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Union Theological College

– Discussion in progress.

Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.

Location of dispute

Users involved

Dispute overview

The college article has a section on controversies. Two items are listed which do not seem to be justified.

One is about the use of college premises by the Orange Order. It is not normal practice to list organisation which make use of university of college premises. No other external groups are mentioned in the article. And no links to evidence of their use being controversial have been provided. This has been discussed in Talk but users insist on including this information.

A current employee who faced an employment tribunal in his previous job and was cleared of all charges is listed. No other employees are mentioned. The incident predates his employment at the college. There is no evidence of his employment being controversial. No other employees are listed. There is no mention of him or the case in the article for his former employer (Belfast Bible College). This has been discussed on Talk but users insist on inserting the material.

How have you tried to resolve this dispute before coming here?

Talk:Union_Theological_College#The_Orange_Order

How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?

Provide a neutral opinion on whether the disputed matters are sufficiently notable and relevant to be included in the article.

Summary of dispute by Notabigot

Regarding the relevance of the use of college premises by the Orange Order, I believe that I had already addressed the query by Ardenssedvirens satisfactorily in the talk page for the article at 09:45 UTC on 19 March 2022. Ardenssedvirens seemed instead to be looking for evidence of various groups concurrently making an extraordinary outcry over specific events of which they were seemingly unaware at the time. I am not persuaded that this is a necessary criterion for something being a controversy.  According to Benford's law of controversy, the less factual information that is available on a topic, the more controversy can arise around that topic. Conversely, the more facts that are available, the less controversy that may accordingly arise. It is notable in this regard that the Orange Order has been characterised by an academic authority as "a society with secrets", as cited in the article. Therefore the apparent absence to date of overt evidence that staff, students, faculty, the church, or the media were made aware of Orange Order activities in the college at the time when they originally took place could now be a pertinent factor in contributing towards the current controversy. Meanwhile, the very fact that Ardenssedvirens now feels that arbitration is necessary seems to only further confirm that there is a real controversy at hand.

Regarding the known facts and the evidence that is recognisably available, is there evidence that the Orange Order is controversial? Plenty, as amply illustrated by far fuller content in the separate Wikipedia article on that subject. Is there evidence that the college was repeatedly used by the Orange Order? Yes, multiple independent and reliable sources (as cited in the article on the college), whilst the credibility of these sources as relevant to the text does not seem to have been disputed so far. Is there evidence that either the Presbyterian Church in Ireland or Union Theological College sought to publicise use of the college by the Orange Order in the same way that a separate but comparable "On These Steps" commemorative event was publicised? Not that I am aware of, and I am sure most reasonably minded people would agree that reluctance to court controversy does not make the associated issues any less controversial. This may be especially pertinent to the question of controversy if the apparent absence of immediate outcry might have reflected any desire on the part of those responsible for the college to contemporaneously cover over any potentially questionable activities on the premises, and insofar as the Orange Order has been characterised as "a society with secrets". The seemingly hastily expressed desire to entirely delete the section referring to repeated use of the college by the Orange Order (Ardenssedvirens, talk: 23:09 UTC, 18 March 2022 and 07:52 UTC, 19 March 2022) may arguably reflect similar motivations.

In light of Ardenssedvirens also professing a dislike of the Orange Order (talk: 09:30 UTC, 19 March 2022) but nevertheless seeming to see nothing controversial in repeated use of the college by this group, I sought some clarity by then enquiring whether he or she thought confirmed use of the college by the Orange Order was entirely appropriate. This seemed to me to be a reasonable question, especially if an organisation independently described as supremacist was invited into a building where students resided, and all the more pertinent insofar as the college claims to welcome students of all backgrounds. If the college directly profited from such use of the building by a controversial organisation, as Ardenssedvirens appears to presume by default (e.g. talk: 09:12 UTC, 16 March 2022) but without any direct supporting evidence so far, then I think this makes such use of the premises even more controversial rather than less. My question regarding the propriety of repeated use of the college by a group described as supremacist whilst students of all backgrounds may have still been in residence notably remains unanswered as far as I am aware.

