct the management of the university's real estate and other assets, and otherwise oversee the administration and management of the university."
  • Source: "The University is governed by 24 Trustees, customarily including the President, who serves ex officio. The Trustees themselves are responsible for choosing their successors. Six of the 24 are nominated from a pool of candidates recommended by the Columbia Alumni Association. Another six are nominated by the Board in consultation with the Executive Committee of the University Senate. The remaining 12, including the President, are nominated by the Trustees themselves through their internal processes. The term of office for Trustees is six years. Generally, they serve for no more than two consecutive terms. The Trustees appoint the President and other senior administrative officers of the University, and review and confirm faculty appointments as required. They determine the University’s financial and investment policies, authorize the budget, supervise the endowment, direct the management of the University’s real estate and other assets, and otherwise oversee the administration and management of the University."
• Current article: "McKim, Mead & White invited French to build the sculpture in order to harmonize with the larger composition of the court and library in the center of the campus. Draped in an academic gown, the female figure of Alma Mater wears a crown of laurels and sits on a throne. The scroll-like arms of the throne end in lamps, representing sapientia and doctrina. A book signifying knowledge, balances on her lap, and an owl, the attribute of wisdom, is hidden in the folds of her gown. Her right hand holds a scepter composed of four sprays of wheat, terminating with a crown of King's College which refers to Columbia's origin as a royal charter institution in 1754. A local actress named Mary Lawton was said to have posed for parts of the sculpture. The statue was dedicated on September 23, 1903, as a gift of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Goelet, and was originally covered in golden leaf. During the Columbia University protests of 1968 a bomb damaged the sculpture, but it has since been repaired".
  • Source: "Draped in an academic gown, the female figure of Alma Mater wears a crown of laurels and sits on a throne. The scroll-like arms of the throne end in lamps, representing Doctrina and Sapientia. A book signifying knowledge, balances on her lap, and an owl, the attribute of wisdom, is seen in the folds of the gown. Her right hand holds a scepter composed of four sprays of wheat, terminating with a crown of King's College which refers to Columbia's orgin as a Royalist institution in 1754.... Architect of the Low Library, Charles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead & White, invited French to execute this sculpture which was to harmonize with his larger composition of the court and library. The base was designed by McKim, Mead & White. The sculpture was a gift of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Goelet, Jr. Originally, the sculpture was coated with gold leaf. During a student demonstration in 1968, a bomb damaged the sculpture, but it has since been repaired. The actress Mary Lawton was said to have posed for parts of the of the sculpture."
• Current article: "With a design inspired by the City Beautiful movement, the steps of Low Library provides Columbia University and Barnard College students, faculty, and staff with a comfortable outdoor platform and space for informal gatherings, events, and ceremonies. McKim's classical facade epitomizes late 19th-century new-classical designs, with its columns and portico marking the entrance to an important structure."
  • Source: "With a design inspired by the City Beautiful movement, the steps of McKim, Mead, and White's Low Library provides Columbia university and Barnard College students, faculty, and staff with a comfortable and spacious outdoor platform and space for informal gatherings, events, and ceremonies. McKim's classical; facade epitomizes late 19th century new-classical designs, with its columns and portico marking the entrance to an important structure."
• Current article: "The InterGreek Council is the self-governing student organization that provides guidelines and support to its member organizations within each of the three councils at Columbia, the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, and Multicultural Greek Council. The three council presidents bring their affiliated chapters together once a month to meet as one Greek community. The InterGreek Council meetings provide opportunity for member organizations to learn from each other, work together and advocate for community needs."
  • Source: "The InterGreek Council (IGC) is the self-governing student organization that provides guidelines and support to its member organizations within each of the three councils at Columbia, the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, and Multicultural Greek Council. The three council presidents bring their affiliated chapters together once a month to meet as one Greek community. The InterGreek Council meetings provide opportunity for member organizations to learn from each other, work together and advocate for community needs."

Etc. It also appears that there may have been some copyvio predating the GA run, particularly in the history section compared to this archive. I do have other concerns wrt the GA criteria, but the copyvio issue will require a significant rewrite anyways. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:19, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Delist per nominator. Article has a significant amount of plagiarism/copyvios, failing GACR 2d. 🌙Eclipse ^{(talk) (contribs)} 14:03, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Semi-protected edit request on 7 August 2024

Correct template warnings. 64.189.18.53 (talk) 10:04, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Cannolis (talk) 16:45, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

Edit warring to remove mention of the three deans who recently resigned

Jjazz76 has begun an edit war to remove a brief mention of the fact that three deans recently resigned from the university in the wake of the protests. They have removed the same material twice (first time, second time) when it was added by different editors each time.

First, it's a terrible idea to edit war when the Arbitration Committee has explicitly prohibited edit warring for this topic. It's a great way to earn a block.

