Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Frederick William University


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus. (WP:NPASR). No consensus for a particular action regarding the article has occurred in this discussion. North America1000 07:05, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

Frederick William University

 * – ( View AfD View log  Stats )

Unneccessary second article on the early history of Humboldt University of Berlin, the history of which is covered there (and better!). Creator of the page objected deletion in first attempt. Zwerg Nase (talk) 21:48, 28 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: There is also the issue of two seperate disambiguation pages, Frederick William University (disambiguation) and Friedrich Wilhelm University (merger proposal in process). This article that I entered for deletion only adds to the confusion... Zwerg Nase (talk) 21:57, 28 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Keep - The article about the Frederick William University should be keept. After WWII there have been two successors: HU Berlin and FU Berlin. Hegel, Marx, and Heine haven't studied at Humboldt. Who studied at Humboldt? Zwerg Nase and of cause he defends "his" university. That's what we call POV. --Kolja21 (talk) 21:59, 28 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Being an alumni does not make me blind to the obvious. To name it:
 * It is widely accepted that the Humboldt University is not just a successor, but the very same university that was called Frederick William University between 1828 and 1949. What is disputed is wether alumnis should be counted towards both Humboldt and Freie Universität.
 * It is astonishing to me that you defend your article, which is supposed to cover the early period of the university, but does so very poorly and a lot worse than the period is covered in Humboldt University of Berlin.
 * Having a seperate article on the Berlin Frederick William University confuses readers from the fact that there were three Frederick William Universities. The article name should lead to the disambiguation page, if anything. Zwerg Nase (talk) 22:06, 28 June 2015 (UTC)
 * It is obvious that you have no problems with the "fact" that famous Germans from Bismarck till Einstein are connected with your university (Humboldt; example: Hermann von Abich), on the other hand you are worrying about someone might confuse the article about the Frederick William University with the University of Bonn or the University of Wrocław. That's not very convincing. If you think the article is too short: Well feel free to add more information. Historically the Frederick William University is fare more important than HU or FU Berlin, so it should be easy to enlarge it (see also de:Liste der Rektoren der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin). --Kolja21 (talk) 23:22, 28 June 2015 (UTC)
 * This is ridiculous. You change the German list you give yourself to have it point to the Freie Universität, while before your edit it was quite clear that that list also supported my thesis of continuity between FWU and HU... Unbelievable!! Zwerg Nase (talk) 14:12, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Maybe you better take a look into this book:, where all the presidents of the university are listed, from 1810 to 2010... Zwerg Nase (talk) 14:14, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I know that the Liste der Rektoren der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin is not what you like to see, but feel free trying to delete it too. I haven't written it. The Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität will stay the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität even if it doesn't fit into the PR concept of the HU. And the book by Peschke? Who published it: "Der Präsident der Humboldt-Univ." What a surprise ;) --Kolja21 (talk) 18:54, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I cannot understand why you say that self-description is of no importance in this matter. The difference between the HU and FU is, that the latter only wants to be associated with the good heritage of the FWU, namely the Nobel Prize winners. The HU takes full legal and moral succession to the Friedrich Wilhelm University, including its dark chapters in National Socialism. Also, you claim that the end of WWII, the seperation of the FU and the name change were a big caesura for the university and that makes it necessary to have seperate articles. Well, guess what, these three things did not occur at the same time. Cutting the history off at when the name change occured is the worst way to do it, since it is the least notable break of the three. Zwerg Nase (talk) 19:07, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Where did I wrote that self-description is of no importance? What is important is that you are an alumni of Humboldt and that you are doing PR work for your university, giving missleading information like citing a book as an independent source withholding the basic bibliographic information. "All encyclopedic content on Wikipedia must be written from a neutral point of view." We do not take the standpoint of one organization. Furthermore the article about the Frederick William University helps us to avoid historical inconsistencies. Deleting it you would force every author to link to your university. --Kolja21 (talk) 21:58, 5 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Schools-related deletion discussions. North America1000 23:56, 28 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Germany-related deletion discussions. North America1000 23:56, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 12:50, 5 July 2015 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Merge to Humboldt University of Berlin, and succinctly describe different name (in a devoted section, if need be). The fact that University of Berlin (the original name) and Berlin University redirects to Frederick William University is even more confusing, especially when trying to sort out historic sources that clearly use "University of Berlin", not "Frederick William University" (e.g. I'm currently working on Thomas Harrison Montgomery, Jr.‎‎ and no source I've seen states he attended "Frederick William University"). There is currently not enough new content to warrant a size split, although possibly eventually a sub-article may be appropriate, that describes in depth a historical period in the University now known as Humbold (e.g. History of Humboldt University of Berlin, 18XX-19XX), but for clarity, context, and convenience, all relevant university names should redirect to the central article. Also, merging might more clearly inform categorization: as there is no Category:University of Berlin alumni, the next best thing is Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni --Animalparty-- (talk) 18:33, 8 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Also, the fact that there are so many incoming articles to Frederick William University (mainly due to the redirects Berlin University and University of Berlin) suggests that a lot of readers may be given an inferior article to read after a click, and increases the burden on them to find a satisfying, appropriate article. --Animalparty-- (talk) 18:50, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 15:21, 13 July 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.