Talk:Southern Virginia University/Archive 1

Archive 1

Help Request

In trying to do some verification on this article - I found very little that wasn't on the SVU website itself. Some exceptions:

• http://www.petersons.com/ugchannel/code/idd.asp?orderLineNum=494303-1&inunId=8723&typeVC=INSTVC&sponsor= - but I didn't use it since the history part seems directly copied from the history section of the SVU website
• http://www.mormonstoday.com/010608/D4SVU01.shtml -
• http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/47412
• http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=060201&ID=s972516

I am guessing that the purchase by an LDS group was covered extensively by the local press in Virginia but maybe I am wrong. Does anyone have any links to alumni groups, or news articles on stuff etc. Thx in adv. --Trödel 13:24, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Size

I don't think "very small" is a proper description of the school. It is just not factual. Both US News and Peterson label schools as "small" if they have enrollment of less than 2000. Of the 411 religiously affiliated schools in the Peterson list[1] SVU has a larger enrollment(ranked 165) than 44% of the schools that reported enrollment(out of 374). Additionally other schools with less than 300 enrolled students are not labeled "very small" in Wikipeida: see Southern Christian University, Trinity Baptist College, and Williams Baptist College for example. --Trödel 02:03, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Changes by Rossinicholas

In general I think the copyedit by Rossinicholas made for a more readable article. I request editors to please include references for assertions of fact - and please don't remove references where they already exists. Thx --Trödel 13:01, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

References

This article is now completely unsourced - I have included the sources I found back in June/July below and in the References section of the article.

• President, Rodney K. Smith, graduated in the second class of BYU J. Rueben Clark Law School
• Vice President of Student Life and Enrollment, Walter Ralls, is the stake president of the Buena Vista Virginia Stake.
• Executive Vice President and Provost, Paul S. Edwards, former member of the Political Science Department at Brigham Young University
• Director of Annual Giving, Jeffrey D. Robison, spent 13 years working for the LDS Foundation
• Dean of Students, Dean Hanchett, former Army Chaplain (30 years active duty) representing the LDS Church
• The Board of Trustees includes former mission presidents and former stake presidents for the LDS Church as well as Chieko Okazaki former member of the Relief Society General Presidency

The problem with lack of sources is that it makes an article that could be verified completely unverifiable and thus the text is subject to deletion. see WP:V --Trödel 12:58, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I know this is going to add to the references problem--I added the academics section and the info about Keith Alessi, but I don't have a reference to cite for his agreement to teach at SVU--He told me personally.

Whole article is an ad

This whole article is one big ad. Should it be stubbed and restarted or is someone willing to take on the cleanup? --Takeel 01:22, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Restoring sourced version

This article has gained depth but lost its encyclopedic tone with the removal of inline references. Please include sources when adding material (just put it in parens) and the WikiGnomes will fix it up and format it. Thank you in advance. --Trödel 15:15, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

The endowment...

I changed the endowment info from "Under $1 billion" to "$300,000." The actual number is $284,614 for the last reported year, but these numbers are usually rounded to the nearest 100,000. Admittedly I am not a Wikipedia expert and I probably did not cite it correctly, but most school statistics are available through the NCES. Two stats exist for endowment. The more accurate number used by most institutions is the long term investments number reported to the NCES, (I know I'm missing a citation here too, but just compare the numbers reported in US News & World Report or any other major publication with the official numbers the schools report to NCES for confirmation) as the endowment category usually applies only to the most use-restrictive investments. If someone else can come up with a better way to cite it or come up with a source for a more accurate number be my guest, but I thought "Under $1 billion," while true, seemed a little disingenuous. Vojen 02:42, 13 March 2007 (UTC)Vojen

Thanks - I hadn't noticed the true but misleading figure - the use of citation here is also appreciated :) --Trödel 22:01, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Changes by Trodel

Trodel is a wikidemagogue. He needs to stop reverting the changes that were made. Niro87 07:30, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

so how is a request to retain the footnotes amethod of "obtain[ing] power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace."[2] --Trödel 20:32, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Because you are making use of false claims in order to maintain your power as an editor.[3] Niro87 07:30, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Trödel, I made many changes and incorporated references from the previously edited Southern Virginia University [4] article which you keep reverting back to. No worries, though. Check out the new and completely shiny article about Southern Virginia University. Also, for my own entertainment, I had a question for you. Let me know when you have an opportunity to answer it. Thanks, Niro87 07:38, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

References need fixing

A lot of references were to the old www.southernvirginia.edu URL. I switched those to www.svu.edu and fixed a few, but there are still a lot of broken links. I don't have time to do it, but someone with more interest in the institution may want to. Jbening (talk) 20:24, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Citations needed, etc.

