Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of presidents of Princeton University/archive1


 * The following is an archived discussion of a featured list nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured list candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The list was promoted by Giants2008 via FACBot (talk) 00:26, 4 October 2021 (UTC).

List of presidents of Princeton University

 * Nominator(s): PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 20:06, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Just to preface this, this is my first featured list nomination, so I apologize ahead of time for any issues. Anyway, I've been working on this article for the past few days, and I believe it meets the featured list criteria. It covers relevant information on the office of the president for Princeton University as well as lists all presidents and acting presidents that have served the office. I'll be pleased to address any and all feedback. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 20:06, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Support – nice work! RunningTiger123 (talk) 17:11, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

Comments Support from Sdkb

 * For Jacob Green and John Blair, they died long enough ago that I'd expect any images of them to be in the public domain. Do any exist? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * You would be correct, but I have scoured the internet and can not find any pictures of either of them. The Princeton University Art Museum typically has portraits of every president (and acting presidents) but there is none for either. The only picture I've found for either is this this one of Green, but I believe it is an illustration for the book (published 1993), so definitely still copyrighted.
 * That's alright; thanks for making the effort to search. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Princeton University Press is linked in one ref but not another; MOS:REPEATLINK doesn't apply within refs, so I'd link it in both. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fixed; good catch.
 * Shouldn't Princeton University be linked right at the start of the first sentence? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fixed. When I revised the lead sentence, I must've forgot to wikilink the institution again.
 * I'm on the fence about whether or not adding Infobox official post would be an improvement or not, so I'll leave it to your discretion. It has some parameters for details you may want to add anyways, such as the president's salary (available on Princeton's 990 form). &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I'll add the salary information into the lead, but I think I'll hold off from the Infobox. I considered it, but I feel like it provides little additional information that warrants its inclusion.
 * Sounds good. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * three presidents who have resigned Don't most presidents resign at the end of their tenure (the only alternatives being dying or being impeached)? I'm guessing that this is saying something more specific, perhaps resigned in the middle of their term, but if so it's ill-defined. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I suppose that every president does resign. The reason I have that statistic is that is what Leitch (1978) and the university say: only three have. I believe the reasoning follows more along the lines of the three that resigned were having issues with the trustees (two were pressured to leave; one was having disagreements) while the others simply did not want to serve the office anymore or had other ambitions (looking at Woodrow Wilson over here). If you want, I'll remove it since it is ambiguous in a way.
 * It needs to be either clarified or removed. If the sources don't offer any clarification, removing it is alright. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Removed. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 20:23, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Many of Princeton's deceased presidents are buried Do we have a specific number? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * The citation for NJ.com on that sentence says 12 out of 16 deceased presidents are buried there. That source came out in 2014 and president Bowen died in 2016. A news release from Princeton University says that he was buried there. That would make 13 out of 17, so I guess I could also cite the news release and provide that number if you want.
 * I think that would be good. We should avoid vagueness in the lead when it's possible to do concisely, WP:ABOUTSELF makes the reference fine, and WP:CALC covers the basic addition. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Added and clarified. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 20:23, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Father of Ashbel Green, 8th president of the university Ashbel Green shouldn't be listed right next to a big ten, then. Whatever numbering system we decide on, it needs to be self-consistent. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Good point. I'll simply put a hyphen for the acting presidents, so that way the numbering system doesn't have to be revamped on this page and every other page that mentions a Princeton president.
 * Looks good. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * A similar issue with the fact that Eisgruber is called the 20th in the lead and the 25th in the list. The footnote explains what's going on, but we still need to be consistent—either go with the university's official numbering or go with our own. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * See above.
 * The longest serving president was James Carnahan at 31 years, and the shortest was Jonathan Edwards at five weeks There's a grammar issue here, as "at 31 years" refers to Carnahan's tenure, not Carnahan himself. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Reworded.
 * The wikilinking in the lead could probably be improved. Currently, we link the common terms corporation and alumni but not the less common term charter. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Improved wikilinking (hopefully).
 * Has the university ever had a non-white president? Noting the racial demographics along with the gender demographics would seem appropriate. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * You see, uh, the answer is no. Shirley Tilghman, for example, was the first woman president, and only the second woman president ever of the Ivy League. Change comes a bit slow.
 * Could we mention that fact in the same sentence as Tilghman, e.g. All of Princeton's presidents have been white and all besides Shirley Tilghman have been male.? Race and gender are frequently brought up together, and it'd introduce neutrality concerns to highlight only the one where the university has started to diversify. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Added the fact that there has not been any non-white presidents. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 20:23, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Died while in office in Philadelphia seeking medical treatment Do we know anything more specific about what disease he had? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I've checked all my main sources I go to for Princeton history, and it doesn't appear that anyone knows. He was also a fairly inconsequential president so not much is every really said on him. I've done other searching but cannot find anything. Once I eventually work on his page, I'll update this list if I do find out.
 * Sounds fine. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Founding Father of the United States of America; Signer of the Declaration of Independence In the sense you're using Founding Father here, it's synonymous with signer of Declaration of Independence; to avoid redundancy, we should choose only one. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fair point. I'll remove Founding Father, as he is more associated with signing the Declaration of Independence.
 * Looks good. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * ongoing issues with the institution This is rather vague; would there be any way to concisely say what the issues were, or would that require going into undue detail? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Basically, Smith fired 125 students over a mini riot that occurred in 1807, which had made both students and trustees not fond of him. He was also in the process of educational reforms (causing less students to go into ministry), which others were dissatisfied with. Furthermore, enrollment was dropping and faculty was declining. All combined, the trustees weren't happy and told him to resign, or they'll replace him; he resigned. Could I summarize that -- maybe, but the sentence would be quite long. On the Princeton University page, where I rewrote the history section, I dedicated two complex sentences to Smith, so it might fall into undue if I attempt to do that here.
 * Fine to just stick with what we have, then. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Resigned after pressure from university trustees Again, it'd be helpful to have a little bit of specificity if it's possible to provide it concisely. Especially given that we're citing a history from Princeton, we should be wary of any attempts to sugarcoat some of the nastier battles in history by papering them over with generalities. I'm not sure if that's something happening here, but something to be on the lookout for. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * His was mainly due to dissatisfaction with his administration style (it was quite lackluster). I'll add that in.
 * "dissatisfaction with his administration style" still reads as pretty nonspecific to me, but good enough I guess. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Added "lackluster" as a descriptor. It might still sound non-specific, but genuinely, he was removed because the board of trustees wanted someone more effective. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 20:23, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Per MOS:SPECIFICLINK, I would suggest changing 28th President of the United States to 28th President of the United States (including the "28th" in the link to avoid any eggs). &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fixed, another good catch.
 * There's a lot of capitalizing titles, such as 10th President of the University of Michigan, which would work equally well as 10th president of the University of Michigan, since "president of the University of Michigan" is both a description and a title. I don't have any issue if you want to leave it this way, as the way you've done it is both valid and consistent, but just wanted to note it. Institutions almost always prefer to capitalize, as it makes them seem more important, so it's sometimes something to watch for neutrality. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fair point about neutrality, but since I'm using it more as a title, I'll keep it capitalized.
 * Sounds fine. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:20, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * For ref 13, there's some trickiness between website and publisher, as I'm not sure of the exact relationship between NJ.com and The Times, but however we resolve it, The Times needs to be italicized as it's a newspaper. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fixed.
 * I assume ref 36 ought to have Hampden-Sydney College as publisher. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Fixed.
 * For ref 42, Chi Phi Fraternity is probably better as the publisher, not the website, and it can be wikilinked. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I was undecided, but I'll go with your input.
 * For ref 44, if we're citing the White House as a website rather than a publisher, the wikilink would actually be whitehouse.gov. Again, probably better to just list the publisher. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * To be honest, I wasn't aware that whitehouse.gov was a Wikipedia page. I'll switch The White House to publisher, though.

