Talk:Occidental College/Archive 1

Archived Discussion Archived on 11/13/06

Herrick Chapel Picture and Notable Professors Sections
Ignat has suggested that these sections are NPOV and reflect the personal beliefs of some people editing this article. I would like to put this up for disscussion to other people who are editing this article. What do you all think?

My opinions on this matter can be found on the User talk page of Ignat at User talk:Ignat. I think that these items are npov and suitable for a page about the college. The Notable Professors sections shows professors that have accomplished notable and newsworthy achievements, i.e. awards, reputable positions that put them in the public eye, etc., for instance compare the corresponding section on the UCLA School of Law page. The picture shows a building and landmark that are recognizable on the school's campus, and do not imply any religious affiliation. If anything, the chapel illustrates some of the school's history as a relious institution, as described in the History section. I would like to find out if others agree with ignat on this issue or if people see there being no pov problem.Asedzie 06:13, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

After discussion of the matter with Ignat I have decided to move notable awards and accomplishments to the trivia section of the article. Having a "notable professors" section would rely on the individual editor's personal opinion of what made one professors accomplishments more important than anothers. In the trivia section, these awards are mentioned merely as moments when persons associated with the school were recognized publicly. Asedzie 02:58, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I find the listing of notable professors under "trivia" a bit odd. Are these facts trivial? I also still find this material highly selective - it reflects the interests and background of Asedzie, and only Asedzie. Finally, since the structure is no longer called "Herrick Memorial Chapel", it should not be captioned as such. --Ignat 19:22, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

In response to Ignat's first two comments - (1) I thought we had agreed on this months ago, why the sudden change of heart? (2) That the section reflects my interests and only my interests is patently false- other wikipedians have contributed to this section. Asedzie 22:57, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Staffing Number
On a different topic, does anyone know what the "staff 145" figure refers to in the info box? If it's faculty, the number is close, but it is incorrect to refer to faculty as "staff". If it refers to staff (non-adminstrative, non-faculty), then I'm not sure why that statistic is so prominent. --Ignat 21:00, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I addressed this by changing "staff" to "faculty" to reflect what I think was intended. --Ignat 01:33, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Multiculturalism
I placed a disputed tag on this article because the defintions in this section represent the views of controversial groups and do not necessarily reflect the real policies of Occidental College. They suspiciously appear to be the views of the group FIRE, a group that has been involved in a lawsuit with Occidental College over these issues, as well as other groups that have extreme political views.71.146.83.127 10:14, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

I removed the dispute tag after the questionable parts of the article were replaced with mission statement.71.146.83.127 02:34, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

-I personally attended this school - I have no affiliation with FIRE or any other political advocacy group - and have witnessed all this poster has alleged and then some.

Attend the school, then come back and discuss. Quoting their mission statement is a joke.

"...as well as other groups that have extreme political views"

Um...such as?

And what's extreme, the idea that students should have the right to free speech?

My real question is, what's your job at Oxy, and how much do they pay you?

Timothy Usher (tried to sign the recommended way, but tildes remained)

My personal interests have nothing to do with this, and yours should not either, this section still makes the article npov. You cannot put up unsubstantiated information on wikipedia, please cite your sources for this information on multiculturalism. The politicized nature of this section is obvious.71.146.76.200 03:37, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Let’s look at what you consider NPOV:

“The mission of Occidental College is to provide a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality—one that prepares them for leadership in an increasingly complex, interdependent and pluralistic world. The distinctive interdisciplinary and multicultural focus of the College’s academic program seeks to foster both the fulfillment of individual aspirations and a deeply rooted commitment to the public good.”

Oh, yeah, that’s neutral point of view alright! This is what the college says about itself! You can’t get any less NPOV than that.

But what’s worse about it is it doesn’t say anything specific. The section on multiculturalism says many specific things. Which are false?

As you work for the school, that should be an easy one to answer. I don’t have a problem with you or anyone else rephrasing things in a way you think sounds more neutral. But you seem to hold that a reporting of fact, as opposed to a recitation of meaningless euphemisms, is inherently POV, in that you find the facts themselves unpleasant.

You are right that the subject is politicized, but that is because Occidental itself is politicized, and to my understanding is proud of this fact. Though as with the making of sausage, someone clearly doesn’t want wiki readers to know the details. If there’s a way to rephrase things more fairly, great, but the right answer cannot be to suppress it.

And why don’t you use your name while you’re at it?

Anonymous user wrote:

"You cannot put up unsubstantiated information on wikipedia, please cite your sources for this information on multiculturalism."

Let's start with bullet points three and four:

“preferential hiring of professors who emphasize the importance of race, gender and sexual orientation in their teachings.”

History:

http://www.oxy.edu/x1806.xml


 * Lynn Dumenil's “...courses include History of American Women...”
 * Nina Gelbart “teaches...history of women...”
 * Maryanne Horowitz’s “...interests include...progress in opportunities for women.”
 * Betsy Perry’s “interests are in social history, cultural conflicts and identities, and particularly...women, and minorities.
 * Lisa Sousa “teaches courses on...women's history.”

Excluding the one without the write-up, that’s five of eight. We’re not counting those who claim interest in “social justice” or other leftist buzzwords, only those whose write-up explicitly claims the interests outlined in the multiculturalism section.

Art History and Visual Arts:

http://www.oxy.edu/x689.xml


 * Linda Besemer “teaches courses in art history, cultural studies and in the Women's Studies Department in gender theory and the history of feminism(s).”
 * Broderick Fox “teaches courses in...representations of body, gender, and sexuality in media”
 * Mary Beth Heffernan “...taught a broad range of art theory and studio classes informed by semiotics, gender theory, and psychoanalysis.”
 * Amy Lyford’s “...research and teaching also focuses upon feminist art and gender theory, and she is affiliated with the College's interdisciplinary program in Women's Studies/Gender Studies.”
 * Esther Yau teaches courses in film critical studies and new media, and offers special seminars such as..."Feminist Film Theory and Criticism."”