Second and more importantly, Jjazz76 said that "the source for the deans doesn't say they resign because of the protests. in fact the issue around them emerged almost a month later. feel free to re add, but conflating the two events is incorrect." To the contrary, the cited source explicitly connects these events: "Columbia has been criticized by lawmakers, alumni and students for its handling of antisemitism amid campus protests over the Israel-Gaza war this spring." The source also mentions that "The House Committee on Education and the Workforce requested copies of the texts from Columbia and released them in early July." And it is completely appropriate for us to write "In mid-August 2024, three deans and the President of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, resigned in the wake of the campus protests." ElKevbo (talk) 03:20, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

I have BLP concerns about the edit. Hence my second revision. I believe the BLP concerns are an exception to the 1R rule. Jjazz76 (talk) 03:29, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

I think it is pretty clear from published sources that the deans that resigned, who are BLP, resigned because of a texting scandal, and not "in the aftermath of campus protests." We should be very clear on this matter, and not imply that the deans resigned because of the protests, which they didn't.

If I deserve a block, that's fine, but I'm trying my best to follow Wikipedia's rules, particular around BLP. Jjazz76 (talk) 03:31, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

Also the first sentence of the cited source says "Three Columbia University deans have resigned in the wake of controversial texts they exchanged during an alumni weekend event about Jewish life on campus, the Ivy League school confirmed Thursday."

Again it doesn't connect their resignations directly to the protests. My BLP concerns stand. Jjazz76 (talk) 03:33, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

The phrase "in the wake of" suggests a cause–effect rather than just a chronological order. If we want to make a statement that there is an actual causal relationship between the events rather than just general upheaval that happens from time to time for unspecified reasons, we need a ref that specifically supports it (WP:SYNTH). And I think the ref clearly does, noting that the text messages are intimately related to the campus protests. DMacks (talk) 03:35, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

Seconding this - and apologies to all for potentially beginning this, as I was the one who made the initial edit regarding the dean's resignation. I'm still a little new to editing, so I largely defer to y'all.

The panel on Jewish life on campus seems to have been explicitly commentating on the recent protests on campus, and that panel was what the three deans were commentating on - per the citied source on the resignations, "the messages were dismissive of the speakers’ remarks about campus antisemitism", and one of the messages said that the speaker was trying to"take full advantage of this moment" (Emphasis mine).

I understand Jjazz76's concerns, and I agree that I have some concerns myself WRT WP:SYNTH; I think any of the below sources could be used to back up the claim that the two were linked. I'll wait to add any of these as sources to the article until I've seen anybody else say what they think.

AP: "The panel was held at an annual alumni event a month after university leaders called in police to clear pro-Palestinian protesters from an occupied administration building and dismantle a tent encampment that had threatened to disrupt graduation ceremonies."

Axios: "The university was at the center of nationwide protests on college campuses earlier this year over the Israel-Hamas war.

• "Administrators faced scrutiny for how they handled the demonstrations, and university has been dealing with investigations over alleged antisemitic and anti-Palestinian discrimination."

The Hill: "The incident came after months of protests on Columbia’s campus over the Israel-Hamas war, with some individuals taking over a campus building." Northern-Virginia-Photographer (talk) 12:43, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

@Northern-Virginia-Photographer - thanks for your hard work on this article.

I agree that the certainly were "linked". No question there. But I feel the through line is a bit too strong in the current version. None of the the administrators/deans who ended up resigning seem to have been involved/mentioned with the actual protest response. They don't start to appear in RS until June/end of May. I don't think there is much out there, that I could see, that mentioned them in April or up to commencement. The President resigning clearly had a more direct connection to the protests. But the deans was because of the broader climate. I still don't think "aftermath" quite captures that distinction. Anyway just my two cents. Jjazz76 (talk) 15:49, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 September 2024

Change note “a.” so that the words “to” and “not” are swapped to be grammatically correct (“not to” rather than “to not”). Tylergaming806 (talk) 02:21, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

 Done Kovcszaln6 (talk) 15:30, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Endowment

Columbia's endowment is now 14.8 billion as of October 1, 2024. Please update. Joefee (talk) 16:25, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

@Joefee: Can you please provide a source for that claim? Thanks! ElKevbo (talk) 00:17, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

https://www.finance.columbia.edu/content/imc-ceo-statement-fy24-endowment-returns Rickkus (talk) 16:09, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Updated. Thanks! ElKevbo (talk) 21:37, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Actually, the endowment value is $14.8 billion as of June 30, 2024 per the reference, not Oct. 1. Bahooka (talk) 21:52, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

In the infobox we just say "2024" so I think we're okay. (But I am puzzled that the endowment is not also included in the body of the article.) ElKevbo (talk) 22:15, 15 October 2024 (UTC)