Overall, this list looks in quite good shape (especially considering it's your first FL nom). The lack of information about academic specialties is probably the biggest issue. I haven't done a full source review, but if my concerns above are adequately addressed, I will be happy to support. Cheers, &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 21:21, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I've resolved all your requested edits and left responses for you to decide on for two other comments you made (Presidents buried and how many have resigned). Feel free to answer those and have a look over the page again. If you have any other suggestions, I'm more than willing to address them. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 23:47, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Implemented and I believe resolved the last couple response comments you had. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to let me know. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 20:23, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Support. I made a grammar tweak to your latest edit, and with that my concerns are addressed. Nice work on this! &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 22:22, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Oops, apologies to come back here with more, but I just realized that the comment I was going to make about academic specialties I must've forgotten to make anywhere outside my head except my conclusion and then forgotten about. That comment is that it'd be nice to have more information about the academic specialties of the presidents. For instance, Tilghman is a molecular biologist in addition to being an academic administrator, and most of the others are similar. I think it'd improve the list to add mentions of those things if you'd be willing. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 02:52, 4 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Little late to responding to this, but I thought about adding their specialties, but the issue is that besides Tilghman, the rest are basically political scientists, economists, or theologians. Tilghman is probably the most interesting academic specialty out of them all. I'll consider adding them for later, but I'll do that after researching more thoroughly into each president if that sounds reasonable. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 04:19, 6 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Sure, sounds fine. I'll leave it up to you, but I'd encourage it—the fact that those disciplines are so well-represented is an interesting factoid! &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 06:09, 6 August 2021 (UTC)