Meanwhile, the greatest relevance of the Orange Order to the college is probably the apparent confluence between criteria for membership of the former and subscription to particular viewpoints required of professors at the latter. Although Ardenssedvirens further opined that I had not shown that the Orange Order had been promoted in any way by the college (talk: 10:04 UTC, 19 March 2022), Sola Reformanda (talk: 16:50 UTC, 19 March 2022) then pointed out how the college was effectively helping to promote the Orange Order, and may also have been simultaneously profiting from the Orange Order. I find it hard to see how this is irrelevant.

Summary of dispute by Curious Critters

Ardenssedvirens has opined how thinking that something isn’t relevant and shouldn’t be included is not evidence that it is worth including, describing this as illogical (talk, 09:30 on 19 March 2022). As far as I can see, only Ardenssedvirens has opined on the talk page concerned that the Orange Order isn’t relevant specifically. If it is illogical to see an apparently solitary opinion that such content shouldn’t be included as evidence that such content is worth including, then conversely it would seem unreasonable to see this seemingly solitary opinion as both evidence that such content is not worth including and to maintain that there is no controversy. Strikingly, it was only after I mentioned the alternative (but purely theoretical) possibility of evidence that the Ku Klux Klan might have been using the college that Ardenssedvirens seemed to express with greater urgency a desire to entirely delete the section pertaining to the Orange Order (talk, 23:09 on 18 March 2022).

As for whether it is controversial that a current employee faced an employment tribunal in his previous job and accordingly received media coverage, I would highlight the observations by Alias the Jester (talk, 17:05 on 19 March 2022) regarding who put the description of the appointment and employment history of the operations manager into the Controversy section anyway at 17:18 on 16 March 2022. The question of a double standard has accordingly been raised in this regard. Meanwhile, it is also factually incorrect to state that no other employees have been mentioned in the Controversy section as there has been far more discussion in this section of the dismissal of a former professor, whom Ardenssedvirens has identified as also having been involved in an employment tribunal (talk, 20:35 on 18 March 2022). Is there another double standard in this regard?

Union Theological College discussion

Please keep discussion to a minimum before being opened by a volunteer. Continue on article talk page if necessary.
  • Volunteer Note - The filing editor has not notified the other editors. Also, the username of one of the other editors was incorrect, but has been corrected. The other editors should be notified. Robert McClenon (talk) 19:02, 19 March 2022 (UTC)
I did notify the other editors. Why have you said I didn’t? Ardenssedvirens (talk) 19:19, 19 March 2022 (UTC)

Zeroth statement by moderator (Union Theological College)

User: Ardenssedvirens, User:Notabigot, User:Curious critters - Do you want moderated discussion of a content dispute? If so, please read the rules and reply below to indicate that you are ready for moderated discussion. Robert McClenon (talk) 18:24, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Thanks @Robert McClenon, yes, I’d be happy to have moderated discussion. I’ve stepped back from discussing the article on its talk page or editing it while this process is ongoing. Ardenssedvirens (talk) 07:52, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
Sounds fine to me too. Although I had made a few further edits to other parts of the article in the meantime, I have not altered the relevant sections that appear to be under dispute pursuant to the request for arbitration.
Notabigot (talk) 22:19, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
I am content to participate as proposed as long as other participants are likewise inclined.
Curious critters (talk) 06:23, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

First statement by Moderator (Union Theological College)

Okay. Please read the ground rules again. If you have questions about the rules, ask them now. Be civil and concise. Civility is the fourth pillar of Wikipedia. Overly long statements may make the poster feel better without conveying information to the community. Do not engage in back-and-forth discussion except in the space provided. I do not have any knowledge about the topic, and I expect the editors to provide me with the knowledge that I need to moderate the dispute.

Now: Each editor is requested to make a statement of one or two paragraphs, not more than that, summarizing the dispute by stating either what you want to change in the article, or what you want to keep the same that another editor wants to change. Be Specific at DRN. State briefly what the content issue is. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:29, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

First statements by Editors (Union Theological College)

It seems to me that it might be helpful, at least in the first instance, to compare various authoritative definitions of the word controversy. The dispute as initially presented by Ardenssedvirens (talk · contribs) seems to hinge upon this. What do others think of this proposal? Notabigot (talk) 07:14, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

