Talk:School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Untitled
The "Miscellaneous" section is nothing but an adverstisement for an acupuncture conference, and should be removed. Advertising has no place here. Shoreranger

On the contrary. It is not advertising. Omura would be judged by most assessment a dangerous quack. The fact that SIPA is willing to allow itself to be used by such a person to promote his quackery is of valid general interest. The purpose of the SIPA entry itself ought to be neutral, to present SIPA's activities, whether pleasant or unpleasant, positive or negative – it ought not, so far as I understand Wiki principles, to be simply a brochure to glorify SIPA. If SIPA finds the association with the promotion of activities of a quack unpleasant it ought distance itself rather than attempt to cover up the association when presented in a context that might bring the attention of someone of general interest in SIPA to conclusions which SIPA finds unpleasant.

Please sign your comments.

It does not appear that SIPA is sponsoring this "quackery", but merely is the physical venue for the event. Is every entity responsible for the validity of its leasees? I see no problem for a school who's mission it is to help foster understanding among cultures to allow an alternative medicine proponent to host an event within the schools walls. I do think Wikipedia would be a very crowded place if every such fora, conference, outside lecturer held at a university were included in a Wikipedia entry. It is not being endorsed by the school. The advertisement should go.Shoreranger

Apologies on not signing. Are you seriously arguing that an institution ought not be held accountable for allowing its facilities to be used by the adherents of an activity, of whatever sort, even if that activity is problematic or objectionable? Is this 'fostering understanding among cultures' and therefore not to be subject to scrutiny? If SIPA sees fit to allow its facilities to be so used, and the users to imply endorsement, it is disingenuous in the extreme, or so it seems to me, to argue that to note this unsavory association is dismissable as an 'advertisement.' SIPA allows Dr Omura and his adherents to call attention to what they claim is their 'association' with Columbia and SIPA as if it constitutes an endorsement (feel free to visit the external links to verify this statement). Silence constitutes assent. Fucyre

Are you seriously argueing that every confernece, lecture, held at a university (usually the largest venue in a region, in many places in the US) should be permitted to be announced in a Wikipedia article? Forget for a moment whatever issue about this particular conference seems to you as "problematic" or "objectionable", and focus on that. What kind of precedent is that? Or, are you suggesting that *only* the supposed "objectionable" and "problematic" events should be announced on Wikipedia? If so, who decides that? Any silence on my part to any further debate on this constitutes an indication that I do not have enough time to continue it myself.Shoreranger

I am not so arguing. I am arguing that SIPA's willingness to provide facilities to a practitioner who promotes the diagnosis of disease by prying apart people's fingers while an assistant shines a laser pointer at someone's head is by definition controversial, of interest, and very much appropriate to a Wikipedia entry. Were Harvard to provide facilities to adherents of, eg, the notion that the Great Pyramid was built by aliens, or of restoring apartheid in South Africa, it would be of interest and worthy of note. (I am not referring to your silence, but to SIPA's silence – the basic principle in law is that if an individual or an institution is aware of the use of their good name and makes no objection, they have assented to such use.) Fucyre


 * At a minimum you seem to believe universities should investigate the backgrounds of every person and group who ask to rent out its facilities. This is not a reasonable position. Such investigations take time and cost money; they also infringe upon the prospective lessee's privacy rights.


 * People routinely hold weddings in university chapels, host receptions in university art galleries, have book signings in university libraries, put on conferences in university lecture halls, etc. Major universities like Columbia must host hundreds of such events each year. It is not reasonable to hold the schools accountable for what the people who lease their space say or believe.


 * Finally, I want to point out that the decision to rent this space may not even be the school's to make. Columbia's central administration may make these decisions, in which case SIPA would be no more responsible for who gets to hire out its rooms than, say, the engineering school.

Quick question - Does anyone know how to do disambiguation for Lisa Anderson as she is listed as having a wiki page but the pager really references a surfer of some reknown? If you know how to do this please go ahead and create a page

Lisa Anderson
It is a shame, but there is no article about the SIPA's dean. The article Lisa Anderson, linked from School of International and Public Affairs is actually about a world surfing champion. A new article (something like Lisa Anderson (scholar)) should be created and the links should be changed. Right now, it is misleading and somewhat funny. Tankred 04:47, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
 * The problem has just been fixed by User:Tglaisyer. Tankred 00:07, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Change of article title
I do not agree with the article title change. The school is most popularly known as "SIPA" (see-pa), and I suspect most people looking for the school on wiki and in categories will be looking under that name and not likely Columbia University. Maybe we can discuss before making such a change?Shoreranger 02:32, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Sipa.jpg
Image:Sipa.jpg 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 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 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 uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 11:09, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Sipa.jpg
Image:Sipa.jpg 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 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) 05:30, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Noteworthy Faculty
Should faculty housed in the Columbia Poli Sci department really be counted as noteworthy faculty at SIPA? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.95.126.178 (talk) 19:07, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Prestige?
The article begins with "The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious graduate public policy programs in the world." While I don't disagree that SIPA is a very prestigious institution, but as a public policy school SIPA is unranked according to US News' best Public-Policy Analysis programs and in the best public affairs ranking SIPA ranks 29th, hardly one of the most prestigious in the world. I am also aware that the international affairs programs are much better known, so I would suggest that the intro reads as follows with proposed changes in caps: The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious graduate INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS programs in the world." I will change it to reflect this. Abrio (talk) 00:57, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Rankings
I removed the 4th place International Politics US News because this recognition is not for SIPA but rather for the Department of Political Science's PhD program (see here http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/columbia-university-190150). In fact, SIPA's only PhD program is in Sustainable Development, not International Politics. Further, I added SIPA's overall ranking of 29th in the US News Public Affairs ranking (see here http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-public-affairs-schools/columbia-university-190150) because only reporting the 3rd ranking in Environmental Policy and Management is incomplete. I sourced appropriately.73.212.42.147 (talk) 20:25, 9 April 2015 (UTC)