Talk:Bates College

Accidental rollback fixed

Whoops - sorry about rolling back two revisions; I just meant to roll back the last one, that accidentally duplicated some copy. - DavidWBrooks 18:30, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Oh, no problem. Wikipedia burped and I got an edit conflict, so I copied the "existing" into the "new" article and made my modifications there, without realizing that I was only editing the "External links" section. That's why it duplicated. I'm glad you caught it, because I wouldn't have looked at it again without your edit. -Rjyanco 23:16, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Cobb Divinity need separate entry?

It seems as though "Cobb Divinty" warrants a distinct entry, as it was not part of Bates for half of its time as a Divinity School, I'll add a few more facts eventually (and to the Stephens entry).

Jewish quotas at Bates

Part of this article isn't totally true -- Bates HAS NOT always admitted students without regard to relgion. In to the 1950s, Bates Admissions maintained a quota on the number of Jewish students they would amit each year. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.81.199.243 (talk • contribs)

Really? Is that true? I've never heard that but I'm willing to believe it. I would be even more willing if you left your name or some kind of evidence that what you say is true, or if you had spelled "admit" or "religion" correctly. I need to see some proof, otherwise, I'm going to remove your edit. User:Cdogsimmons 15:05, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I've never seen actual evidence of Jewish quotas at Bates, beyond rumors...It doesn't seem as though there were large numbers of Jewish applicants to the college in the 1950s, so it seems doubtful that they would be turned away. Although anything's possible, I guess. I agree with Cdogsimmons...a source is needed for the allegation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Swampyank (talk • contribs)

For substantiation of the existence of the quota, please see Bates Through the Years (by Charlie Clark). Specifically, see pages 105 and 108. [And sorry about the spelling in the original post!] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.81.207.240 (talk • contribs)

soccer photo?

The name of the photo is Brendan_O'Connell_'06.jpg but the caption says it is Terrence O'Connell - and an anon just added a "photo by" note that is not on the picture description page. Does anybody know what is true? - DavidWBrooks 21:29, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Bates confers only bachelor's degrees?

The article as it now stands says that Bates confers bachelor's degrees. Yet the article about Richard Buckminster Fuller states that Fuller received a D.Sc. from Bates. What's the story here? Were master's and doctorate graduate programs discontinued at some point? Joel Russ 17:37, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

While it is true that Bates used to grant master's degrees, Buckminster Fuller received an honorary doctorate from the college. Swampyank 23:09, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Bates was New England's first coeducational college?

Is this true? Is there a cite? Thank you. --70.109.223.188 (talk) 17:43, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it is true. Women were admitted in the first classes at Bates and the earlier seminary institution. Mary Mitchell, Class of 1869, was the first female B.A. in New England. Various sources confirm...just check it out on google book search. Mitchell worked in the mills and later became a professor and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott according to one source.Swampyank (talk) 21:53, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Can you provide a cite? Thank you.--70.109.223.188 (talk) 14:58, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I already added it to the article.Swampyank (talk) 15:59, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. --70.109.223.188 (talk) 18:42, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Highly selective

The phrase "highly selective" has no place in the article, least of all in the opening sentence of the lead, which is why I have removed it. It is a weasel phrase and peacock term that conveys no actual meaning than to serve as boosterism for the institution. Furthermore, no institution or publication classifies colleges as "highly" selective, so it's not even verifiable. Assert facts, not opinions and just describe the admissions numbers (number of applicants, number admitted, number matriculated, and freshmen retention) in the body of article and don't tell the reader what to think. Madcoverboy (talk) 18:27, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Fragment Sentence in History Section

Towards the end of the section on Bates history, there is a fragmented sentence that I will quote below...

"During World War II, when male students abandoned college campuses to enlist in the armed forces, Gray established a V-12 Navy College Training Program Unit on campus,[10] assuring the College students - men and women - during wartime."

This sentence lacks an actual description of what it actually assured men and women of, and should be corrected. I'm not confident enough and not aware of the program in question to the extent that I feel comfortable performing this edit myself. Anyone willing to fix this typo?

