Talk:List of colleges and universities in Florida

To add cities, or not to add cities

If there's no opinion, I plan on adding the city names as follows: University of Florida, Gainesville Hope I get some kind of response. I haven't seen this page edited too often. - Bladeswin 00:56, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I've noticed

I've noticed that you can't go onto keiser University, is there any way of changing that? Thank you and have a great day!!! Adding cities would be great! Rianon Burnet 18:19, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

You can modify it to: [[Keiser University]]. It seems an article on the university does not exist, so you can create it! I know you were interested in that, so feel free to make a page for the university. Please read WP:MOS, WP:NPOV, WP:RS and other relevant policies to assist you when you make the page. You also might want to consider looking at the articles for other universities to get an idea of how the page should be formatted. Nishkid64 (talk) 18:28, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Some major changes?

I have been thinking about the list of Florida colleges and universities for some time, and am planning to spend a few hours editing it. These are some of the issues I hope to address.

There are many small schools which are not on the list (some of which, no doubt, are quite unaccredited, and should, perhaps, not be added).

Virtually all of the schools have websites, and it seems useful to include links to these with the school names.

The article is weak in terms of references, and only one of the works cited as a web link is functional (today).

The organizational scheme is certainly usable, but some of the categories overlap (i.e., Private and Public liberal arts colleges vs. Private Colleges and Universities) and some duplicate entries exist. A non-overlapping organization is needed.

Some parts of the list include school locations, but most don't.

With this many possible changes, it will probably be simpler to do this on a sandbox page, and then replace the whole article. If you would like to help, please go here and dive right in! (At the moment, though, all that is there is a replica of the original page.) Tim Ross (talk) 13:02, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

I've just replaced the old article with an expanded version. Very little has been deleted, other than a couple of schools whose existence I was unable to verify. I failed to add the expected "many small schools"; in truth the coverage of the article was excellent. Most of the effort went into reorganizing and adding locations and weblinks. Tim Ross (talk) 20:35, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

"Wikipedia is not a directory of links"

I must disagree with editor ElKevbo's removal of all links to web sites of the individual schools in this list. The rationale provided is "rm links per WP:EL; Wikipedia is not a directory of links". As far as I can determine, this aphorism was coined by that editor. At least it's not to be found in WP:EL. More important, according to WP:EL, one should consider these points when deciding to add a link:

• Is it accessible to the reader?
• Is it proper in the context of the article (useful, tasteful, informative, factual, etc.)?
• Is it a functional link, and likely to continue being a functional link?

In this instance, each listing links directly to the appropriate Wikipedia article, and the addition of a link to each school website is beneficial to the intended user and meets each of these criteria. The article is clearly of more benefit to potential users if it includes the links than if they are deleted. I can see no good reason to remove these links and much value in keeping them. Thus, I am, respectfully, replacing them. Tim Ross (talk) 16:16, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

I respectfully point you to WP:NOTLINK as the primary basis in policy for my removal of the external links. Further, WP:EL states that "Wikipedia's purpose is not to include a comprehensive list of external links related to each topic." --ElKevbo (talk) 16:41, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply, ElKevbo. Yes, WP:NOTLINK is more applicable to your point, under its first category, "Mere collections of external links or Internet directories." This article, however, has never been a mere collection of links, before or after your editing. It is a listing of schools, categorized at two levels, with links to individual Wikipedia articles and (until your edits) links to the schools' websites

With respect to WP:EL, I feel that what is involved here is not "a comprehensive list of external links related to each topic", but rather a single link per topic. That is, of course, arguable, but there seems to be good logic in treating a list differently from a more conventional article. Note that WP:EL also says "Articles about any organization, person, web site, or other entity should link to the official site, if any."

Removal of the external links serves no useful purpose that I can see. They waste little space, do not detract from the prominence of the internal links, and their removal is not actually required by WP:NOTLINK or by WP:EL. Please, may I ask how you believe Wikipedia readers will benefit from the removal of the links to the school's official sites? Tim Ross (talk) 18:17, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

There is a single topic here, what colleges and universities operate in Florida, so WP:EL applies. Most of the schools have their own WP articles, and it is appropriate for each school's official Web site to be linked from it's own article. There is absolutely no reason to duplicate the external links here. In fact, I think that the external links clutter up the page, and don't belong here. -- Donald Albury 19:01, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

As I noted above, Donald, the question of the number of topics is arguable, and you are certainly welcome to think of this as a single listing rather than a listing of single schools. In either case, though, I don't think it is one of the "Mere collections of external links or Internet directories" as referred to in WP:EL. WP:EL does not apply, in my opinion.

As to whether the links "belong" here, I think that should depend upon whether they are useful to the reader of not. Will some readers want to check a school's website immediately, and find it easier to do so from the listing? I believe so. I suppose that the listings do constitute "clutter" if they are not useful, otherwise it is more appropriate to call them information. Tim Ross (talk) 10:16, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

If a reader wants to learn more about a school, they can click on the internal link. There is a consensus, reflected in WP:EL and WP:NOTLINK, that external links are subject to a number of restrictions. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, it is not a guide to college Web sites. -- Donald Albury 10:39, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid that I must continue to disagree. Agreed, "Wikipedia is not a mirror or a repository of links...". This article, with links included, is certainly not a mirror or a repository of links, as each link is usually appropriate to a single item in the article, and each item usually has only one link. The consensus of WP:EL and WP:NOTLINK is not applicable. More to the point is what Wikipedia is. As an online encyclopedia, it serves to transmit information as usefully and helpfully as possible. I assert: 1) the individual links contravene no policy, and 2) they make the article more useful to the reader. Yes, an interested reader can go to the main article for a given school and follow one of the links provided there if they wish, but if all they wish is to check the school's own site, as I suspect is often the case, then there is no need to force extra steps. Tim Ross (talk) 11:54, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

This is an encyclopedia article, not a directory of links, admissions brochure, or college-finding aid for potential students (not putting words in your mouth, Tim, but countering a very common argument and viewpoint). If you'd like to get broader input, it may be useful to post a note at WT:UNI or even WT:EL. --ElKevbo (talk) 13:04, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

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Removed school that is not accredited by any agency recognized in the US

American David Livingstone University of Florida has no accreditation reecognized by the United States. It isn't eligible for student loan dollars; to contact them, you have to email a @gmail email account. Should we be including non-accredited, small "schools" on this list? Praesbene (talk) 22:22, 16 October 2018 (UTC) comment added by 150.176.9.254 (talk) 14:06, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

I quite agree. But I think there are more. deisenbe (talk) 15:02, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

I have since removed everything that wasn't accredited by an agency recognized by the DOE. There are a handful that I have not been able to verify, especially religious schools, because one of the primary religious accreditation agencies does not have a website. Praesbene (talk) 22:22, 16 October 2018 (UTC) comment added by 150.176.9.254 (talk) 20:27, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

Orange Park, Florida

It the book Wie is dat? (1948) (Q73007452) Dutch biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen is described as having studied at Orange Park, Florida in 1938. I can't find other sources that describe an institution of higher learning by that name. Fortis College is a private college in that county today but that didn't exist back then. I would like to make a Wikidata item for this college but only its name is a bit too little to go by. 1Veertje (talk) 08:31, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

@1Veertje: The Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology was located at Orange Park from 1930 to 1965. (see Rumors still abound about Orange Park's 'Monkey Farm') Studying chimps would fit with his interests. - Donald Albury 16:51, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

Now called the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. I've added a bit about it to the Orange Park, Florida article. - Donald Albury 18:51, 15 December 2019 (UTC)