So, for four out of seven profs, feminist/gender theory is actually included their bullet-point write-ups - remember this is art history/visual arts, which the average person might think apolitical.

Anthropology:

http://departments.oxy.edu/anthropology/faculty.html


 * Deborah Mindry “is a feminist and political anthropologist whose research and teaching focuses on the politics of development; nationalism, race and ethnicity; the politics of women’s international organizing; topics concerning women in Africa; colonialism and postcoloniality.  She writes about gender and politics, philanthropy and feminized modes of power.  She is currently working on a book manuscript based on her dissertation “Good Women”: Philanthropy, Power, and the Politics of Femininity in Contemporary South Africa.”
 * Jeffrey Tobin “...teaches courses concerned with gender and sexuality...”

There’s two out of four...while prof. Chin. discusses “the cultural semiotics of the Barbie Doll”...hard to imagine this isn’t based on feminist theory. Barber is a committed feminist, but a serious scholar whose theories are based upon research and points of fact: the school is lucky to have her.

Sociology:

http://www.oxy.edu/x587.xml


 * Jan Lin “...teaches courses in...race/ethnic studies.”
 * Monique Taylor “teaches courses in social class and inequality, race and ethnic relations, culture and ideas, as well as race, racism and methodology in the social sciences. Her research and writing focuses on the intersection of race, class, sexuality and identity in the cultural realm.”

There’s two out of three.

English and Comparative Literary Studies

http://www.oxy.edu/x1723.xml


 * Gabrielle Foreman teaches “...issues in critical race and legal theory.”
 * Anne Howells “teaches courses in...women writers.”
 * Eric Newhall “...writes and speaks frequently on multiculturalism and diversity...”
 * Raul Villa “teaches...Chicano literature, and issues in contemporary cultural studies. His book, Barrio-Logos: the Dialectic of Space and Place in Urban Chicano Literature and Culture...”
 * Jean Wyatt “...teaches in the Women's/Gender Studies program. Her most recent published scholarship has involved...feminist approaches...”

Five of ten.

Politics:

http://www.oxy.edu/x589.xml


 * Regina Freer “...teaches the Race and Politics course.”
 * Jane Jaquette “...teaches courses on...women and politics. Her most recent book is a comparison of women and democratization...” (like Barber, a fair and worthy scholar, but not inconsistent with the observed trends)

Excepting those for which there is no write-up, that’s two of six.

Do you really think this represents a random selection of academics, much less of points of view?

"offical sponsorship of student advocacy groups based on race, feminist theory and sexual orientation."

Here, the source is Oxy itself, from The Office of Student Life

http://departments.oxy.edu/studentlife/clubs/list.html

And the International Community Center

http://departments.oxy.edu/icc/icap_members.html

“...based on race...”


 * Asian Pacific Islander Association
 * Biracial/Multiracial Alliance BMRA
 * Black Graduation
 * Black Student Alliance
 * Latino Graduation
 * MEChA-ALAS

As you mentioned extremism, please note that MEChA is notable for its extreme anti-Semitic views, as widely reported during the California recall election to replace Gray Davis.

“...feminist theory...”


 * Gender Equity at Oxy

“...and sexual orientation.”


 * Queer Straight Alliance
 * OxyOut(Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Transsexual/Queer/Straight Alliance)

Also note:


 * The Multicultural Alliance

Hmm, how about "Occidental’s speech codes have been an item of controversy since their inception, and have resulted in a number of lawsuits against the school." Unsubstantiated?

http://www.google.com/search?q=Occidental+College+speech+code&hl=en&lr=&start=10&sa=N

Timothy Usher (tried to sign the recommended way, but tildes remained)

Dear Mr. Usher you can't take off my pov tag without resolving the issues that I brought up in the article, if you do so again I will report you to a wikipedia admin. You sourced the information, but you did it on the talk page, this is not how things like this are done on wikipedia. If you want to write all of this into the article, and cite it, you can do so, but please do it in an unbiased way. The current wording of the section is heavily critical and opinionated. You can write the facts that you have gathered about Occidental Colleges "multiculturalism" policies, and controversies concering this into the article, but please do so using the accepted format for writing wikipedia articles found here:, linking your articles, and according to the Five Pillars of Wikipedia, found here:  especially with regards to Neutral Point of View. Wikipedia is not a free forum for airing your personal grievances with Occidental College. You must portray its policies in a clear, substantiated, unbiased way within the articles. It means doing more work, but it will make this article a factual resource- a record of news concering the school and policies that the school has in place that make it different from other schools. Do not remove the disputed tag again without resolving these issues within the article.71.146.65.154 22:08, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

And just to make things clear, I don't work for the school. This is important to me because this is all about the truthfulness and neutrality of wikipedia.71.146.65.154 22:14, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay. Though you remain anonymous, I believe you.

I agree that wiki should be both truthful and neutral.

"...if you do so again I will report you to a wikipedia admin."

Look, I'm trying to work it out with you.

"You sourced the information, but you did it on the talk page, this is not how things like this are done on wikipedia."

I didn't know that. So, sorry.

"...policies that the school has in place that make it different from other schools."

Give me a little credit here, that is exactly what I'm trying to do. Oxy is very unusual in this way, some might consider it a good thing, others not.

"The current wording of the section is heavily critical and opinionated."

I see why one would think this. One reason, I submit, is because the presentation of fact in the national debate has been mainly from one side, while the other has sought to avoid the discussion, hiding behind non-informational slogans such as those found in the mission statement.

Similarly, if someone were to document VP Cheney's association with Halliburton, this might seem POV because the mere presentation of these facts is associated with one side.

