text:
Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is an American public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near Pineville, Louisiana, under the name Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy. The current LSU main campus was dedicated in 1926, consists of more than 250 buildings constructed in the style of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, and the main campus historic district occupies a 650 acre plateau on the banks of the Mississippi River.

LSU is the flagship university of the state of Louisiana, as well as the flagship institution of the Louisiana State University System. In 2021, the university enrolled over 28,000 undergraduate and more than 4,500 graduate students in 14 schools and colleges. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". LSU operates some 800 sponsored research projects funded by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. LSU is one of eight universities in the United States with dental, law, veterinary, medical, and Master of Business Administration programs.

LSU's athletics department fields teams in 21 varsity sports (nine men's, 12 women's), and is a member of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and the SEC (Southeastern Conference). The university is represented by its mascot, Mike the Tiger.

19th century
Louisiana State University Agricultural and Mechanical College had its origin in several land grants made by the United States government in 1806, 1811, and 1827 for use as a seminary of learning. It was founded as a military academy and is still today steeped in military tradition, giving rise to the school's nickname "The Ole War Skule". In 1853, the Louisiana General Assembly established the Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana near Pineville in Rapides Parish in Central Louisiana. Modeled initially after Virginia Military Institute, the institution opened with five professors and nineteen cadets on January 2, 1860, with Major, later Colonel, William Tecumseh Sherman as superintendent.

The Old LSU Site, the school's original location, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On January 26, 1861, when Louisiana became the fifth state to secede from the Union, Sherman resigned his position after only a year as Superintendent to return north and eventually resume his service in the Union Army. The school closed on June 30, 1861, after the start of the American Civil War. During the war, the university reopened briefly in April 1863 but was closed once again during the Union Army's Red River Campaign. The losses sustained by the institution during the Union occupation were heavy, and after 1863 the seminary remained closed for the remainder of the Civil War. Following the surrender of the Confederates at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, General Sherman donated two cannons to the institution. These cannons had been captured from Confederate forces after the close of the war and had been used during the initial firing upon Fort Sumter in April 1861. The cannons are still displayed in front of LSU's Military Science/Aerospace Studies Building.

The seminary officially reopened its doors on October 2, 1865, only to be burned October 15, 1869. On November 1, 1869, the institution resumed its exercises in Baton Rouge, where it has since remained. In 1870, the name of the institution was officially changed to Louisiana State University.

Louisiana State University Agricultural and Mechanical College was established by an act of the legislature, approved April 7, 1874, to carry out the United States Morrill Act of 1862, granting lands for this purpose. It temporarily opened in New Orleans, June 1, 1874, where it remained until it merged with Louisiana State University in 1877. This prompted the final name change for the university to the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

20th century
In 1905, LSU admitted its first female student, R. O. Davis. She was admitted into a program to pursue a master's degree. The following year, 1906, LSU admitted sixteen female students to its freshman class as part of an experimental program. Before this, LSU's student body was all-male. In 1907, LSU's first female graduate, Martha McC. Read, was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree. After this two year experimental program, the university fully opened its doors to female applicants in 1908, and thus coeducation was born at LSU.

On April 30, 1926, the present LSU campus was formally dedicated, following the school's history at the federal garrison grounds (now the site of the state capitol) where it had been since 1886. Before this, LSU used the quarters of the Institute for the Deaf, Mute, and Blind. Land for the present campus was purchased in 1918, construction started in 1922, and the move began in 1925; however, the move was not completed until 1932. The campus was originally designed for 3000 students but was cut back due to budget problems. After years of enrollment fluctuation, student numbers began a steady increase, new programs were added, curricula and faculty expanded, and a true state university emerged.

In 1928, LSU was a small-time country school that generated little interest or attention in the state. Labeled a "third-rate" institution by the Association of State Universities, the school had only 1800 students, 168 faculty members, and an annual operating budget of $800,000. In 1930, Huey Pierce Long Jr., the governor, began a massive building program to expand the physical plant and add departments.

By 1936, LSU had expanded its facilities and recruited a faculty of 394 professors, a new medical school, more than 6,000 students, and a winning football team. In only eight years, it had risen in size from 88th in the nation to 20th, and it was the 11th largest state university in the nation. Long financed these improvements by arranging for the state to purchase acreage from the old LSU campus, which adjoined the grounds of the new State Capitol building in downtown Baton Rouge. To the consternation of his critics, Long essentially diverted $9 million for LSU's expansion and increased the annual operating budget to $2.8 million.