74.101.160.253 (talk) 02:27, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Bates College 2015 controversies

Hi all. I am hoping that experienced Wikipedia editors and contributors to the Bates College page can take a look at the major new section titled "Controversies," that has been added by a new Wikipedia contributor, as well as the text at the top that sums up the new section.

I understand why this section has been added -- there have been events at Bates -- but am hopeful that experienced contributors can look at the tone/hyperbole (e.g., that the college administration is "mired in controversy") of the text and the fact that some of the source material is from opinion stories in the campus newspaper that have been printed anonymously or with scant attribution.

Specifically, the new text makes major, unsubstantiated charges regarding confidential personnel issues. The accuracy of these accusations, and their potential for libel, have already been called into question by college's Communications Office. As a member of that staff, I am not the right person to weigh in on these changes to the Bates page. I made an edit that I believed adhered to Wikipedia guidelines for conflict of interest but the original text has since been restored. So, I welcome the Wikipedia community's authoritative look at the style, tone and attribution of these recent changes. -Hjayburns (talk) 01:44, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

This is the edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bates_College&diff=651990830&oldid=650763677) of Hjayburns that was reverted without an Edit Summary.

@Hjayburns: Adding a sentence showing there is an opposing WP:POV might be a better way to go than reverting to Hjayburns's edit, using http://www.thebatesstudent.com/2015/03/18/letter-editor/ as a source. — Lentower (talk) 12:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

@Hjayburns: As you appear to have a Conflict of Interest (see WP:COI), you might want to suggest edits to this article, including citations, here on the talk page.

I have made a number of edits to both move the tone towards a WP:NPOV, and the editing towards {{Wikipedia_policies_and_guidelines}}. — Lentower (talk) 14:54, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

I've removed the entire section. It's undue weight to place any significant focus on material that is only found in one source. If these are genuinely noteworthy controversies then editors should be able to find several other reliable sources substantiating that assertion. ElKevbo (talk) 18:21, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

Agree. If citations from several other reliable sources can be found, the incidents can always be added back. — Lentower (talk) 18:44, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

Add Press Releases?

Adding as citations any press releases made by Bates administration on either of these controversies could help establish a WP:NPOV, with minimal text in the article (as press releases are primary sources best used to establish fact and provide the reader with text external to Wikipedia). — Lentower (talk) 14:54, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Possible Libel

The only private name brought up within the article was "Gregory Vincent", and he gave consent to use his name (and even so his name is has not been used as defamation of character). All other names are public figures making it essential for the statements to be proven false and posted with malicious intent for anything to be considered libel. If the Bates Student does not count as a "valid source" then an opinionated letter to the editor should not count as grounds to remove an important report of current events.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.181.115.221 (talk) 21:31, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

Seems like this is gossip and not encyclopedia worthy until actually proven. Swampyank (talk) 14:43, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

@134.181.115.22 and Hjayburns: To expand on Swampyank remark: Wikipedia has a different standard that "libel" for excluding or including information about living people - see WP:LIVE. Wikipedia has it's own {{Wikipedia_policies_and_guidelines}} on what can and can not be included in it's articles. It's clear that WP:LIVE, as well as other {{Wikipedia_policies_and_guidelines}} have not been meet for including, in this article, either incident (called by some "controversies"") at Bates College this Spring. Please review WP:LIVE and other {{Wikipedia_policies_and_guidelines}} and use them in any further discussion. Thank you — Lentower (talk) 15:31, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

Copyright blanking

The history section of this article has been tagged as a possible copyvio; however, the copyvio is a certainty rather than a possibility. A quick check found copying of blocks of copyright content from three other pages of the school's website. I believe a thorough check of the whole article is needed, and have listed it at WP:Copyright problems for processing; that is unlikely to happen in less than a week. Meanwhile, anyone is free to start on a copyvio-free re-write, following the instructions on the template. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 08:20, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

Note: the copyvio in the History section seems to go back to this edit dated 18 June 2005. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 08:30, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

The Bates Communications Office appreciates the attention to the sloppy recent additions to the article. Hjayburns

I've made suggestions to fix what I believe are the remaining two copyvio issues. Please weigh in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Hjayburns/sandbox Hjayburns (talk) 15:52, 7 October 2015 (UTC)