Talk:List of Cooper Union alumni

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Higher education

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Principles[edit]

It would be good to have a discussion about which alumni should be included. Along these lines, I submit that it is possible for a person to be highly notable as an engineer, artist, architect, scientist or anything else and yet not have there be a Wikipedia page describing their career (yet). Therefore we should not eliminate entries simply because there is no corresponding Wikipedia page for that person (yet). Of course notability should be well established for all entries, which is what citations are for. Just my opinion, would like to hear from others. Also, as far as I can tell since Cooper Union has had a long history of part-time students and, like many colleges, considers someone to be an alumnus if they have ever attended Cooper Union, whether or not they earned a degree there. Originally the school offered classes, not degrees, and anyone who completed a course was considered to be an "alumnus." In the modern era, membership in their alumni association only requires a single year of attendance in good standing for membership.^[1] KeeYou Flib (talk) 16:34, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

On the other hand, those citations are very much needed if a listed person does not have a WIkipedia page already. Accordingly please note that I have marked a number of entries as needing citation because they were included without references and therefore notability is not clear, nor is veracity. I'll wait a bit, then remove these if no one provides citations. KeeYou Flib (talk) 16:05, 10 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ "Cooper Union Alumni Association Constitution" (PDF). Cooper Union Alumni Association. Retrieved April 22, 2020.

No red links[edit]

A list article like this should only have people who have articles of their own, per WP:REDDEAL. PigeonChickenFish (talk) 22:03, 1 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Agree, and yet we have allowed one or two exceptions if there have been substantial citations of that person's work, reasoning that they will have a page sometime soon. Of course if the page does not materialize in a reasonable amount of time, we should remove it. Under WP:REDDEAL it states: "An existing red link can indicate one or more of the following things: A new article is needed... " I'd say that this is the spirit within which we should work. Qflib, aka KeeYou Flib (talk) 16:48, 2 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Jeffrey Epstein Removal[edit]

Epstein dropped out of Cooper Union, and as such, isn't an alum of the institution. I removed his name from the list. Feel free to revert my edit if there's a good enough case to put his name back. That Coptic Guy 20:09, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

By the dictionary definition, graduation from an institution would not be required to be an alumnus. His participation as a student was more than merely incidental. Discussion under #Principles has further details to justify his inclusion. So I will act on your permission and revert his removal. Fabrickator (talk) 17:04, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks @Fabrickator - indeed, Merriam-Webster says that someone qualifies as an alumnus if they've attended the institution, at minimum. — That Coptic Guy (talk) 17:45, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

[1] "Cooper Union Alumni Association Constitution" (PDF). Cooper Union Alumni Association. Retrieved April 22, 2020.

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