LSU was hit by scandal in 1939 when James Monroe Smith, appointed by Huey Long as president of LSU, was charged with embezzling a half-million dollars. In the ensuing investigation, at least twenty state officials were indicted. Two committed suicide as the scandal enveloped Governor Richard W. Leche, who received a 10-year federal prison sentence as a result of a kickback scheme. Paul M. Hebert, Dean of LSU's law school at the time, then assumed interim presidency in Smith's place.

During World War II, LSU was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

Although some African-Americans students tried to enroll in LSU in 1946, the university did not admit African-Americans until the 1950s. In 1953 A. P. Tureaud Jr. enrolled under court order, but his enrollment was canceled when a higher court overturned the ruling. His case was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Tureaud returned to LSU in 1956. A classroom building on the LSU campus is named for his father, the late A. P. Tureaud Sr., a noted Civil Rights leader. The federal courts mandated full integration for LSU in 1964. The first African-American graduate of the LSU Law School was New Orleans's first African-American mayor, the late Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial.

In 1969, mandatory ROTC for freshmen and sophomores was abolished; however, LSU continues to maintain Air Force and Army ROTC. In 1978, LSU was named a sea-grant college, the 13th university in the nation to be so designated. In 1992, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved the creation of the LSU Honors College.

21st century
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, LSU accepted an additional 2,300 displaced students from schools in the greater New Orleans area such as Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, and the University of New Orleans. In addition to accepting displaced students, university officials also took on the challenge of housing and managing many hurricane victims, converting the Pete Maravich Assembly Center into a fully functional field hospital. Around 3,000 LSU students volunteered during the months after Katrina, assisting with the administration of medical treatment to some 5,000 evacuees and screening another 45,000 for various diseases.

In 2013, F. King Alexander was named President of Louisiana State University.

In fall 2020, LSU broke its record for the most diverse and largest freshman class in history. Of the record 6,690 freshmen, more than 30% identified as students of color, African-Americans made up the most at 16.8%. Additionally, LSU reached its all-time highest enrollment at 34,290 undergraduate and graduate students.

William F. Tate IV was named the new president of the university on May 6, 2021, effective in July. He is the first African-American president in LSU's history and the first African-American president in the SEC.

Sexual misconduct controversies
A November 2020 investigative report in USA Today accused LSU of mishandling sexual misconduct claims against LSU football players. LSU hired Husch Blackwell LLP to review policies in response to the report. Husch Blackwell released a 262-page report in March 2021 confirming the USA Today story, adding that the problems within LSU went far beyond the allegations detailed in the investigation, with many of the problems being widespread across the university. In the fallout of the report, former LSU Tigers football coach Les Miles and former LSU president F. King Alexander were forced to resign from their jobs at the University of Kansas and Oregon State University, respectively.

In February 2021, the US Department of Education announced a formal, federal investigation will be conducted on the university's reported mishandling of sexual misconduct cases; specifically on possible violations of the Clery Act. In April 2021, the Department of Education announced the opening of a second federal investigation where LSU's handling of student complaints of sexual assault and harassment from the 2018–2019 academic year to the present will be analyzed.

Two months later, seven women filed a federal class-action lawsuit against LSU and its leadership based on their inability to report their incidents to the university's Title IX office. The seven women were six former students (three of whom were part of the women's tennis team at LSU and two of whom were student employees in the football recruiting office) and one current student. In June 2021, football coach Ed Orgeron was added as a defendant to the Title IX lawsuit, alleging that Orgeron was aware of and failed to report the rape allegation of former running back Derrius Guice.

LSU's Assistant Athletic Director of Football Recruiting and Alumni Relations, Sharon Lewis, also filed a $50 million federal lawsuit against the university for years of harassment for her attempts to report sexual misconduct allegations against players, coaches, and athletic officials. In January 2022, Lewis' legal team alleged that the university had violated Louisiana's whistleblower law, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines, and Title IX as Lewis was fired in retaliation for her lawsuit. In July 2022, the trial date for Lewis' lawsuit was scheduled for May 22, 2023, while the joint lawsuit filed by the LSU students was scheduled for June 26, 2023. In December 2023, a federal jury dismissed all the claims in Lewis' lawsuit.

