Talk:Northwestern University

A Call to Action

I would like to request that anyone who is a member of the Northwestern community, or even someone who just wants to contribute to the page, do so. This page is way behind (Stanford, Georgetown, Cornell, and especially Duke University to name a few) many peers and it deserves better. This is a call for help. This is a large project and the Northwestern community would appreciate any help possible. Thanks Wikipedians. NU Alum:Robms927 22:19, 29 July 2006 (UTC),

• I'm going to try and go through the NU page over the next few days (and the talk page to see what people are saying) and try to clean stuff up, as well as add some stuff. I'm a rising senior at NU and have lived in Evanston my entire life, so I think I'm up to the task. --Trillian1138 19:20, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Misc.

So instead of adding a million alumni to the list, how about actually adding material of real substance? Look at the wikipedia entries for other schools similar to NU for example. NUFan 11-3-05

(in reference to "Northwestern in fiction") Can we please delete this section? It's entirely stupid and superfluous. Furthermore, this entire 'Northwestern University' definition constituted by this page must have been written by a McCormick alum--it's not well-written at all!

- Harvard, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, and Georgia Tech all have sections like this one. Besides, nothing says "Wikipedia" like stupid and superfluous, and I mean that in the best way possible. Sincerely, the guy who wrote "Northwestern in fiction"

Requested move

• Northwestern → Northwestern (disambiguation) … Rationale: So that a search for "Northwestern" is redirected to Northwestern University but the disambiguations of the term “Northwestern” will still exist and will be accessible through a dablink at the top of Northwestern University. Please see Stanford as an example. … Please share your opinion at Talk:Northwestern. —Robms927 18:11, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Northwestern Sports

Northwestern has some great Wiki sports pages such as Northwestern Wildcats football and Northwestern Wildcats. Don't you think we should try and combine some of this information, or at least make it easier to get to the good Northwestern football page through a dablink or something? I mean, our current sports section is pretty weak.

P.S. The schools colors are purple AND WHITE (http://www.northwestern.edu/logo/guidelines.html). Robms927. 27-July-2006

Traditions

I'm moving everything concerning NU traditions under this heading - there are, like, 4 different threads all over the Talk page. --Trillian1138 19:24, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Inaccurate / erroneous traditions

As an NU student myself, I'm surprised by some of these traditions: 1. No one throws marshmallows at football games. 2. No one participates in the Primal Scream, so far as I know. I've never heard screaming at 9 p.m. Sunday before finals week, nor have I ever screamed at that time. 3. The Halloween chemistry demonstrations are fun, but not what the article makes them out to be. They're put on by chemistry demonstrator Eberhard Zwergel. To my knowledge, no other professors participate. Neither do "musicians, dancers, and members of the NU Marching Band."

I plan on removing these items from the list of traditions, unless someone corrects me on any of it. Nicefriend 04:09, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

To my knowledge:

1. Right on. How about a mention of the fight song(s) and The Growl? 2. I've never been to the Primal Scream, but I've seen mention of it around. Do they still do the Primal Streak? They tried to get it started for a few years when I was there. 3. Prof. Eberhard does the demonstration, and members of NUMB do participate.

yEvb0 20:32, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

1. Agreed. 2. Primal Scream exists but nobody does it. I haven't heard of anybody doing a Primal Streak. 3. The Halloween shows are fun but are in no way on the level of traditions like The Rock.

• Primal Scream is a rumor anymore. If no one does it, does it really still exist?

3. Not only do members of NUMB participate, but in 2004 so did the Lady Cats a northwestern Dance organization. The Northwestern Marching Band, has been known in the past to attend some of his demonstraitions. -- 18:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Primal Streak, yes *** Primal Scream, no

I publish college guidebooks for over 200 universities in the U.S. All of the guidebooks are written by students currently enrolled in these universities. In our most recent edition of the Northwestern book, many students had stories about the "primal streak". Here is what actually goes on these days...