I am happy to go along with that but I am not sure whether it might necessarily be the underlying issue. Ardenssedvirens has requested a neutral opinion on whether the disputed matters are sufficiently notable and relevant to be included in the article. It would therefore seem important to firstly demonstrate that the Orange Order is not notable, despite publicly parading in brightly coloured sashes and carrying massive banners whilst accompanied by a booming band. Then it would be equally important to demonstrate the contemporary irrelevance of the Orange Order in light of such activity. Lastly, it would be of interest to better understand why Ardenssedvirens initially introduced the appointment and employment history of the operations manager into the Controversy section before then proposing deletion of all such content, and why that has now been linked here to dispute about the Orange Order. Consequently, is the operations manager either irrelevant to the college or relevant to use of the college by the Orange Order?
Curious critters (talk) 06:19, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

The Union Theological College article mentions the use of the premises by an external body, the Orange Order, but nothing is cited to show that this is notable enough to warrant inclusion on the page, especially when the use of premises by other external organisations isn't listed. Some of the editing history suggests that some users included it because they see personally the Orange Order as controversial, but no evidence has been supplied to show that the use of the premises by the Orange Order was considered controversial by society, therefore it isn't notable and should be removed.

Similarly a non-academic member of staff is mentioned in the context of an employment tribunal convened during his previous employment, where he was cleared of wrongdoing. That doesn't seem relevant to the college article. It seemed to have been included as a controversy, so I moved it to the controversy section a while ago, but I don't think it is notable enough to be mentioned, especially when no other non-academic staff are mentioned. Both items have been included as matters of controversy, but neither have actually attracted controversy nor are they notable. Ardenssedvirens (talk) 22:38, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Second statement by moderator (Union Theological College)

The purpose of this dispute resolution is to improve the article. So I am asking what exactly each editor wants to change in the article, or what they want to leave the same that someone else wants to change. We will identify what content in the article is the subject of the content dispute before we discuss how to address the content dispute. Discussing the various meanings of "controversy", for instance, may be useful after we identify what paragraphs and sentences in the article are the subject of the content dispute.

Please state, in one paragraph, what you think the content issue is. You may state, in one other paragraph, what any other issues or questions are. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:31, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

Statement 2A by moderator (UTC)

If no specific issue with the article content is stated within 24 hours, or anyone makes any other specific request, I will close the case as having fizzled out. Robert McClenon (talk) 17:15, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Sorry @Robert McClenon, I didn’t realise further statements from you would appear above the ‘Back-and-forth discussion’ section so I was looking below there for updates. Apologies for my error. I’ll look in the right place in future! I’ve now made my second statement. Ardenssedvirens (talk) 18:15, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
Welcome back, Ardenssedvirens. It would be appreciated if you could also please respond to a few ensuing queries in the Back-and-forth discussion below. Notabigot (talk) 21:29, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
Thank you for the invitation to participate in back and forth discussion,@Notabigot, but that is what we were doing on the article talk page without a positive outcome. I am following the directions of the moderator who has recently said ‘We will identify what content in the article is the subject of the content dispute before we discuss how to address the content dispute’ and given clear instructions about what to post. If instructions from the moderator change then I’ll participate in discussion accordingly. Ardenssedvirens (talk) 21:35, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
OK Ardenssedvirens, I look forward to hearing further accordingly. Notabigot (talk) 21:46, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Second statements by editors (Union Theological College)

Thanks, Robert McClenon. I am broadly content with the article as it currently stands and I do not yet see a consistent reason for wholesale deletion of any sections. There seem to be varying opinions being expressed by one individual regarding whether something is controversial but not controversial enough, or having public coverage but not enough media coverage, or being both part of normal practice and also without precedent. I would have been content to conclude that edits latterly made independently by SovalValtos should have sidestepped any dispute over what is necessarily a controversy but it seems that one particular editor wants to keep this open as a dispute whilst simultaneously asserting lack of notable controversy. Notabigot (talk) 05:57, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