In October 2023, as a result of federal lawsuit linked to LSU's tennis program, a judge sanctioned the university due to the data of university-issued phones that once belonged to former tennis coaches, Julia and Michael Sell, being deleted after they left the school. Both coaches were accused of failing to act on reports of sexual assaults they received from students which were communicated electronically.

Corporate influence on research controversy
An April 2024 investigative report co-published in The Guardian and The Lens, a non-profit newsroom in New Orleans, found that LSU gave corporations robust powers to review and influence academic research and coursework at the university in exchange for donations.

Records show that the university granted Shell a seat on the board of the LSU Institute for Energy Innovation, including the right to vote on the Institute's research activities and to review study output, following a donation by Shell of $25 million in 2022, and that LSU's fundraising arm, the LSU Foundation, circulated a boilerplate document offering similar privileges to other companies in exchange for a $5 million investment in the Institute.

The university also offered "strategic partner"-level privileges, which included voting rights on research activities at the Institute, in exchange for at least a $1.25 million investment, with ExxonMobil becoming the Institute's first "strategic partner"-level donor and at least eight other companies having discussed similar deals with LSU, according to a "Partnership Update" that LSU sent to ExxonMobil in August 2023.

Records also show that a representative from Shell helped to shape the curriculum of the six courses under the Institute's Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage concentration, as well as representatives from BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil.

Former LSU journalism professor Robert Mann labeled the ability of oil companies to vote on research agendas "an egregious violation of academic freedom," and Jane Patton, an LSU alumna and US Fossil Economy Campaign Manager at the Center for International Environmental Law, referred to the practice as "a gross misuse of the public trust.”

In response, Brad Ives, the director of LSU Institute for Energy Innovation, defended the partnerships, characterizing the claim that "having corporate funding for research damages the integrity of that research" as being "a little far-fetched," and arguing that what the Institute is doing is no different from similar institutes across the US.

History

The LSU campus sits on 1,000 acres (8.1 km2) just south of downtown Baton Rouge. Most of the university's 250 buildings, most of which were built between 1925 and 1940, occupy a 650-acre (2.6 km2) plateau on the banks of the Mississippi River.

The Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, designed the current campus around 1921 when LSU was planning to move its campus from downtown Baton Rouge. The firm originally designed the campus for up to 3,000 students, but state officials asked the firm to scale the plan back due to budgetary constraints; subsequently, the new plan presented to the state by the Olmsted Brothers centered the campus around a cruciform quadrangle similar to the one on campus today.

For unknown reasons, the Olmsted Brothers firm was dropped from the project, and an architect named Theodore Link, who was well known for designing Union Station in St. Louis, Missouri, took over the campus master plan. Link collaborated with Wilbur Tyson Trueblood on the project but remained faithful to the campus the Olmsted firm had designed. Unfortunately, Link died in 1923 before the plan was completed. New Orleans architects Wogan and Bernard completed Link's work and the campus was dedicated on April 30, 1926.

The first building constructed on the present campus was the Swine Palace, the former livestock barn that is now the Reilly Theater. Most of the buildings that occupy the university's Quad were completed between 1922 and 1925.

Under Huey Long, the governor from 1928 to 1932, LSU "more than doubled its enrollment despite the Great Depression; its standing had risen to Grade A; dormitories and buildings for departments of music, dramatic arts, and physical education had been completed; other buildings were soon to start, and costs of attendance had been lowered within the reach of many."

Because the original campus was designed to accommodate 1,500 students, space is now at a premium at LSU. During the 1990s, LSU officials created a set of design guidelines that call for all newly- constructed buildings to have an Italian Renaissance flavor.

Architecture and landscape
Although the Olmsted firm had originally envisioned a Spanish or Mexican style design for the university, Link designed the campus with tan stucco walls, red-tiled rooftops, and extensive porticoes in an attempt to emulate the architecture of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The design of Hill Memorial Library was loosely based on the Boston Public Library, which was the first public library in the U.S. The flanking academic buildings that formed the rest of the Quad represented the major disciplines at the university, and their placement was modeled after buildings on the University of Virginia's campus, which was designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Nine LSU buildings, including the library and the academic buildings for dairying and physics, were constructed by George A. Caldwell, a native of Abbeville. Caldwell designed twenty-six public buildings in Louisiana. The campus is known for the 1,200 live oak trees that shade the ground of the university. During the 1930s, landscape artist Steele Burden planted many live oaks and magnolia trees, which are now valued at over $50 million. Many of the azaleas, crepe myrtles, ligustrum, and camellias planted in the quadrangle were added to the campus in the 1970s. Through the LSU Foundation's "Endow an Oak" program, individuals and groups can endow live oaks across the university's campus.