Though other schools participate in Primal Scream, Northwestern students mark the beginning of finals week with Primal Streak – when a group runs scantily clad or naked from the Technological Institute to the Arch.

from the College Prowler guidebook, Northwestern University - Off the Record

On Primal Scream

Not sure where you guys have been living, but Primal Scream definitely is observed quarterly. I participated last night at 9pm, along with enough students to be heard throughout Evanston... maybe it happens more noticeably in the dorms. -- (unknown user)

I have lived on North Campus my entire college career so far, and I haven't heard people do it. But some South Campus friends say that it's done down there? --TheBoompsy 21:42, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

I lived in Elder Hall, Lincoln, and Slivka - and all nine quarters I was on campus we did Primal Scream (not streak) so loudly that Benton Harbor probably heard us. That said, streaking probably happened in conjunction; I was just too busy screaming to notice. --nickd

I also have heard the Primal Scream every quarter. It's definitely done.

Agreed that Primal Scream is still done. I graduated in 2005, lived off-campus by Church, and heard it almost every quarter... In other words, it's noticable. Perhaps it's a South campus thing? 71.234.216.249 20:10, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Traditions...

I attended NU in the late 80's, and I think perhaps the writer of the submission did, too. Primal Screams were a fixture during finals, and marshmallows were a part of every home game. When Gary Barnett was football coach (Rose Bowl year) he banned marshmallows because they supposedly detracted from the serious level of football that he wanted for the school. I hope this helps with the confusion!

Thanks! It would probably be nice to include these traditions, even if they aren't observed currently. Should this be a separate section? yEvb0 16:34, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

I've never heard of the marshmellows (but then again I don't really attend the games), but at least in the Foster-Walker Complex, Primal Scream definitely goes on each quarter. It's especially loud in the courtyards.199.74.101.26 23:52, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Halloween Chemistry Shows

Should we add this to traditions? I know that it's recent, but it's done every year... I graduated a year ago, but I'm sure it'll be done this fall too. 71.234.216.249 20:15, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Saying the same thing twice

Considering the current listing doesn't mention undergraduate, but rather doctoral, it is a bit misleading. Agriculture 03:11, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

The 2006 U.S. News college rankings removed the word doctoral and now simply call the category top national universities. Nicefriend 05:38, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Clarification on Noah Wyle

Noah Wyle never attended Northwestern University as an undergraduate; he attended a summer theater program (known in the NU community as the "Cherub" program) after his junior year of high school.

Under "infamous," one might put Arthur Butz, the NU professor of engineering who (much to NU's chagrin and embarrassment) espouses Holocaust denial. He is kept on a tight leash by the university and does not espouse his theories in his engineering classes, but he is a leader in the Holocaust denier-community.

One might also put Dr. Hammesfahr (of Terri Schiavo fame) as an infamous alumni. He was a graduate of their 6-year Honors Program in Medical Education (HPME), in which a student completes both BA and MD in 6 years. Northwestern's head of neurology has indicated that Hammesfahr's conduct and website are a disgrace, and it was rumored that Northwestern was preparing a statement to distance themselves from his professional activities.

Website ideas

Does anyone have any suggestions about adding another section on the page about "Campus overview"? I saw this on a few other pages and it had some good information about the college. Also, it would be nice to have a complete Northwestern University page to compare to the other bigger schools. Keppy 20:26, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I think we should definitely include an overview of the campus. The north/south "divide." Description of the lake front, important buildings etc. Also, we could probably include some more pictures! Alumni - 2-16-06

People who edit this page

Guys and gals who edit this page, I like it where it is right now, but we need to make it better! If we all continue to work on it, we can make it much more complete and professional looking. Keppy 04:32, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

School color

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/nu_colors.pdf

“Hail to Black! Hail to Gold! Hail to thee, Northwestern!”

By Patrick M. Quinn, University Archivist Reprinted from the Northwestern Memo, December 1979, p. 9

Hail to Black? Hail to Gold? Not at Northwestern, you say. Not now, of course. Everyone knows that Northwestern’s colors are purple and white even if they don’t know the lyrics of the University’s Alma Mater.

But it wasn’t always so. In fact it’s not so now. Northwestern only has one official color, royal purple. This has been the case since 1892, despite the fact that with the passage of time, tradition has firmly established white as a de facto if not de jure official color.

Had it not been for the fact that black and gold had been adopted by other universities, the Norris Center Bookstore might well today be stocking beer mugs and other paraphernalia in those two auspicious colors. The decision to scrap black and gold as NU’s colors was made almost exactly 100 years ago, in 1879. Why was it made?

