Talk:Reed College/Archive 1

message: What's your justification for removing the Larry Sanger mention from the Reed College alumni list? Matt gies 01:43, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Wikipedia:Avoid self-references Also, he's not famous notable.  Anthony DiPierro 01:47, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: He may not be world-famous, but he's certainly "notable". And it wasn't an extensive discussion of Wikipedia itself; only a brief mention of why he's notable. We wouldn't put a mention of him on just any page, but in a page listing notable alumni of his alma mater it only makes sense that he should be mentioned and linked. He's clearly more notable than some other people on the list, since some don't even have wiki pages yet. I think perhaps we should move this dialog to the RC talk page to get a consensus on what should happen; because I'm still not convinced that he should be removed (but admittedly I'm not exactly speaking from an NPOV here, what with being a future alumnus myself). Matt gies 02:11, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: He doesn't have a wiki page either.  The link went to his user page.  If someone creates a page for him then you can add it back.  But as it was it was nothing more than a link into the meta namespace. Anthony DiPierro 03:07, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed Larry Sanger? 

message: First off, I like the article and appreciate the effort put into it. But I hate hate hate the Harvard line:
<I>Originally imagined as "the Harvard of the West", Reed College has become one of the nation's pre-eminent institutions of the liberal arts and sciences.</I>
I'd prefer if this was replaced with more discussion of Reed's grading, high standards. curriculum or some similar topic (and I'm willing to do it myself, I just don't want to edit out someone's hard work before talking to them about it). Does Reed want to be Harvard? Absolutely not! As a Reed graduate I'm offended by the mere implication. I wouldn't want to associate myself with that crowd. I've also never seen this comment anywhere else. Regardless of its truth, I'm not sure how much it tells about present day Reed, or even how good a picture if gives of Reed's founding. 
What's more, if you go to Michigan's page or (at least last I checked) Stanford's page or Chicago's page you will see the same "Harvard of the..." line. So it's repetitive; every school seems to want you to know that it considers itself just as good as Harvard. Who cares? Let's talk more about what Reed is and not worry about comparing it to the intellectually vacuous.
:By all means, please add more discussion on Reed's grading, high standards, curriculum, etc.  That would be great.  Just add it in, without replacing the "Harvard of the West" line, and thank's for doing it.  As for removing the "Harvard of the West" line - that would be fine by me, esspecially if it is also used by many other collages.  If anyone else has strong feelings on it, speak up. JesseW 06:51, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who the Heck Wants to be Harvard? 

message: Please provide a citation for the claim that the only other college to sucessfully use an Honor Principle is West Point.  AFAIK, many colleges have an honor principle, although few use it as much as Reed College.  It would be good to clarify this. JesseW 23:02, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: It's been clarified(I shortened the clarification for readability), but a source would still be very good. JesseW 03:59, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  The only other college to sucessfully use an Honor Principle is West Point? 

message: I haven't heard anything like this, and lived there... could someone provide a source (online or otherwise) that makes this claim. Also, the hallways are no narrower than in ODB. James 19:59, August 14, 2005 (UTC)
I have been known to describe the architectural style of Mac-F-S as "riot nouveau", a term I have heard that is used only sarcastically.  There are examples of early 1970s buildings at the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, and elsewhere that were more specifically designed to be "defensible" through the inclusion of tall, narrow "gun-slit" windows, a narrow pedestal ground floor without windows and with limited entrances/exits, and certain other security features.  MacNaughton and Foster-Scholz, however, not only do not fall into that model, except in their general ugliness, but they predate the era in which these features were considered for college campuses.  There was recently an architectural survey done by the College, so the business about the architect having designed prisons should be easy to check (I believe it to be false), but the "riot-proof" description should be deleted ASAP, IMHO. -- Gnetwerker 00:34, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  A-Block riot proof? 

message: Isn't the griffin the mascot of Reed College? 
: Kind of, but as far as I know, nobody calls the sports teams the "Reed Griffins."  So even if it's an emblematic mascot, it's not an official or practically used one.  -Anakolouthon
::I've seen the costume. It exists in the sb president's office.
: The official mascot of Reed College is the griffin (Some people insist on spelling it Gryphon, but I ignore them), since it is taken from the family seal of founder Simeon Reed.  The griffin is featured on all college paraphenalia, and most people I know will recognize it as the school mascot.  The fact that the sports teams are not named the "Griffins" is because (1) No one ever cared enough to actually name the teams (or perhaps remember), and (2) Reedies' rebellious natures dictate that they come up with a better name for their teams: the frisbee team is named "Berserker" for example. Sean Kelly 16:40, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: After substantial thought, I moved this onto its own page.  The Co-op, while laudable, has not been around long in the sweep of Reed's history, and (IMHO) is of limited interest to those outside the college.  However, some clearly felt strongly enough to write it up, so I moved it out and retained the lead sentences and a link to the new page.  -- Gnetwerker 07:20, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Other Commentary

message: This suggestion for a poll didn't get any traction, so I have moved it to the archive page (it was my poll, so I assume it is legit to move it). -- Gnetwerker 02:16, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Straw Poll -- Peace or 'Color'? 

message: This suggestion for a poll didn't get any traction, so I have moved it to the archive page (it was my poll, so I assume it is legit to move it). -- Gnetwerker 02:14, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  
Straw Poll -- Peace or 'Color'?
 

message: Since the page has been critized as "unsourced", I've started to pile together the sources I have for parts of the page.  Most of these are not online references (though some of them probably could be).  Most of this stuff seems too obvious to source (i.e. it is available on the website or in the catalog).  The Reed oral History Project (http://web.reed.edu/alumni/oral_hist.html) has some good info.  Alas, the ever-useful Reed College Compendium of Information, while a public document, is not provided in an online form.
* History -- Sourced from Reed's website, historical documents available to the public at Reed
** "well-earned reputation for anti-authoritarian leanings" -- needs sourcing, but few would dispute
* Distinguishing features
** "Reed is one of the most unusual institutions" -- needs formal sourcing, however see Burton Clark The Distinctive College: Grinnell, Reed, Antioch (1970); also Princeton Review, etc.
** Hum 100/Thesis/etc -- source: Reed website, catalog
** Reactor -- source: Reed Website
** "a haven for intense intellectuals" - Pope quote, need add'l sourcing
** "dedication to 'the life of the mind'" - Reed published materials
** "Reed maintains a 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio" - Reed Compendium of Information (public document)
** Sports -- Reed catalog
***"Reed's ... teams have defeated teams from ... sports-centric schools" -- need source
** Honor Principle -- Reed student handbook, other public documents
*** "one of the few colleges operating under an Honor Principle" -- subject of past discussion -- needs better source
* Admissions and student demographics -- Reed Compendium of Information
* Reed's reputation
** Academic -- mostly already sourced in the text
*** Rhodes Scholars, etc -- see references in Talk pages, otherwise from Reed Compendium (also website)
*** "academic workload" -- see references in archived Talk pages
** Social/political -- this section is mostly unsourced "color"
** Drug use -- sourcing of Drug section is beginning (see discussion below) but historical information difficult/impossible to source
* Campus - source: Reed Master Plan (public document), 2005 Reed Historical Buildings Review (public document)
Hope this helps -- Gnetwerker 08:41, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sourcing