Historic District
Fifty-seven resources on the LSU campus were listed in the 95 acre Louisiana State University Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 1988. Forty-six of the enlisted resources were considered contributing buildings and structures.

The campus is protected by the State Capital Historic District Legislation.

The LSU Campus Mounds, which are part of a larger mound group spread throughout the state, are near the northwestern corner of the campus and were built an estimated 5,000 years ago. They were individually enlisted in the National Register of Historic Places on March 1, 1999.

Campus housing
On-campus housing options include on-campus apartments (East Campus Apartments, West Campus Apartments, Edward Gay and Nicholson Gateway Apartments), Annie Boyd Hall, Evangeline Hall, the Agricultural Residence College, the Engineering Residential College, the Business Residential College, Broussard, Acadian, Beauregard, Blake, Cypress, Herget, Highland, Jackson, LeJeune, McVoy, Miller, Taylor, East Laville, and West Laville.

Other campuses
Other Louisiana State University campuses include the LSU Agricultural Center, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, LSU of Alexandria, LSU Shreveport, LSU Eunice, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport.

The University of New Orleans was a member of Louisiana State University from 1958 until 1963 as LSUNO and under its own name from 1974 until 2011, when it was transferred to the University of Louisiana System by the Louisiana Legislature.

In addition, LSU owns and operates the J. Bennett Johnston Sr. Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD), which is a 1.3 GeV synchrotron radiation facility.

Undergraduate admissions
The 2022 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes LSU-Baton Rouge as "more selective". For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), LSU received 36,561 applications and accepted 25,907 (70.9%). Of those accepted, 7,045 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 27.2%. LSU's freshman retention rate is 82.9%, with 69% going on to graduate within six years.

The enrolled first-year class of 2025 had the following standardized test scores: the middle 50% range (25th percentile-75th percentile) of SAT scores was 1130–1300, while the middle 50% range of ACT scores was 23–29.

Rankings

Louisiana State University is ranked 185th in the national universities category and 101st among public universities by the 2023 U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. colleges. LSU is also ranked as the 192nd best overall university in the nation by Forbes magazine in 2019. Additionally, in 2009, U.S. News & World Report ranked LSU as the 16th most popular university in the nation among high school students.

Programs that have received recognition within LSU include the following:
 * The university's Robert S. Reich School of Landscape Architecture has been consistently ranked among the best undergraduate and graduate programs by DesignIntelligence for "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools". The journal has ranked the school in the top five since 2004.
 * The E. J. Ourso College of Business has two professional programs ranked by U.S. News & World Report: in 2015, the Public Administration Institute ranked 73rd nationally according to the magazine, and the Flores MBA program was ranked 65th nationally. Additionally,
 * LSU students have won the International Student High Achievement Award, an accolade given to students who score the highest possible score on the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) exam, seventeen times during the last twenty-one years.
 * In 2007, the Flores MBA Program was ranked seventh in the nation "for attracting corporate MBA recruiters who recruit regionally" by The Wall Street Journal.
 * The LSU College of Engineering undergraduate program was ranked 91st by U.S. News & World Report, while the graduate program was ranked 94th.
 * The Paul M. Hebert Law Center is ranked as the 75th best law school in the nation by the 2010 U.S. News Rankings of Best Law Schools. LSU law graduates have the highest first-time bar passage rate in Louisiana.
 * In 2009, Entrepreneur magazine ranked LSU among the top 12 Entrepreneurial Colleges and Universities in the nation.
 * The LSU College of Education graduate program was ranked 86th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
 * The LSU French program, comprising the Department of French Studies and the Center for French and Francophone Studies, is recognized by the Cultural Services office of the French Ambassador to the United States as a centre d'excellence, an honor given to only 15 university French programs in the United States, and is ranked as one of the top 20 undergraduate French programs in the nation.
 * The LSU graduate program in fine arts is ranked 62nd in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
 * The LSU graduate program in library and information studies is ranked 27th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
 * The LSU School of Social Work is ranked 79th in the nation by the 2015 U.S. News & World Report.
 * The LSU College of Science is the top producer of African American Ph.D. graduates and women graduates in chemistry in the United States.
 * The LSU College of Science is the top producer of African American Ph.D. graduates and women graduates in chemistry in the United States.