 * Comments
 * Surely the wikilink to Research university should be placed on both words, not just the first?
 * Fixed
 * Three consecutive sentences start with "The president" - could do with varying that a bit
 * Reworded the sentence in the middle of the three consecutive sentences. Feel free to check it again to see if its up to par.
 * "13 of Princeton's 17 deceased presidents" - don't start a sentence with a number written in digit form
 * Didn't know you weren't suppose to do this. Nice catch. Fixed.
 * Per WP:CAPFRAG, any note which does not form a complete sentence should not have a full stop (I realise the linked page relates to captions, but the same principle applies.....)
 * Hmm, I did consider the punctuation of the notes and was initially ambivalent on what to do. I'll remove some of the full stops per your suggestion for one-off statements, but for other notes, I added the full stop to separate the general ideas conveyed in the notes. For instance, Aaron Burr Sr. has positions he served in, family history, and his deathall of which are separated by full stops per my reasoning above. Hope that's fair and makes sense.
 * That's all I got :-) -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 20:12, 20 August 2021 (UTC)
 * All comments addressed. Appreciate the feedback and sorry for the latish response; I've been a bit busy with real life. Feel free to look it over again and suggest any additional changes. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 15:06, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Support -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 17:24, 22 August 2021 (UTC)

Source review – Pass
Looking now. Aza24 (talk) 20:46, 23 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Version reviewed:


 * Formatting
 * Assuming you want to link Princeton University in ref 14
 * Fixed
 * A bit confused by ref 31, why have both 2012 and then February 9, 2012 later? Or is the latter the specific date for a year encompassing publication?
 * I followed the formatting for citing Congressional Records, and that was the result, but I believe your latter point is the reason for that.


 * Reliability
 * No issues


 * Verifiability
 * Checked a few and it all looked good.
 * Hmm, the issues seem far too minor to prevent a Pass for source review, would still recommend taking a look at them though. Aza24 (talk)
 * All issues resolved. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 11:40, 26 August 2021 (UTC)