And I grant that my own POV probably influences the choice of words. Obviously, I am against several of the policies discussed - more ambivalent on a few others, but still think we should state frankly what is going on.

How can we fix it, while still preserving the presentation of true information? Perhaps it's because I'm relatively new to this, it's not obvious to me. I don't want it to read like a hack, but I strongly believe this information is important. I'll be thinking of how to rephrase this section to satisfy your concerns. And also ask you to help me in this - I've no problem with you balancing, rephrasing, etc. You'd probably be better at it than I am.

I'm only saying, suppressing true and interesting information can't be the answer.

Timothy Usher

Mission Statement
Okay, anonymous user, I've added the first sentence of the Mission Statement. Feel free to include the whole thing if you like. After some consideration, I've concluded that the back-and-forth replacement of one text with another is misguided. The mission statement is what it is, and is information, thus, should be included. All I ask is that it be presented as the school's own statements rather than as the purportedly objective unsourced (and thus plagiarized) observation of a third party.

Timothy Usher (tried to sign the recommended way, but tildes remained)

I repeat, if you want to bring up your problems with Occidental College's multiculturalism policy, you must do so in an unbiased way, citing all of the sources you have gathered within the article.71.146.65.154 22:10, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Dear anonymous user 71.146. etc.,

I don't consider that removing the section on Occidental's Multiculturalism policies is NPOV. Rather it reflects a concession to your POV pending a rewrite which addresses your objections. I really wish you'd be willing to help with this rewrite instead of just vandalizing (replacing the section with the school's own - and unattributed - mission statement) or threatening. In the meantime, I would like to maintain the POV tag if that's alright: articles which have been censored via vandalism and threats aren't NPOV, they are articles whose edits reflect the POV behind those vandalisms and threats.

What does wikipedia say about NPOV and deletions?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3ANeutral_point_of_view#Lack_of_neutrality_as_an_excuse_to_delete

"Lack of neutrality as an excuse to delete

The neutrality policy is used sometimes as an excuse to delete texts that are perceived as biased. Isn't this a problem?

In many cases, yes. Many of us believe that the fact that some text is biased is not enough, in itself, to delete it outright. If it contains valid information, the text should simply be edited accordingly."

Timothy Usher

POV on Occidental College Multiculturalism
Timothy Usher - Although I am loath to get into this discussion, I think that the people who visit this talk page should get a clear idea of what you are trying to do to this article, and why this article has a disputed POV tag.

-It has a POV tag because I added one after anonymous user 71.146.etc. removed it. I don't accept vandalized articles as NPOV.

"You are promoting a fringe opinion on a highly politicized topic."

And this fringe opinion is? Answer, please?

"Asedzie" -by removing boosterish sections, I was following your logic here: you’d held that the presentation of unpleasant or controversial facts is politically-motivated and thus POV. Further, you’ve held that the solution - despite the wiki guidelines posted above - is to remove the offending section, rather than rework the passage to make it more NPOV, placing the burden upon the original poster, rather than the editor, to reword and repost until it flies.

The “selectivity/reputation” section, though it contains some facts, is clearly POV as it stands (since corrected).

“41% of applicants for fall 2005 enrollment were admitted, the lowest admit rate in the history of the college.”

What’s the source for this? Even if you can find it quoted elsewhere, it’s hard to see how it could be anything other than the school itself. You’ve said that claims must be sourced within the article, Why not set a good example by following it yourself?

Wiki is *not* a place for businesses to promote their products.

As in: “state-of-the-art center, which opened in 2003, offers the latest in computer and scientific technology...”

Please. Is that from their own brochure?

“Presumably this was an effort to drag Occidental College's name through the mud...”

Eliminating boosterish sections isn’t “dragging [someone’s] name through the mud”. I question the sincerity of your outrage.

You also wrote,

“I am truly disturbed by your egregious misuse of the wikipedia article on Occidental College for promoting your personal viewpoints on Colleges admitting students of color and the teaching of topics in race, gender and class ( Wikipedia is not a soapbox).”

I deeply resent your insinuation that I oppose admitting “students of color” (where oh where did you find that phrase?). Though my personal opinions shouldn’t be the topic, since you’ve brought them up, I am very proud of this country when I see that previously oppressed minorities are occupying the very highest positions of power, and have gotten there on merit. When “diversity” is achieved through racial preferences, I’m not so proud. Though I appreciate the argument from social peace, and that from previous lack of opportunity. I don’t think they merit institutionalized racial bias. That’s hardly an extreme point of view - in Oxy’s home state of California, it is the majority viewpoint as expressed by popuar referendum, and UC has been forced to end (officially at least) such practices. Nevertheless, it doesn’t bother me all that much.

However, code words such as “diverse” are POV, evasive and uniformative.

"For example, on March 14 2006, you added the following statement to the Selectivity and Reputation section of the article: "The school takes pride in its relatively large representation of ethnic minorites in its student body, many of whom are admitted despite failing to meet the academic standards required of non-minority students" I can't believe you wrote that with the intention of making this article neutral! You have a very skewed notion about what is acceptable and unbiased on wikipedia. How could anyone constue that statment as neutral? Do you have a source for such information (as if one even exists!)? Asedzie 20:23, 16 March 2006 (UTC)"

That Oxy practices "affirmative action” - yes this means racial preferences - in order to achieve greater ethnic diversity is a fact I very much doubt the school would dispute. Wiki should be direct and informative.

And yeah, I do think the statement you quoted is accurate. Are you seriously asking me to back up the assertion that Oxy considers racial preferences in admission? If so, I will take some time out to produce it. It is no secret. But I would like to know that you will then say, oh, I see, thanks, rather than move on to the next item of attack as if nothing had transpired.

What bothers me much more than this is the degradation of scholarship by packing the classrooms with ideologues bent upon the promotion of dubious and divisive theories, and the rank and open discrimination against those who contest them.