Libraries
LSU's main library collection, numbering almost three million volumes, is housed in the Library on the main quadrangle of the university. It is both a general use library and a U.S. Regional Federal Depository Library, housing publications from the federal government, United Nations, and United States Patent and Trademark Office. The LSU Libraries belong to the Association of Research Libraries, which includes the top 127 academic libraries in the U.S. and Canada; the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL); Lyrasis; and the Louisiana Academic Library Information Network Consortium (LALINC). LSU was among the founding members of LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, which provides access to most academic library catalogs in the state. The LSU Libraries' subject strengths include Louisiana materials, sugar culture and technology, Southern history, agriculture, petroleum engineering, plant pathology, natural history, and various aspects of aquaculture including crawfish, wetlands research, and marine biology.

LSU Libraries' U.S. Regional Depository Library and the U.S. Patent Depository Library collections are housed in the Main Library. The Library has been a depository for federal government publications since 1907 and has a substantial number of U.S. documents issued before and after that time. The Library became a Regional Depository Library in 1964. The Library was designated as an official depository for U.S. Patents in 1981. The patent collection includes all patents issued from 1871 to the present.

The LSU Libraries Special Collections in Hill Memorial Library provides a center for research in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. The primary strength of Special Collections resides in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, an outstanding integrated collection of materials that document the region's history and culture. It provides rare and early imprints about the exploration and colonization of the region; books on Louisiana subjects; books by Louisiana authors; Louisiana state documents; extensive manuscript collections, which include the personal papers of important individuals in the region's history, including the Long family; records of business, professions, and organizations; and extensive photographic collections. Its collections of rare books, dating back to the fifteenth century, number more than 80,000 volumes and include the E. A. McIlhenny Natural History Collection, which contains many important works in the history of ornithological and botanical illustration, including John James Audubon's Birds of America, Margaret Stones's Flora of Louisiana, and books by Edward Lear, John Gould, Mark Catesby, and Sir Joseph Banks.

Ella V. Aldrich Schwing was librarian at LSU, a member of the faculty of the LSU Library School, and a member of the LSU Board of Supervisors. She donated funds for an annual lecture titled, The LSU Libraries Schwing Lecture Series, which began in 1965. Lecturers included Martha Boaz, Ching-chih Chen, John Y. Cole, Richard M. Dougherty, Edward G. Holley, Judith Krug, Clifford Lynch, James G. Neal, Carl Howard Pforzheimer Jr, Benjamin E. Powell and Robert Wedgeworth.

In June 2020, the LSU Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to remove Troy H. Middleton's name from the university's main library. The decision came amid student protests concerning the racist past of former LSU President Troy H. Middleton, after whom the Library was named. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards supported the decision, stating that "[Black] LSU students shouldn't be asked to study in a library bearing the name of someone who didn't want them to be LSU students."

The unnamed LSU Main Library is prominently in disrepair and is under consideration to be demolished. The library's upper floors collections are covered with a plastic tarp to prevent ceiling leaks from damaging books and the basement is prone to flooding.

Museums
The LSU campus houses eight museums that feature original works by students as well as traveling exhibits by local, national, and international artisans. In addition to the campus museums, LSU runs four museums in the greater Baton Rouge area: The LSU Museum of Art, The LSU Museum of Natural History, The LSU Museum of Natural Science, and the LSU Rural Life Museum.

LSU Museum of Art
The LSU Museum of Art (LSU MOA), in the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge, opened in March 2005. The museum manifests a decade-long vision to offer LSU and the Baton Rouge community greater access to its diverse art collection, changing exhibitions, education programs, and special events. The LSU MOA shares the Shaw Center for the Arts with many cultural partners including the LSU School of Art Gallery, LSU's Laboratory for Creative Arts and Technology, the Manship Theatre, and the Community School for the Arts of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.