Comments from TRM
That's all I have. The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 08:06, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * " a private Ivy League research university" proper sea of blue here, three consecutive links butted up together.
 * You are correct, but there is no easy way to really resolve that. Most university articles for the Wikiproject as well also have that minor sea of blue for their introduction. If you have suggestions on what to do, I'm more than willing to attempt them.
 * I concur that there's no reasonable way to avoid a MOS:SEAOFBLUE here. Note that that bullet point begins with when possible, so it's not a hard rule. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 03:04, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
 * "the official residence" shouldn't that be linked in the previous sentence, i.e. "the president's official residence..."?
 * Nice catch and fixed.
 * I'm pleased to see the use of row and col scopes, but I think the row scope should be the item of interest, i.e. the president name, not the number they served, especially as there are several repeats for the acting president, which you denote with an en-dash.
 * Fixed
 * There are several (unexplained) gaps in tenures, e.g. 1 stopped in 1747 but 2 didn't start until 1748, what happened?
 * There's a note for that particular gap in tenure for the page, but that gap came from Burr not becoming the official president till that time although he was essentially serving in that role since Dickinson's death.
 * Oh, and as for other gaps, if there isn't a note for it, there wasn't really an explanation. I could do more digging if you'd like if you want a note for each gap, but I believe most are just from there being no official president or acting president, and the VP was most likely serving in the role.
 * Did I miss how these individuals were selected for the role?
 * "...who is selected by the board of trustees by ballot." is in the second sentence. Not sure if there is any more to add to that.
 * There's a mix of semi-colons and full stops separating the factoids, what's the strategy?
 * I believe I answered this above, but essentially, semi-colons separate factoids in the same category (e.g., positions that the president held) while the full stop denotes a separate category of factoids.
 * Table is sortable so linked items should be linked each time (e.g. "College of New Jersey").
 * Fixed. Did it for the "College of New Jersey" links and the "Log College" link
 * Literally nothing to say about McCosh??
 * He was from Scotland, which is something he only shares with Witherspoon. He was a minister of a few non-notable churches there w/o Wikipedia pages and did some philosophy work, but unless I change the general requirements for note selection that I used for the other presidents, there isn't anything that really pertains to him to mention.
 * Goheen has an image.
 * Its copyrighted in the US, or I am at least very unsure of its copyrighted status for the US. It's public domain in other parts of the world though.
 * But it's in use at the Goheen article? There's no reason it can't be used here too. The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 12:00, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I mean, just because one article has an issue, doesn't mean other (Featured list) articles should replicate that. Why add a copyrighted image (as the image is from the Princeton yearbook if I recall correctly, though I could be wrong)? I initially had the image in the article, but I eventually removed it for that exact reason. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 21:43, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't follow at all. If it's at Commons, then it's free to use across Wikipedia.  This is a very odd take on copyright.  The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 21:45, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * That simply isn't true, as there are certain images on Commons that have copyrighted status and are only on their for fair use (and can only be used on one page, like the image for the Princeton President Bowen). Others are copyrighted files that are uploaded incorrectly, such as the one for Goheen I presume. Perhaps, you are misconstruing something, because the Goheen image is copyrighted (uploaded after the public domain date) or at least plausibly copyrighted (as I don't necessarily have the time to search the copyright archives) to where I don't feel comfortable using the image. I don't know what else to say. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 03:54, 27 August 2021 (UTC)
 * So its use at the Goheen article is okay but not here? The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 18:03, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
 * See below. 05:21, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
 * By the way, fair use images aren't uploaded to Commons, they're uploaded to Wikipedia. If you need further help with this, drop me a line.  In any case, the image we're discussing isn't a fair use image. The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 22:18, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
 * The origin of the image is unknown. Considering the only places I've seen that image are from Princeton's various websites, I'd suspect it came from their yearbook or another unique image source of theirs. As a result, that would make it copyrighted. I've already said this, but I'm uncomfortable using the image for this reason as it has not entered the public domain. While the copyright could have expired, I'm unaware of if it has, and I realistically just do not have the time to check the copyright records. Since Wikipedia's Featured List criteria includes no copyrighted material, it would not make sense to include this image out of precautionary reasons, no? Anyway, I've answered all of your other suggestions; I'd just like to know now if this image going to be the reason for a lack of pass. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 05:21, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Pinging to let you know about the above response. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 00:34, 20 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Reading this convo, a few pointers. TRM is correct (unless I'm quite mistaken myself) that if a suitably licensed image exists on Commons, then it may be used on Wikipedia, since Commons does not accept fair use images. However, PoliticsIsExciting is correct that the current licensing on Commons, as provided by uploader, is questionable. It's tagged with PD-old, but that template says You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States, and it's missing any such tag. It also doesn't say who the author is (other than "Herald"), so there's no way to know if they died 70 years ago. Given this, if someone wanted to really get rid of it, they'd be justified in nominating it for deletion on Commons.
 * Lastly, regarding whether it's incumbent on PoliticsIsExciting to determine the copyright status as part of this nomination, personally it's not something I would hold up support over, as figuring out publication history can be very challenging (as I've recently endured myself), but reviewers can choose how strictly they interpret WP:FLCR 5b, and I could see a plausible view that, if a freely licensed image is available, it's incumbent on the nominator to obtain it. The best way to resolve the licensing question would be to reach out to the Mudd Manuscript Library and ask where it was first published. If they are able to give an answer, just check the copyright renewal logs, where it's highly probable there was no renewal, and then use PD-US-not renewed. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 03:01, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
 * From my perspective, I see no issue with excluding the photo if the copyright status is questionable. You'd be amazed how many old images on Commons don't hold up well to scrutiny at the FAC level regarding their image licensing, and it's an issue that many contributors must deal with. If this is one of those cases, I wouldn't be in a rush to insert it. Images aren't required by any criteria (though it's nice to include them when possible), and there's always a chance that an image with stronger licensing will be found at a later date. Giants2008  ( Talk ) 22:11, 28 September 2021 (UTC)
 * "Tilghman" notes should reflect she's the only female ever.
 * Added
 * Ref 15 needs an en-dash, not a hyphen.
 * Fixed
 * As does ref 27.
 * Fixed
 * And ref 33.
 * Fixed
 * NYT refs are subscription only.
 * One of the above editors stated to keep it at "limited", and you can use a free account to access NYT articles at least initially.
 * " Hampden-Sydney " needs en-dash, not hyphen.
 * The college stylizes the name with a hyphen.
 * Category:Princeton University isn't really needed as there are two, more specific cats about Princeton already there.
 * Fixed
 * Answered some above. Life is busy, so I'll resolve the other ones either later today or tomorrow. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 11:55, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Answered some more. Slowly working through them. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 04:11, 27 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Believe I've answered everything. Sorry for the delay, just college takes away a lot of free time. PoliticsIsExciting (talk) 16:07, 31 August 2021 (UTC)

Giants2008 ( Talk ) 22:11, 3 October 2021 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.