“If you want to do something constructive with all of the energy you have for this topic, please start a new section describing the opposing viewpoints on Occidental College's "controversial" policies on multiculturalism in eduction. This type of addition to the article would be in line with wikipedia standards on NPOV and would add an unbiased look at the way the school and it's policies are viewed by students and by the public.”

In fact, this is what I’ve been doing. I agree that the original wording of the Multiculturalism section needed improvement, which is why I took it down. I’m glad you at least agree that the topic merits discussion.

Timothy Usher

New Section To Address Concerns About Multiculturalism
I have started a new section we can collaborate on to offer pertinent information about controversial issues that were brought up in the Multiculturalism debate above. I do realize that my wording in this section may be somewhat POV, please correct as needed. Please try to keep information in this section factual, specific and cited with verifiable sources. Also, user: Timothy Usher, please add citations to the articles or websites that you mentioned earlier on problems with Occidental College's admissions policy (You wrote above, "Are you seriously asking me to back up the assertion that Oxy considers racial preferences in admission? If so, I will take some time out to produce it".) I think this would really bring balance to this part of the new section. I could only find an evidence that showed the opposite. I hope this helps in resolving some of these debates!Asedzie 21:27, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I've changed "liberal" to "left[ist]" for several reasons: first, this is the term the foundation you quoted used (nice catch, thanks), this is also the term I used in my previous criticism, and finally the American liberalism article does not accurately describe what I saw there, or the ways profs represented themselves.

Any feedback?

Timothy Usher

I've reworded the sentence with the DOE link, because the DOE study does not claim that Oxy does not practice racial discrimination, only cites one program which, although its goals are overtly racial (as per the title "Achieving Diversity"), is not overtly discriminatory against individual applicants. There is no finding or assertion that the school does not also consider race as a factor in admissions.

Note that Oxy has joined this brief:

http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/030314/030314_affirmative.html

"It argues that diversity continues to be a compelling interest that justifies the use of race as one factor among many in college and university admissions."

It is hard to see what interest the school would have in this were it not engaged in analogous practices. Further, this brief explicitly denies that programs of the sort cited by DOE are adequate:

"The brief also takes issue with the suggestions of some that diversity can be accomplished by using so-called "race-neutral" means, noting that those may work for large public universities, but fail for highly selective private universities, and that "race neutral percentage" plans used in Texas, California and Florida depend upon segregated high schools to achieve diversity in the public universities of those states."

More from me soon...

Timothy Usher

I am ok with most of the changes you have made, I actually really like the way you synthesized the DOE paper (well-done), but I think that the new wording in the "Admissions Policies" bullet-point is extremely unclear. It now looks like the DOE study supported claims that Oxy uses affirmative action. But the study said that it actually employs alternatives that are considered race- neutral. And frankly, "also" as in "The U.S. Department of Education also cited" doesn't make sense.Asedzie 18:04, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

The fact remains that we still need verifiable information on the other side of the argument. The CMU news article comes close, but the significance of Oxy joining that group of colleges would need to be fully explained in the article. Also, I don't know how much a press release from CMU qualifies as a verifiable source. I'll have to check on that. I think it would be better to have a news article.Asedzie 18:09, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

On that note, a news article for the Antebi-FIRE lawsuit would be better than the news release that it now links to.Asedzie 18:17, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Fixed that. FIRE has an L.A. Times article on their site.Asedzie 18:23, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

"Free Speech"
Eliminated "Free Speech" section which contains biased POV about the school by an unpopular student by the name of Jason Antebi. Antebi was nearly expelled for inappropriate content on a school-run radio show which offended nearly the entire campus. Furthermore, his inappropriate actions eventually led the school President (Ted Mitchell) to dissolve the student council of which Antebi was a member, due to Antebi's abusive nature. In the section Antebi is clearly trying to enact a sort of revenge against the school by writing his account of events and passing it off as relevant information. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mad Macs (talk • contribs) 05:34, 4 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Ahh, I've moved your comments down here, as 'normal' is to add comments in chronological order, and I couldn't see any 'recent' ones about your edits.
 * One thing that makes your changes seem suspiciously like whitewashing is that you removed the whole section "Free Speech and Civil Rights". Of course, now that I look the section used to be named "Free Speech, Course Content and Admissions Policies" and had more text/info?  Anyway, could you please go through the edit history and comment on why you think parts of the section should be removed? Shenme 06:09, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

The entire section is inappropriate in the context of the article. If you look at other similar articles, Stanford for example, you will not find such inflammatory content. As someone who is familiar with the subject matter, it is apparent that someone is using Wikipedia to air his personal grievances and views about the college. All parts of the section "Free Speech and Civil Rights" are untrue or exaggerated points-of-view, interestingly enough, championed by Jason Antebi. The section appears intent on spreading misinformation about the school by someone involved in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the school. The information is not informative about the College. Thus it is clearly inappropriate and does not present a relevant addition to the article. Mad Macs 06:40 4 July 2004 (UTC)

I think Mad Macs makes an interesting point here. Though I think the current content of the article is fairly neutral in wording, I do also question the relevance of such information. Colleges typically experience hundreds of scattered lawsuits by students and faculty and typically none of them are worth noting here. A possible example of a notable legal issue would be notable in Wikipedia would be the Harvard president making potentially sexist comments in 2004. Sockeye 05:30 5 July 2006 (UTC)


 * It was quite a notable incident, receiving coverage in the LA Times - hardly a run-of-the-mill local daily - and leading to the dissolution of the student government. If it's not as notable as Summers comments controversy, it's only because Occidental isn't nearly as notable as Harvard.