I am reasonably content with the article as edited by other editors in the meantime, unless there happen to be any other new developments worthy of adding. I gather from the comment left latterly by Ardenssedvirens on my talk page that life has got rather busy in the past two weeks.
If any editor who originally requested content dispute resolution does not then have sufficient time to commit to this process insofar as this apparently requires checking on the case regularly in order to answer questions within 48 hours, then what is the fate of the requested content dispute?
Curious critters (talk) 13:42, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
I will address the article as it currently is. My concern is about two subsections of the History section: ‘ Hire of Alan McCormick’ and ‘ Orange Order use of premises’. No other administrative staff other than Alan McCormick are mentioned and nothing about him seems to be worth mentioning in a history of the college so I think that whole subsection should be deleted. The Orange Order is unaffiliated with the college and has merely used their premises on occasion — a common practice among universities. I don’t see a justification for singling them out for mention and the current material that is there reads like a blog written by someone who dislikes the Orange Order rather than an impartial description of the history of the college. I think that subsection should also be removed as irrelevant.
Ardenssedvirens (talk) 18:13, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Back-and-forth discussion (Union Theological College)

In the meantime, I see that SovalValtos has now incorporated the previous 'Controversy' section into the History section. There do not appear to have been any objections to this so far. If the initial dispute related primarily to definition of what might be reasonably considered as controversial, does this therefore resolve the dispute? If not, what are the outstanding issues, @Ardenssedvirens and @Curious critters?

Notabigot (talk) 14:03, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Robert_McClenon, I don't see precedence for the use of premises by outside bodies or the hiring of non-academic staff being mentioned in the history of the college so I don't see why the Orange Order would be included. If there was evidence that this was a notable and provoked public discussion or that the college itself considers it a notable part of its history, then I think it would belong. I don't see that at the moment. I don't intend to alter the article while we're having the discussion here. Even in the case of Alan McCormick the press articles don't relate to his employment at the college and him being cleared at the tribunal doesn't seem to have been mentioned when he was hired, so it doesn't seem relevant. It's not even mentioned on the article for his employer at the time of the tribunal, Belfast Bible College, so I'm not sure why it would be mentioned in a later employer. So I disagree with Notabigot. (Apologies for multiple edits to this — I haven’t really used the non-visual editor before, so I made a few mistakes.) Ardenssedvirens (talk) 22:45, 31 March 2022 (UTC)
I would like to pick up on some points that Ardenssedvirens has made regarding the mention of the operations manager in the article. It is true that no other non-academic staff are mentioned in the article apart from the operations manager, though this would seem to be simply because no other non-academic staff have received comparable media coverage (whereas a former professor who was dismissed has received far more media coverage and was accordingly included in the previous Controversy section). Meanwhile, I would not necessarily rely on the Wikipedia entry for Belfast Bible College as a precedent for which staff should be mentioned, since the only staff currently listed therein are principals of the college. If the article on Union Theological College similarly listed only the principals of the college, then much of its history in relation to other faculty members would correspondingly need to be expunged. However, wherever notable faculty are mentioned in most other articles, this is not necessarily limited to principals of colleges, university presidents or chancellors. And who would wish to assert that faculty members are the only members of staff at a college who are capable of achieving notability? If a member of staff is sufficiently notable to be mentioned by name in a report for the college upon their appointment, and also sufficiently notable to have been mentioned by name in previous media reports, then surely this is relevant to an article on the college.
Ardenssedvirens has also stated that the employment tribunal relating to the operations manager seemed to have been included as a controversy, though I am not aware of any editor explicitly regarding it as such other than Ardenssedvirens. If evidence can be presented that any other editors felt this should be included in the previous Controversy section, then I would be happy to stand corrected. Until then, I am baffled as to why reference to media reporting of an individual being engaged in an employment tribunal should have been considered both worthy of being moved to a Controversy section and yet also not notable enough to be mentioned at all. That makes no sense at all to me. I am also still curious as to why the employment history of the operations manager should ever have been raised in the same context as reference to use of the college by the Orange Order. Ardenssedvirens clearly must have felt that there was a connection between the two, so what is the relevant connection if only Ardenssedvirens had included both items as similar matters of controversy?
Curious critters (talk) 01:11, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
There are a few considerations I would like to highlight here in response to the second statement by Ardenssedvirens.
Firstly, regarding the hire of Alan McCormick, I see that Curious critters has raised a few questions about the rationale by Ardenssedvirens for apparently linking both this and the Orange Order in the previous Controversy section, for which suitable explanatory answers appear to remain outstanding. In the meantime, I just came across an article[1] referring to someone with the same name who previously received an award from the Orange Order in recognition of his key role in refurbishing an Orange Hall in the village of Drumbo. Might this be the same person? If so, is this part of the connection?
Secondly, regarding the statement that it is a common practice among universities for the Orange Order to use their premises on occasion, is it therefore possible to provide a list of examples of any universities where the Orange Order has similarly met on campus to hold their own services instead of using a local Orange Hall?
Thirdly, regarding the use of premises at Union Theological College by other external organisations, where is this information publicly available? Is it therefore possible to refer to a comprehensive list (or even a representative sample) of external organisations that have used the premises at Union Theological College over the past decade? If not, how about the last five years or so?
Lastly, regarding the implied motivations of someone who dislikes the Orange Order, is it not the case that Ardenssedvirens clearly stated a personal dislike of the Orange Order on the talk page for the article on Union Theological College at 09:30 UTC on 19 March 2022? How then might the expressed desire to remove any reference to the Orange Order be accordingly considered as impartial?
Notabigot (talk) 21:15, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ "Annual Orange awards held in Lisburn's Island Hall". www.northernirelandworld.com. Retrieved 2022-04-03.