The original impetus for colleges and universities to adopt official colors evolved as a consequence of the flourishing of intercollegiate athletics during the decade immediately following the Civil War. Indeed it was only with the development of football as a major sport in the 1870s that students at Northwestern felt compelled to select a University color to distinguish themselves and their teams on the fields of play.

It seems that in the fall of 1879, following the lead of many Eastern universities, a committee chose black and gold as NU’s official colors since its membership was unable to agree upon a single color.

Shortly thereafter it was discovered that other schools had preempted those colors, and the Northwestern committee met again and selected purple and gold in their place. For the next 13 years Northwestern teams went forward under purple and gold banners until 1892, when another University committee reduced the official color to just royal purple, apparently in emulation of the custom adopted at various of the prestigious Eastern universities.

Gold continued to be used in concert with purple on academic regalia, but sometime shortly after 1892 white became the University’s second (and unofficial) color, and it has been ever since.

Those who have seen the fearsome Black Knights of the Hudson storm onto the field attired in their black and gold uniforms during the Annual Army-Navy football game have had a glimpse of what the scene might have looked like at Dyche Stadium on any Saturday afternoon this autumn had it not been for a momentous decision made by a committee of students 100 years ago.

Without their foresight we would not be singing those glorious words, “Hail to Purple! Hail to White! Hail to thee, Northwestern!”

Hail to Alma Mater
We will sing thy praise forever
All thy sons and daughters
Pledge thee victory and honor
Alma Mater Praise be thine
May thy name forever shine
Hail to purple
Hail to white
Hail to thee Northwestern!

Doggo 19:37, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Sports

I have corrected the spelling of Luis Castillo's and D'Wayne Bates's names. (Yes, it's Luis; yes, it's D'Wayne.) - ZLS 02:50, 3 March 2006

Did someone beef?

Welsh-Ryan Rowdies

Hi. I've been putting together pages for each of the Big Ten's basketball student sections and was wondering if someone would be interested in expanding and maintaining that of the Welsh-Ryan Rowdies. Thanks! --BroadSt Bully 14:09, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

How about some substance?

It's embarrassing how little of this article actually concerns the teaching and research that goes on at Northwestern, in contrast to the surfeit of verbiage (some of it, apparently, inaccurate) on silly "traditions." In the "History" section, rather than a paragraph on the CTA Purple Line (what's historical about that?) why not some information about NU's groundbreaking or controversial academic programs -- such as the founding of the nation's first African Studies center in 1948, the allegations of links between the Traffic Institute and the School of the Americas that trained security forces for right-wing Latin American dictators in the 1980s, or the death penalty project in which research by Medill journalism students led to a moratorium on the death penalty by the state of Illinois. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.3.93.245 (talk • contribs) 16:55, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

No offense, but that's why this is a wiki. If you feel there are important things left out and have even basic knowledge about them, add whatever you can! In the same manner, things you may find "silly" or "non-historical" others found important for whatever reason, and added them. Other people will come along to fill in the details and expand over time; that's how articles grow. This is a group effort! -- SmokeDetector47^{( TALK )} 17:47, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree. At the risk of sounding snippy, why don't you just add the information instead of complaining and not adding the information?--Bolt Vanderhuge 18:12, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

Art History?

According to this article, NU's Art History program is "esteemed." I'll be frank in that beyond History and German, I don't know much about Weinberg departments, but I have heard from more than one person that NU's Art History is abysmal. Anyone else heard this? SmokeDetector47^{( TALK )} 17:47, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

You received bad information. NU's art history department is ranked among the top ten in the US, and has been for over twenty years. 24.2.244.245 00:32, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

• Yes, according to PhDs.org, Northwestern's art history program ranks seventh in the country by reputation, (behind NYU, Columbia, Cal, Harvard, Yale, and Johns Hopkins,) second in number of faculty awards, and first in percentage of faculty awards. In other words, NU's art history is not "abysmal;" on the contrary. Perhaps your friends dislike Northwestern's lack of emphasis on "formalism"--NU's art history dept. has a reputation for emphasizing the socio-political significance of art objects rather than visual analysis... Also, congrats on your German major; that's another one of NU's top depts. LuMas 01:39, 28 July 2006 (UTC)