Talk:Moravian University

Controversy

What, precisely, seems to be the controversy regarding the college's claim to be the nation's sixth oldest school? As a co-educational, four-year liberal arts college with the name "Moravian College," it has only been around sixty years or so. But it clearly traces its lineage to preceding institutions, giving it, to the best of my knowledge, the right to make this claim--which I have never seen disputed anywhere else but here.

I don't think it's all that important, and it really isn't a legitimate selling feature IMHO, compared to other things like, oh, academic standards, accomplished faculty, and alumni achievement--none of which Moravian has in abundance. But someone seems to have a real stick in their craw about the claim "sixth-oldest college" to keep coming here and amending the language of that paragraph as if to say this statement is simply made-up and shouldn't be believed.

Can whoever keeps doing this back up this "controversy" with some references/links, please? Otherwise I'm going to assume someone just has an ax to grind and either delete the language or flag this article with a non-neutral POV. --Free-world 21:47, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

I had not noticed the change being made and think it's pretty silly. The American Association of Universities recognizes Moravian as the 6th oldest college in the country. I represented the college several years ago at the installation of a university president and walked in the procession with Harvard, Yale,William and Mary, Columbia, Penn and St. John's. What is remarkable about Moravian College is that it is such a fine small college, only 1200 students with a top notch faculty, there the students aren't just faces in the crowd. The one-on-one relationship with the faculty is a huge selling point. What is really notable about the founding date is that the Moravians were educating girls in 1742 when nobody else was. The old Moravian Female Seminary was a pioneer institution, what a groundbreaking event that was. The Female Seminary (1742) merged with the Men's College (1807) in 1957 resulting in the Moravian College and Theological Seminary as we know it today. The Moravian Academy in Bethlehem also traces its roots back to the 1742 date in Germantown -- Headman13 15:47, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

This is an interesting point about the American Association of Universities being the ones to "rank" the age of institutions, and recognizing Moravian as 6th oldest. What, though, is the American Association of Universities? I can't find any reference to them. (There's the Association of American Universities but that has to do with research schools, and Moravian is certainly not a member.) In any case it would be nice if we could cite a third-party source that keeps track, rather than having to say the college has "long asserted." Anyone have any thoughts? --Free-world 13:02, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

16 years later and yeah, there is no third party source that attributes the foundation to 1742, the college was founded in 1807, as said in the article itself. 1742 date was the creation of the Primary school for girls which is an accomplishment, as the second girls school in the country, but it wasn't a college and shouldn't be treated as the college's foundation. Scu ba (talk) 17:50, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

This reads like a paid advertisement for the school. There is no such thing as the American Association of Universities. The female seminary was founded in 1863, as said in the article itself, the "foundation" of 1742 was for a Primary school teaching young girls. Scu ba (talk) 17:47, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

[1] [2] [3] School celebrated its centennial in 1907, article itself says the college was founded in 1807. the girls school was a Primary school and it's foundation should not be treated as the foundation date for the college/university. Scu ba (talk) 17:45, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

reopening the foundation debate

Seeing as how the original conversation on the topic is old enough to drive a car now, ill make this a new section. 1742 is NOT the date the College was founded. the College was founded in 1807, which is even stated in the article. 1742 is when the Girls school was founded, the girl's school was a Primary school educating young girls. The seminary that was founded in 1807 as a college was not accredited as a college until 1863, again stated in the article itself.

The school celebrated its centennial (100 year anniversary) in 1907, which would be hard to do if the school was founded in 1742 (making its centennial be 1842). The school itself has recognized this. [4] [5] [6]. Some time in the 1940s/1950s the school changed its own foundation date to when the girls school was made to make it seem the school is more prestigious. All articles cited stating the foundation as 1742 are paid for BY THE SCHOOL and should not be used to establish the foundation date. I've included the three arguable foundation dates in the info box and a reworked preamble. I will revert any changes to the contrary unless otherwise consensus is reached. Scu ba (talk) 17:40, 1 May 2023 (UTC)