 * Am I the only one who thinks the "alumni" section is out of control? Last I checked, it includes people who didn't graduate from Oxy along with many people who aren't really that notable.Timothy Usher 05:49, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe the "Alumni" section should be changed to "Alumni/Former Students." As for the Antebi/FIRE incident, it would appear to be a somewhat frivolous lawsuit--it was dismissed after all. Occidental has the right to control its own airways, just as the FCC controls the public airways, just as I would ask Jason Antebi to leave my private property if he behaved the same way in my home. It does not appear that Occidental ever unjustly "limited free speech." I would be tempted to agree that adding a such a "Free Speech and Civil Rights" section here does appear to be personally motivated rather than informative about the college  Sockeye 06:38 5 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Your judgement that the college acted within its rights is original research, and as such is not relevant to the article. Although, since we're on the topic, do I recall correctly that the California legislature acted to hold private colleges to the same free-speech standards as are state-run institutions?Timothy Usher 06:52, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

It may be a judgement, but wasn't also a judgement to add the "Free Speech and Civil Rights" section in the first place? Maybe the title of the section is what should be changed. As mentioned earlier, the Summers incident at Harvard is not listed in way that places the school in an unfavorable light, instead it is listed as "Recent Events" under the history. I must say I do find the "Free Speech and Civil Rights" title seemingly "inflammatory," suggesting it is major issue at the school--which I do not believe it is. Besides, adding a broader subject could also include interesting lawsuits such as Gail M. Gottfried v. Occidental College, wherein a tenure-tracked professor was denied tenure under questionable circumstances. Though I still question the relevance of listing any recent legal issue regarding the school, as it is not really part of the "bigger picture" of the school. Sockeye 07:14 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Notable Professors
Eliminated "Notable Professors" section which was over-the-top selective promotion of individual faculty, and not an accurate reflection of the overall quality of faculty. Other wikipedia entries for respectable liberal arts colleges do not have such a section. --Ignat 17:12, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure that this is acceptable, it wasn't necessarily pov and I don't think discussion of the issue of this issue on the talk page prior to your changes, you are free to edit, but wholesale removal is too extreme. Your removal of the picture of the fountain was also extremely questionable. I am reverting your edits. Especially seeing as how you do not have an existing registered username. Making slighter modifications made in the order to remove pov parts of the article after discussion on the talk page is a better way of editing this page. Also, the fact that "Other wikipedia entries for respectable liberal arts colleges do not have such a section" is not a reasonable basis for such massive edits.Asedzie 17:38, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

-I agree with Asedzie here. What is wrong with presenting true information? To the extent Oxy has stars, it's legitimate to point this out, and more to the point is *useful* to those who might wish to know something about the school. The real issue is whether the information presented was untrue, or the manner in which this was presented was NPOV...the mere presentation of information (despite the approach of our anonymous user-vandal) isn't POV as opposed to non-presentation. If other college's pages don't include this information, the solution isn't to cut the Oxy page, but to expand the others.

Timothy Usher (tried to sign the recommended way, but tildes remained tildes)

I am trying to find some reasonable way to say that this college is one of the more well-known colleges in the country, but people keep editing these parts out. First there was "higly-competitive" then "commonly ranked as one of the top colleges in the country", I will now put "highly selective", but does anyone see this as still too pov? How does it compare to other similar colleges?`I think this is a reasonable detail to have about the college in an encyclopedia, after all people who are not familiar with the school should be able to get an idea of the school's general reputation from this page. Any ideas?Asedzie 17:47, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Kathy Augustine
I have re-added Kathy Augustine to the "Notable Oxy Alumni" list following the unexplained deletion of her name by User:Ignat. According to one of the sources I used to create the article on her, she is a graduate of Occidental College. --TommyBoy 19:52, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

I think we should put back a lot of the Alumni unecessarily deleted by User:Ignat.Asedzie 03:24, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I replaced a few of the names. I mean, who is User:Ignat to say that these people aren't notable? After all, they have wikipedia entries, they must be important to somebody.Asedzie 03:30, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

What makes someone notable? Are there standards, or is someone notable if some wikipedia contributor thinks they are notable? What's the standard for someone being non-notable? Is someone non-notable if some wikipedia author thinks they are not notable? Unless we can resolve this, then it seems that individual wikipedia contributors should be able to make both notable and non-notable judgments and edit accordingly.

By the way, the rhetorical "Who is x to say that ..." has no argumentative force with me, since matters of contribution to this or other wikipedia entries are not judged on the basis of credentials or other forms of authority, but by collectively developed reasoned standards of correctness and appropriateness. --Ignat 16:01, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Further Thoughts: Reading beyond the "who is to say" rhetorical device, Asedzie argues that if someone has a wikipedia entry, then they are notable, and if they are notable for wikipedia generally, then they are notable alums.(Is having a wikipedia entry also a necessary condition for listing among the notable Oxy alums? If so, several names will need to be eliminated.) First, someone may have a wikipedia entry and may still not be notable. Even if they meet these standards, they may not be notable in the context of the Occidental College article. So I guess I'm conceding that the issue is somewhat complex, and I'm all for resolving it. My general worry is remains (and I brought this up with the "notable professors" section a while back) that these lists are not balanced and just reflect the interests of those who contribute. --Ignat 18:25, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Although I am actually becoming more and more indifferent about the direction of this page everyday, I have one simple policy regarding the Alum section. If I hear about someone considered famous or newsworthy on the news or in the paper, or if I read about them on wikipedia I add their name to the list. It has nothing to do with my "intrests" as you so obliquely state. It is just what I do for every page that I work on. I'm sure the majority of other users do it the same way. As for the "who is x to say" rhetorical turn, which "collectively developed reasoned standards of correctness and appropriateness" are you using to remove names. It seems to me that you are presuming that you have some authority or ultimate objective viewpoint when you take out indidividuals that you don't deem noteworthy. You need to try to practice what you preach. But this is beating the issue to death. I've already discussed this with you on other issues, I admire your persistence, but I question your motives in constantly changing the page. What is your endgoal in editing the page? What kind of information would you like it to contain? These are important questions for you to answer so that we can understand what kind of point of view you are bringing to editing in general, as well as the page specifically. Asedzie 3:46, 01 August 2006 (UTC)

