Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/William E Brown


 * 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   Keep (non-admin closure) -- M P er el  17:09, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

William E. Brown (academic)

 * ( [ delete] ) – (View AfD) (View log)

He's been the president of two private Christian colleges and written a few books that don't seem to have had much impact (at least on Amazon.com). Here's his Cedarville University bio. I don't see him satisfying WP:BIO. However, if the article is kept, it needs to be moved (there's already a William E. Brown). Clarityfiend (talk) 17:43, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletion discussions. — David Eppstein (talk) 21:06, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete unless some sources arrive, very difficult to source because of the other more notable William E. Brown but currently the article doesn't establish any notability. -- neon white user page talk 21:36, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Weak keep. Having being the president of two colleges (even if small ones) is probably enough in terms of WP:PROF. Nsk92 (talk) 21:56, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
 * As far as i can see 'being the president of two colleges' is not a criteria on WP:PROF. Can you clarify? -- neon white user page talk 22:11, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
 * You are quite right, WP:PROF says nothing about this. All I can say that I have seen in several academic-related AfDs in the past the argument that being a university president, or sometimes even a provost, is indicative of being regarded as an "important figure"/"significant expert" and that argument was sort of accepted at the time. I'll try to find links to the actual AfDs where this happened. I know this is a very weak argument, but I don't have a better one at the moment. Nsk92 (talk) 14:42, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
 * OK, here is one relevant AfD where this issue came up in the past: Articles for deletion/Boetsch. Nsk92 (talk) 21:05, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
 * A poorly closed afd, there were barely any valid comments at all, most were just personal opinion. The bottom line is, to make this subject notable it would require WP:PROF or WP:BIO to be changed and we cant do that here. -- neon white user page talk 16:10, 25 May 2008 (UTC)


 * From the "Caveats" section of WP:PROF :"Note that if an academic is notable only for their connection to a single concept, paper, idea, event or student it may be more appropriate to include information about them on the related page, and to leave the entry under the academic as a redirect page." So I'm gonna go with Merge/Redirect to Cedarville University. Beeblbrox (talk) 22:19, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete does not meet WP:PROF and lacks reliable sources to boot. (jarbarf) (talk) 22:12, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Keep Two college presidencies, and that takes care of the caveat above. DGG (talk) 04:06, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment. While university presidents have been scholars at some point in their career, they are not chosen for academic achievement. Rather, they are the university's chief fundraiser, and are appointed with that in mind. Also, they have to have left the academic track for the administrative track some time ago, usually going through the offices of provost and dean. So, being president of a university does not touch upon any of the criteria of WP:PROF. RJC Talk Contribs 15:58, 25 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so that consensus may be reached. Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  Fabrictramp  |  talk to me  16:34, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
 * comment That is an interesting point. So do we abandon WP:PROF and just default to the general notability guidelines? Beeblbrox (talk) 17:46, 25 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Question How, in the Wiki world view, does being a college president not confer notability? So many bad articles that do not belong, yet world famous inventors and college presidents are being discussed as deletables.  A contribution to improving the "encyclopedia": improve it.  No sarcasm in this post applies to RJC who appears to know of what he/she speaks.  --Blechnic (talk) 23:58, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Uh, your question is the whole reason we are having a debate on the subject. As for the "other bad articles", check this out Beeblbrox (talk) 16:48, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Uh, we're having a debate because Wikipedia doesn't understand what a college president is? Is that correct?  --

Blechnic (talk) 17:21, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment The appointment is in general an indication that they have been scholars of distinction at some point in their career, and notability is permanent. That they are no longer engaged in scholarship is totally irrelevant. With respecdt to their current positions, the head of a notable institution is notable. DGG (talk) 22:42, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, and colleges and universities are notable. Hence, head of notable institution should not be a waste of discussion time.  Still, it's not as if I'm editing anything useful.  --Blechnic (talk) 23:05, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Christianity-related deletion discussions.   —GRBerry 15:11, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Keep - He seems to be the proincipal of a university that is large enough to be notable. I think that makes him notable.  Peterkingiron (talk) 15:43, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: I have dealt with the disambiguation issues.  Peterkingiron (talk) 15:53, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Keep per president of two notable colleges... funny that the article calls it "nonprofit", I kind of assumed all colleges were? gren グレン 10:08, 29 May 2008 (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.