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People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran

– New discussion.

Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.

Location of dispute

Users involved

Dispute overview

I wanted to add to the article that

“During the Islamic Revolution, Massoud Rajavi prevented the MEK from using violence against Khomeini’s new government, which raised his status within the MEK”[1]

Ghazzzalch reverted saying "Rajavi’s position toward terrorist attacks is also covered in the section "Assassinations". So the article is already too long and no need to repeat its contents all over the article". But this is not repeated in the article.

Then Iskandar323 said this quote should be in another article, but the quote is about People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran.

So both their reasons for not wanting this in the article don’t seem very reasonable. I asked an admin, and they suggested I should try a dispute resolution.


How have you tried to resolve this dispute before coming here?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:People%27s_Mojahedin_Organization_of_Iran#%22Removal_of_designation%22_text_tightening

How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?

By checking the reasons that Iskandar323 and Ghazzalch have given for not wanting this information in the article

Summary of dispute by User:Ghazzalch

Please keep it brief - less than 2000 characters if possible, it helps us help you quicker.

There has been some kind of consensus in the previous discussions that this article is too long, and should be shortened. Under this pretext, Fad Ariff was removing some important anti-MEK details (such as[8]) from the article, and in the same time was adding some pro-MeK details (such as[9][10]) to it. Per Wikipedia:Tendentious editing I reverted them all. Because I saw them as a whole. But Fad Ariff preferred not to narrate the whole story here. He picked up a single edit and brought it here, arguing that why we should not be able to add a well-sourced material to the article. To show that he is not even sticking to this partial logic, I recently added a well sourced anti-MeK material to the article. He reverted it immediately, arguing that Ghazaalch says the article is too long while adding more cult content to the article. I asked him here that If you agree with me that the article is too long and you revert what I add, then why you insist on restoring what I reverted? And why you took this case to the Dispute resolution noticeboard? What is the dispute here? We both are doing the same thing. No answer yet. Ghazaalch (talk) 09:51, 18 April 2022 (UTC)

Summary of dispute by User:Iskandar323

Please keep it brief - less than 2000 characters if possible, it helps us help you quicker.

Summary of dispute by User:Fad Ariff

Please keep it brief - less than 2000 characters if possible, it helps us help you quicker.

Replying to Ghazaalch, the content in this dispute is not "pro" anything, it’s just content by a good publisher and author. About Ghazaalch’s response that I reverted one of his edits, the short answer to that is that I reverted it because cult stuff is already covered in four different sections and in the lead of the article (while the information in this dispute is not in the article). It’s fine if Ghazaalch wants to open a separate dispute about that edit, but they still have not provided a reasonable answer for removing the content in this dispute (neither here nor on the talk page). Fad Ariff (talk) 12:03, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran discussion

Please keep discussion to a minimum before being opened by a volunteer. Continue on article talk page if necessary.
  1. ^ Cohen, Ronen (2009). The Rise and Fall of the Mojahedin Khalq, 1987-1997: Their Survival After the Islamic Revolution and Resistance to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1845192709. He succeeded in looking after the organization during the Islamic Revolution by preventing it from acting violently against Khomeini's government. Rajavi's successful management raised his prestige within the organization.

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