LSU MOA first opened in 1962 under the name of The Anglo-American Art Museum in the Memorial Tower on LSU's Baton Rouge campus. The museum and its collection were established through a donation to LSU in 1959 from an anonymous supporter, to research British and continental influences on early American art and culture in the South. The museum's significant collection of American and British portraiture, furniture, and decorative arts grew from this foundation.

LSU Museum of Natural Science
The LSU Museum of Natural Science was founded in 1936, when its first director, George H. Lowery Jr., assembled a few study specimens of birds in a classroom in Audubon Hall. Since its move to Murphy J. Foster Hall in 1950, the museum has continued to expand and is currently one of the nation's largest natural history museums, with holdings of over 2.5 million specimens. As the only comprehensive research museum in the south-central United States, the LSU Museum of Natural Science fulfills a variety of scientific and educational roles at the university, including the generation of new knowledge in the fields of zoology, archaeology, and paleontology through scholarly research based primarily on natural history collections; collection and preservation of research specimens as a resource for study of the Earth's natural history; education of graduate and undergraduate students in academic areas that are most effectively taught in the museum setting; education of the public using exhibits and lecture programs; and assistance to local citizens, wildlife officials, and forensic specialists through identification and consultation services.

LSU Rural Life Museum
The LSU Rural Life Museum has been listed as one of the top outdoor museums in the country. The variety of people who settled in Louisiana made significant and lasting contributions to the state's unique culture and heritage. It is one of the few museums that celebrate the day-to-day lives of early Americans, including Native Americans, French and Spanish settlers, Anglo-Americans, Germans, Africans, and Acadians. The Rural Life Museum features several displays and exhibits on the pre-industrial residents of Louisiana. The permanent collection includes tools, utensils, furniture, and farming equipment. The recreated "working plantation" consists of a complex of buildings authentically furnished to reconstruct all the major activities of life on a typical 19th-century plantation. The museum also serves as a research facility for LSU students engaged in heritage conservation studies.

Louisiana Museum of Natural History
In 1999, the sixteen natural history collections at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge were designated by the state legislature as the Louisiana Museum of Natural History. Together, these collections hold more than 2.8 million specimens, objects, and artifacts that document Louisiana's rich natural history. These collections are dispersed among six independently administered units on campus, and include the Vascular Plant Herbarium, the Mycological Herbarium, the Lichen Herbarium, the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, the Palynology Collection, the Mineralogy and Petrology Collections, the Textile and Costume Museum, the Louisiana Geological Survey Log Library and Core Repository, and, within the LSU Museum of Natural Science, the Collection of Amphibians and Reptiles, the Collection of Birds, the Collection of Fishes, the Collection of Genetic Resources, the Collection of Mammals, the Vertebrate Paleontology Collection, the Collection of Microfossils and Invertebrates, and the Anthropological and Ethnological Collections.

Organizations

There are over 350 student organizations currently active at LSU, including a student government and a total of 36 fraternities and sororities. LSU Student Government, sometimes referred to as LSU SG, is the official student government association of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. It is the voice of the LSU student body on matters ranging from university administration to parking and transportation. In addition to the roles of advising and advocating, SG controls approximately $5.5 million of student and state funding each year to support student initiatives such as the LSU Student Technology Fee, student organization support through PSIF, ORF, and other funding programs, the Coca-Cola fund for new initiatives, and the SG Newspaper Initiative that provides free copies of The Advocate, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. The LSU Corps of Cadets is one of the oldest student organizations on campus. LSU also has an active Society of American Archivists student chapter.

Much like the United States Government, the LSU Student Government is divided into three major branches; Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. LSU SG is headed by the student body president and the student body vice president, elected to office during the spring semester of each academic year. A College Council system is also established to designate members of SG to the duties of representing specific academic colleges. Additionally, a Student Union Board representative is elected each spring to represent student interests and oversee programs, events, and regulations of the LSU Student Union.

Media
The Reveille, the university's student newspaper, has operated since 1887. It publishes twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays during the fall and spring semesters, and once a week on Monday in the summer semester. The paper has a circulation of 11,000 or more. The Reveille, which is funded by advertising and student fees, employs more than 80 students each semester in jobs ranging from writing and editing to design and illustration. The Daily Reveille was recognized for its outstanding coverage in the 2002–2003 school year with a Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, the highest award granted to student publications in the United States. Princeton Review named The Daily Reveille as the 12th best college newspaper in the nation in its 2008 edition of The Best 361 Colleges. The Daily Reveille won the Editor & Publisher award, or EPpy, in 2008 for best college newspaper Web site. The Society of Professional Journalists named The Reveille "Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper" in its 2012 Mark of Excellence awards.