I think I've said this before, so I apologize if I'm repeating myself. I think a good article on Occidental or anything else is one that doesn't reveal the particular interests and background of the authors. If someone were commissioned to write an article about Occidental for, say, a college guide, and one wanted to include something about notable alums, one would have to do some research. It wouldn't be o.k. to just include the things one came across in casual reading. That's because one's casual reading may be selective and not comprehensive. If my main interest is folk-rock of the early 60s, my famous alum list may be a bit skewed. A good editor will help with things like this. If Wikipedia is just about adding facts to a heap of facts, it really isn't going to result in helpful and informative information. So I guess the problem is that my standards are too high. If no one can make editorial judgments, if it's o.k. to add but never to remove, then let's just pile on the facts. --Ignat 18:01, 1 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I've removed alums w/o articles from the list. This doesn't, however, mean that everyone with an article is notable. MrVibrating (talk) 07:19, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Edit Links
Is it just me or are all of the "[edit]" links on the page bunched up under the "Free Speech and Civil Rights" section? Hopefully someone can fix (or explain) this. N1000 17:20, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

What browser are you using? I find this sometimes happens with Firefox. To fix it, just change the font size using ctrl + or ctrl -   --Ignat 03:25, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Complete Overhaul
Occidental's page is pretty weak compared to other colleges of its size and stature. It could definitely use more picture and more information about its history and buildings. Is there any way to do this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jkfp2004 (talk • contribs) 23:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC).
 * I did as best I could to expand this article. Hope it's alright. Notecardforfree 23:35, 4 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Just started working on this overhaul. Main issue now is fixing broken links. Would appreciate help! :) Retrospector87 (talk) 21:38, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

"Occidental"
What is the Latin name of the school? Because "Occidental" by itself only means Western, not "heart". Second, I am curious how diverse the school's offerings are - I attend the School of Oriental and African Studies which is quite intentionally *not* a school of Occidental (Western) studies. Does Oxy cover Eastern topics? LordAmeth 12:05, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
 * You are quite right about Occidental's Latin name. I was misinformed when I wrote the introduction and have since corrected the error. The school offers a wide range of studies, both of the west and of the east. One of the school's goals is to create a cross-cultural awareness and perspective for its students. Incidentally, the school's motto is "Occident Proximus Orient." Hope that was of some help. Notecardforfree 19:00, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I was just curious. ^_^ LordAmeth 22:56, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
 * But what is the Latin name? And what does "West of the Now" mean?12.214.62.215 (talk) 04:28, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
 * That motto, Occidens Proximus Orienti means "The West is nearest the East", according to their website. And because the article makes a claim about a Latin name with nothing to back it up, I zapped it. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 04:58, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Added the "Peacock" tag...
This article suffers from promotionalism -- it reads like a brochure from beginning to end. See the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_peacock_terms for what to avoid and how to avoid it.

Also, it seems to contain somewhat trivial, nonencyclopediac information, such as the detailed description of the curriculum -- there's nothing particularly noteworthy I see in that. Ex0pos (talk) 23:06, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Debate over Obama's Alumni status
It has been asserted that Obama is not an alumni of Occidental. That is simply not true--numerous sources acknowledge his alumni status at Occidental, chief among them the Los Angeles Times, one of the nation's most respected newspapers.

Purplebackpack89 (talk) 05:12, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Obama's status as an alumnus depends entirely on the definition of alumnus that is used. In a strict traditional definition Obama is not an alumnus since he did not graduate. The definition has expanded in modern times and now includes non graduates so Obama should stay (see Wikipedia article on alumni). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.189.172.139 (talk) 20:00, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

>IMHO, the media wished that he was an alumni by mis-informing the readers. However, there is no diploma proof that he graduated with a degree from Oxy. Thanks.SWP13 (talk) 23:35, 2 November 2018 (UTC)

Obama in the opener
Why do people keep deleting it? I, for one, feel that it's important enough to be in the opener, which is meant to be a summary of the entire article, INCLUDING topics covered in other sections. Comments? Purplebackpack89 (talk) 21:44, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Keep Obama in the front summary. He's the most noteworthy figure to have attended Occidental. 67.164.41.90 (talk) 01:30, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

This does not belong in the intro. See other schools' pages for standard operating procedure (the Andover and Yale intros, for example, do not mention Bush).WildlifeAnalysis (talk) 18:50, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

My comment. There is no evidence that Obama is an alumni of Oxy. Obama attended but did not graduate from Oxy. SWP13 (talk) 03:01, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Rankings and reputation
I find it difficult to classify a college that is ranked 33rd and 86th respectively in two polls as being one of the "top" colleges. There have obviously been several notable people that have attended, but this school didn't even make the Top 20 in a poll of only Liberal Arts colleges in the United States, and 88th overall? That isn't exactly "exclusive", and this needs to be reworded. SeanNovack (talk) 19:20, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * It's in the top 100. ;) But we should avoid academic boosterism. See College and university article guidelines for suggestions on how articles like this should look.   Will Beback    talk    20:26, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * In examining the article more closely it really did appear to be written by the recruiting department for the school. I have removed some of the more flowery rhetoric and corrected the poll to state that it is tied for 36th place on the Liberal Arts College list, instead of "33rd".  I'll take look at it when I have more leisure and try to even everything out. Thanks! SeanNovack (talk) 20:58, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Merger complete
✅ All information from KOXY has been merged into this article, per the merge result of the AfD discussion located at Articles for deletion/KOXY. Northamerica1000(talk) 05:28, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

Sexual misconduct controversy
Two Wikipedia editors - ElKevbo and EB423 - are adding contentious and unbalanced material at this entry regarding handling of sexual misconduct issues at Occidental College. It appears that they are using Wikipedia to actively debate these issues. They have been non-responsive to efforts to talk about the issue of neutrality and balance in this article, and simply add back material to this entry that has been deleted for lack of neutrality and balance. Their initial entries were not deleted by this editor nor has their emphasis on concerns about handling of sexual misconduct been changed. Neutrality was re-established by the addition of information on how Occidental has made changes in policies and procedures to respond to the concerns about this issue. Then these editors have added copious further contentious material once again unbalancing the article. Their entries are not neutral, and the references are questionable. This argumentation has created an inappropriate emphasis on recent and controversial events that is out of proportion to the span of history covered in an article about a 126-year-old institution.

