Talk:Cornell University

Does John Cleese truly represent "Famous current and former Cornell faculty"?

Cleese has been represented in the article as "Famous current and former Cornell faculty" for quite a long time, and I think it's misleading. I wonder if anyone else feels the same. Cleese's appointment is "Professor at Large," and later "Provost’s Visiting Professor." As I understand it, he doesn't teach any class on the schedule that you could actually take. He shows up once a year to give a public lecture and maybe visits a class of his choosing. According to this article he visited seven times between 1999-2007. He has none of the responsibilities of an actual faculty member, in the sense of publishing, teaching, advising, etc. However, I'm not on campus. Does it really feel to the students like Cleese is part of Cornell? - Kzirkel (talk) 15:23, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

Worldwide prestige?

An unregistered editor would like to insert the following sentence into the lede of this article: "Cornell is considered one of the most prestigious universities in the world."

The lede is supposed to be a high-level summary of the information in the body of the article and I don't think that the material in the body support this statement. ElKevbo (talk) 02:33, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

Why is it mentioned in Columbia's Wikipedia opening paragraph then? Columbia's is mentioned in the lede as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.116.63.222 (talk) 02:41, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

I don't know; this isn't the Talk page for that article so it's irrelevant. What is relevant is that you're edit warring to add material that is not supported by the sources you're citing or what is in the body of the article. If you want to make a strong, sweeping claim then you need equally strong, sweeping evidence; cherry picking a few years of ranking data is nowhere sufficient (nor is it in line with our policies about neutrality and no original research). ElKevbo (talk) 05:22, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

Also, in Harvard's Wikipedia it says this: Established in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States[6] and among the most prestigious in the world.[7] Why did people delete my comment about Cornell? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.116.63.222 (talk) 02:46, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

There has been extensive discussion in that article's Talk page about this exact topic; I encourage you to read it. ElKevbo (talk) 05:22, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

Would you please reinsert my suggestion? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.116.63.222 (talk) 02:52, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

Stop edit warring. You're liable to be blocked from editing if you continue this behavior. ElKevbo (talk) 05:22, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

As ElKevbo has said, other page's discussions are irrelevant here (although one can discuss general guidelines from WikiProject Higher education if there are applicable ones. The bar to claim "one of the most prestigious universities in the world" is pretty high, so it is on the user that claims it to present evidence that it meets that bar. A few citations from ranking pages are not enough in my opinion, and the bar has yet to be met. It should be removed until then.Eccekevin (talk) 22:56, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

"one of the most prestigious universities" ... this kind of language is so transparently marketing-oriented, and the phrasing "one of" is so vague as to be meaningless. According to whom, compared to what? It's not only inappropriate for wikipedia ... frankly it's a bit insulting to Cornell. The rankings and lists of prestigious faculty, awards, and alumni tell the story. - Kzirkel (talk) 13:50, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

It's not unreasonable for the lede of an article to have broad statements that summarize what is in the body of an article. I just don't see that this particular article has information in the body that supports this particular statement. ElKevbo (talk) 14:01, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Concur. What User:ElKevbo is getting at is that if you look at other universities, the information in the lead paragraphs needs to closely track the body of the article (especially when it's making highly contentious claims about the university in comparison to other universities). If the body of the article establishes that a university is frequently ranked among the top universities in the world, it is okay to say that. But "prestigious" is a highly subjective concept and is much more difficult to support unless you have sources that specifically say that. If you are trying to characterize a university as prestigious because it is highly ranked, that is original research in violation of core policy Wikipedia:No original research unless the body of the article already cites (or even better, quotes) reliable sources that specifically make that connection. --Coolcaesar (talk) 14:11, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Agree with everything said above. --Drevolt (talk) 04:13, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

I'm open to some general characterization of Cornell's prestige in the lead, per WP:HIGHEREDREP (let's please use the extensively discussed precedent rather than repeating arguments), but it'll need sources, and none have been provided so far. I also share Kzirkel's concern that "one of" is too vague. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 06:19, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

As marketing it falls flat and makes the uni sound less prestigious than it actually is. It's an Ivy League institution and if a reader doesn't know what that implies they can click on the link. Itsmejudith (talk) 15:33, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

Expanding on 'Ithaca Campus' green initiatives

I would like to expand on the last paragraph under the Ithaca Campus section 2.1. The current information on 'green' initiatives is good, but outdated and lacks the inclusion of their Climate Action Plan to reach net carbon neutrality by 2035. In the recent years expansions to their solar farms, and the development of Earth Source Heating enhanced geothermal have been underway. I think this section would benefit from the addition of a short paragraph on such renewable endeavors. Let me know what you think. (December 2020)

eCornell

There was a circular link from eCornell back to Cornell which I replaced with a link to eCornell's website. They have a mess of programs and killing the eCornell page with a redirect I think was a mistake - one I'm unprepared to fix. 66.102.220.134 (talk) 03:20, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

"It is ranked among the most prestigious universities in the world."

On the Wikipedia pages of Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, and UPenn, the prestige of the university is mentioned after the founding date is given. Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and Brown all place the prestige line at the end of the opening paragraph.

Cornell is the only Ivy to reference its prestige prior to its founding date. For this reason, I am choosing to move the sentence "It is ranked among the most prestigious universities in the world." to the end of the first paragraph and change "It" to "Cornell." BSC-56 (talk) 15:01, 28 September 2022 (UTC)