This article needs to be significantly improved. It sounds like an advertisement. It lacks necessary citations and references. Tkfy7cf (talk) 11:55, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

disengenuous

What does the lead mean by:

not officially affiliated with a particular faith ?

I mean, it's pretty clearly affiliated with mormonism. The church is on the campus. The major school event is mormon missionary training entitled "Zion's camp: the field is white". The school's annual keynote presentations are by church elders. It's website actively advertises that >90% of students are church members, and promotes the school with images of the students as literal jihadis crusaders upholding their unified religious belief (e.g. [5]). The school pays students to become missionaries. It officially states that classroom content is based "not only on textbooks" but on mormon religious teachnigs. The mission statement refers to the church. Admissions require ecclesiastic endorsement, and every single student is required to sign a pledge agreeing to act in accordance with explicitly the LDS church.

Like, what more does it take? The only possible distinction I can find is that legally it's owned by members of the church directly rather than through the church-president's corporation. This pretty much sounds like "lying for Jesus". Cesiumfrog (talk) 03:35, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments, Cesiumfrog. I don't know if you mean the school overall or the article specifically, but I don't believe anybody is trying to be disingenuous or act in bad faith. The main issue, which SVU has a responsibility to be as clear as possible in, is noted in your final comments. This institution is not legally owned or operated by the LDS Church, compared to institutions such as Brigham Young University (BYU) and its sister institutions within the Church Educational System (CES), which are owned and operated by the church. SVU is not at liberty to imply they have the endorsement or official affiliation of the church. As you noted, and as the article clearly points out, this is an institution founded by private individuals with a desire to provide an religious-based experience, such as a student might get at a CES institution. This is not all that different than any other private institution which would choose to use a specific set of values on which to base the university or college. I am not sure this will be a satisfactory response, but again I don't believe there is intent to deceive or be disingenuous anywhere. (And for the record, I am not affiliated with the school.) Your comments point out that there is ample advertisement and disclosure on the website and other materials. Any student who looked into this institution, or reads this article, with much view at all should not be surprised to show up and find the strong influence of the LDS Church. Also, you would find that it is not all that unusual for an LDS Church facility to be on a very near a campus of many of the larger universities across the U.S. Yes, there are likely scholarship opportunities (or tuition discounts) for those who have served as LDS missionaries, but the school does not pay people to become missionaries. This is just another area they choose to use some scholarship funds, such as they and any other institution would do for athletics, academics, leadership, etc. Thanks again for your comments. ChristensenMJ (talk) 04:48, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Regardless of its not being a subsidiary of the LDS corporation, I do not think it is fair for the lead to imply that SVU has no official relationship with any particular religious faith. Leaving aside your dubious distinction between scholarships and payments, consider the conventionally understood meaning of the term "religious affiliation" for example:

Independent schools may be affiliated with a particular religion or denomination; however, unlike parochial schools, independent schools are self-owned and governed by independent boards of trustees.

I mean, when you deny you're affiliated with a school, do you just mean that the school does not legally own you? Cesiumfrog (talk) 06:14, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

I guess I am not sure what your concerns are because there is no official relationship with the LDS Church. It clearly states that the values of the LDS Church are embraced. There is a board of trustees that governs the institution, none of which are chosen or designated by the LDS Church. It is not owned by, nor does it receive financial assistance from, the LDS Church. There also is not an attempt for a dubious distinction. No LDS members are paid for going on missions, anywhere. ChristensenMJ (talk) 06:35, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Graduation & Retention

I'm not sure the information about graduation and retention rates is accurate: The website it cites states the student faculty ratio as 137:1, meaning the school has at most 5 teachers..? A 30-ish% retention rate is shockingly low, as well. Low enough to be suspect. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.171.192.148 (talk) 10:08, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

University?

The "Academics" section does not list any post-graduate degree programs. If the school doesn't offer doctorates, how can it be a university? J. D. Crutchfield | Talk 18:50, 7 August 2018 (UTC)

Southern Virginia University titles itself that way; whether or not it meets other persons' standards for universitydom is beside the point. Wikipedia should document what is, and not what is intended or inferred. Scm6288 (talk) 22:45, 21 February 2021 (UTC)