These same two editors have applied a similar process to the biography of Occidental President Jonathan Veitch, violating the three core Wikipedia policies for biographies of living persons. When neutrality is restored, they simply add back their unbalanced material.

Perhaps the solution is to remove the entries for Occidental College and its president from Wikipedia completely, and start over with neutral and proportional information on the college and its president.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:ElKevbo

Globalglo (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 18:13, 23 June 2014 (UTC)

I'm not directly involved in these edits, but I don't agree that having a fair amount of material related to the college's handling of sexual assaults in 'unbalanced'. People are more interested in recent events than in history, for the most part. In a Google search for 'Occidental College' (not news, just the name of the college) 11 of the first 50 results related to sexual assault issues. Less than 20% of the article is about sexual assault so I'd say we're in balance. Similarlyy re. Mr Veitch. ChengduTeacher (talk) 11:15, 21 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I've pared it down a little, and retitled the section. It seems undue relative to the rest of the history section; there is more about the sexual assault controversy than there is about Oxy's history from 1960 to 2013.  It also goes into detail inappropriate for this type of article.  If more detailed coverage is desired, it should be split into a separate article rather than crowding out this one  p  b  p  16:33, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Occidental was one of the first US colleges to be publicly engaged in controversies over sexual assault. At that time, the controversy at Occidental was relatively unique, and perhaps deserved considerable space on the College's Wikipedia page. Now, many US institutions of higher learning are the subject of such controversies, and most of them (e.g. University of Virginia) have nothing about this on their Wikipedia pages. The debate has moved into the mainstream media and public policy, and such a contentious current debate has no place on the Wikipedia pages of individual institutions. It is simply an invitation to what has happened on this Wikipedia page, with arguments back and forth, additions, deletions, ad infinitum. One of the contributors is actually using Occidental's Wikipedia page to call, by name, for the firing of a specific sitting administrator, which is extremely inappropriate. Wikipedia has flagged this page as unbalanced and argumentative.

A web search of Occidental College now lists zero items on sexual assault among the first 10 items that come up. To address the flag placed on this Wikipedia article, I propose to eliminate this entire section on sexual assault controversies. This will be done in one week if no one presents a persuasive argument as to why Occidental should be singled out when virtually every higher education institution in the US is now the subject of controversy about sexual assault. Globalglo (talk) 22:58, 19 December 2014 (UTC)


 * My Web search on Google shows result number 8 as "Inside the Sexual Assault War at Occidental College". In results 11-20 I see: "Sexual Assault Injustice at Occidental", "Occidental College Sexual Assault Response Subject of Federal Complaints", "College Shelved More Sexual Assault Reports - Los Angeles Times", and "Occidental Sexual Assault - Business Insider". Do I really have to go on?


 * There are over 5,000 universities in the US, but only about 50 under active investigation by the Federal Office of Civil Rights for Title 9 violations relative to sexual assault. So your argument above is not supported by the facts.ChengduTeacher (talk) 08:53, 29 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I'll be keeping a close eye on this page in future. These repeated wholesale deletions don't smell right to me. I'd like to ask GlobalGlo: do you have any significant connection to Occidental College (alumnus, staff, PR rep...)? For the record, I don't.ChengduTeacher (talk) 10:00, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Proposed updates
I'm User:Edgewood2048 and I work at Occidental College. Because it appears that the Occidental page hasn't been significantly updated since January 2015, I'd like to propose some updates, but I want to make sure that I follow WP:COI and gather as much consensus for these changes as possible. So I'm posting my proposals here to solicit input.

Fact Box
Dean: Wendy Sternberg (Sternberg officially starts July 1, 2017, succeeding interim dean Kerry Thompson.) Source: http://www.oxy.edu/news/union-colleges-sternberg-named-dean-college Retrieved 14 June 2017

Chairman of the Board of Trustees: Susan Mallory '76. Source: http://www.oxy.edu/board-trustees. Retrieved 14 June 2017.

Students: 2,062 (Fall 2016) Source: Common Data Set 2016-17 http://www.oxy.edu/sites/default/files/assets/IRAP/Common-Dataset_2016-2017_revised.pdf Retrieved 14 June 2017.

Undergraduates: 2,062 (Fall 2016) ibid. Retrieved 13 June 2017

Introduction
Update this sentence in 2nd paragraph: The New York Times ranked Occidental No. 28 on its 2017 list of the most economically diverse U.S. colleges and universities. Source:. retrieved 13 June 2017.

Update source for the Carnegie Classification: http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/srp.php?clq=%7B%22eng2005_ids%22%3A%221%22%7D&limit=150,50&orderby=sortname&start_page=standard.php. Retrieved 13 June 2017.

Update these 2 sentences in the 3rd paragraph: Occidental is also one of the most racially diverse liberal arts colleges, with 42% of the student body identifying as students of color. Source: http://www.oxy.edu/admission-aid/apply/admission-facts Retrieved 14 June 2017. Alternate source: http://www.oxy.edu/sites/default/files/assets/IRAP/Common-Dataset_2016-2017_revised.pdf Retrieved 14 June 2017.

The college is ranked No. 7 for liberal arts colleges and No. 17 for all undergraduate schools on Payscale.com's 2016-17 list of highest-paid graduates. Source: http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors#fullText Retrieved 14 June 2017.

History
Substitute new source for this sentence: In April 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, the college formed a Students Army Training Corps to aid the war effort. Source: “Life During Wartime,” Occidental Magazine, Spring 2017, http://www.oxy.edu/magazine/spring-2017/life-during-wartime Retrieved 13 June 2017.

Academics
Update first sentence: There are 34 majors offered on campus (and 9 minor-only programs, including Public Health, Linguistics, and Classical Studies) and a 10:1 student-faculty ratio. [Computer Science will be offered as a major beginning Fall 2017.]

Update second paragraph: The 2017 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges gave Occidental four-star ratings (out of five) in academics and quality of life. [Source: Fiske, Edward (2017), Fiske Guide to Colleges 2017, pp. 529-531.] Princeton Review's The Best 381 Colleges 2017 Edition gave Occidental ratings of 91 (out of 100) in academics and quality of life and 95 in financial aid. [Source: https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=best-381-colleges, Retrieved 13 June 2017] In Forbes 2017 ranking of America's Top Colleges, Occidental ranks 99th. [Source: https://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/94/colleges-09_Americas-Best-Colleges_Rank.html, Retrieved 13 June 2017] In U.S. News & World Report's 2017 rankings of American liberal arts colleges, Occidental is ranked 44th. [Updated source:https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges, Retrieved 14 June 2017. The 2014 and 2017 rankings are identical.] Kiplinger's Best College Values 2016 places Occidental 58th among liberal arts colleges. [Source: http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts, Retrieved 14 June 2017]

Athletics
Add new third paragraph, incorporating material from what is now the fifth and final paragraph of this section:

Occidental athletics date back to 1894, when the College helped organize the first intercollegiate athletic competition in Southern California. [Source: Rolle, Andrew (1986) Occidental College: A Centennial History, p. 14] Since then, Oxy has produced more than a dozen Olympians, world-record holders, and national champions, including two-time diving gold medalist Sammy Lee '43, [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Lee_(diver) ] pole vault silver medalist Bob Gutowski '57,  and Pat Henry Yeomans ’38, the 1935 national girls’ tennis champion. Famous Occidental College Tigers include NFL coach Jim E. Mora, former American Football League Most Valuable Player and politician Jack Kemp '57, former NFL player Vance Mueller '86, 2011 U.S. Senior Open Champion Olin Browne '81, CFL player Justin Goltz '09 (Winnipeg Blue Bombers).

Sexual assault complaints
Edit the first sentence and add source: A Federal civil rights complaint was filed in April 2013 by 37 current and former students stating that the school "deliberately discouraged victims from reporting sexual assaults” as well as misled some students about their rights during campus investigations and possibly retaliated against whistle-blowers. [Source: "Activists accuse colleges of not responding to sexual assault cases," Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2013; http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-colleges-face-investigations-over-handling-of-rape-allegations-20130522-story.html, Retrieved 14 June 2017.]

Remove the next sentence: This complaint is currently under active investigation by the Federal Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

Edit the third sentence: On September 18, 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported that the college reached a settlement with 10 former and current students who also alleged improper handling of their sexual assault cases, on undisclosed terms. [Sources remain unchanged; this edit makes clear, as does the cited LA Times story, that the settlement was reached before a lawsuit was filed.]

Insert new paragraph: On June 9, 2016, the Office of Civil Rights announced it had concluded its investigation of the April 2013 complaint against Occidental. “Based on the factual information gathered to date during the investigation of this case and applying Title IX statutory and regulatory principles, OCR concluded that the preponderance of the evidence does not support a conclusion that the College violated Title IX, except with respect to the issue of promptness in several cases during the 2012-13 school years,” Laura Faer, OCR chief attorney, wrote in a 30-page letter to Occidental President Jonathan Veitch summarizing the findings of the investigation. [Source: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/investigations/more/09132264-a.pdf, retrieved 13 June 2017] According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, as of June 13, 2017 there were 335 open OCR investigations of alleged Title IX violations at colleges and universities. Occidental’s case is one of 62 resolved since the OCR signaled stricter enforcement of Title IX in April 2011. [Source: "Title IX: Tracking Sexual Assault Investigations,” Chronicle of Higher Education, https://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/?cid=UCHESIDENAV2, retrieved June 13, 2017]

Add sentence to final paragraph of this section: According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, there is not currently an open Office of Civil Rights investigation into this complaint. [Source: https://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/campus/Occidental-College/, Retrieved June 14, 2017.]

Edgewood2048 (talk) 19:57, 14 June 2017 (UTC)Edgewood2048


 * I have partially implemented this request. I'm still unsure about the History section, but I can leave that to regulars of this article if they are interested. jd22292 (Jalen D. Folf) (talk) 22:34, 15 July 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 4 external links on Occidental College. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20151109231238/http://www.naicu.edu/member_center/members.asp to http://www.naicu.edu/member_center/members.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120519135727/http://alumni.oxy.edu/s/956/index.aspx?pgid=410&gid=1 to http://alumni.oxy.edu/s/956/index.aspx?pgid=410&gid=1
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.oxy.edu/x2363.xml
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160821213346/http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges to http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges

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Obama Scholars update
Edgewood2048 here -- still an employee of Occidental College. I'd like to propose a small addition to the second paragraph of the introduction, to reflect the recent announcement of the Barack Obama Scholars program. Following the second sentence regarding the New York Times ranking, add: In September 2017, the college announced its Barack Obama Scholars program to provide four-year scholarships for top students of all backgrounds who “are committed to the public good.” Thanks for your help. Edgewood2048 (talk) 06:06, 7 November 2017 (UTC)