KLSU is an FCC-licensed non-commercial educational (NCE) college radio station, public broadcasting with 5,000 watts of power at 91.1 on the FM dial. Radio on the LSU campus began in 1915 when Dr. David Guthrie, a physics professor, patched together a radio transmitter from spare parts. Call letters KFGC were assigned in the early 1920s. In 1924 the station covered the first football game played in Tiger Stadium and thus provided the first broadcast of a football game in the South. In the 1950s, it switched to FM and became the first educational station in the country to broadcast a college opera. And in the 1990s, it was the first college station to stream audio on the Net. The station is on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a format of college alternative music and specialty programming. All programming and operations are managed by the student staff.

Broadcasting on campus cable channel 75, Tiger TV shares its production equipment and facilities with the Manship School of Mass Communication and is one of the most modern student television stations in the country.

Greek life
The Greek community at Louisiana State University is composed of 37 organizations, governed by three councils. These groups work together with University, local, and national affiliates to help achieve the goals and ideals their organizations were founded upon. In the 2006–2007 academic year, Greek organizations at LSU contributed over 50,000 hours and $250,000 to community and philanthropic efforts. Students in the LSU Greek community are also active in many areas on campus, outside of their fraternity or sorority. Greek students are active in over 80 student organizations, including Student Government and various honor societies. In celebration of Greek Week during 2008, the LSU Greek community raised over $117,000 and built two houses for Habitat for Humanity. In 2019, 16% of undergraduate men and 27% of undergraduate women were active in LSU's Greek system.

Publications

 * LSU Press is a nonprofit book publisher dedicated to the publication of scholarly, general interest, and regional books. It publishes approximately 80 titles per year and continues to garner national and international accolades, including four Pulitzer Prizes. John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces is among its best-known publications.
 * Southern Review is a literary journal published by LSU. It was co-founded in 1935 by three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robert Penn Warren, who served as U.S. Poet Laureate and wrote the classic novel All the King's Men, and renowned literary critic of the New Criticism school, Cleanth Brooks. It publishes fiction, poetry, and essays, with an emphasis on southern culture and history.
 * Legacy is a student-run magazine that publishes a variety of feature-length stories. In both 2001 and 2005, it was named the best student magazine in the nation by the Society of Professional Journalists.
 * LSU RESEARCH magazine informs readers about university research programs.
 * Apollo's Lyre is a poetry and fiction magazine published each semester by the Honors College.
 * LSU Alumni Magazine is a quarterly which focuses on Alumni success and current University news sent out to alumni everywhere.
 * Gumbo is the university's yearbook, which may be purchased.
 * LSU Today magazine keeps faculty and staff updated with university news.
 * New Delta Review is a literary quarterly funded by LSU that publishes a wide range of fiction, poetry, and interviews from new, up-and-coming, and established writers.

Athletics
LSU fields teams in 21 varsity sports (9 men's, 12 women's), and is a member of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and the Southeastern Conference.

The 9 men's teams compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The 12 women's teams compete in basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and volleyball.

The athletics department official nickname is Fighting Tigers, Tigers, or Lady Tigers.

National championships
LSU has won 52 team national championships,(most in the SEC) 45 of which were bestowed by the NCAA, tying for sixth all-time in total NCAA team national championships. The five football titles were not conferred by the NCAA, as it does not award college football national championships at the Division I-FBS level.

 * Baseball – (7): 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009, 2023
 * Women's Basketball – (1): 2023
 * Men's Basketball – (1): 1935 (pre-NCAA; defeated Pittsburgh in an arranged game)
 * Boxing – (1): 1949
 * Football – (4): 1958, 2003, 2007, 2019
 * Men's golf – (5): 1940, 1942, 1947, 1955, 2015
 * Men's indoor track and field – (2): 2001, 2004
 * Women's indoor track and field – (11): 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004
 * Men's outdoor track and field – (5): 1933, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2021
 * Women's outdoor track and field – (14): 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2012 (vacated)
 * Women's gymnastics – (1): 2024

Facilities
LSU's stadiums, arenas and courses include Tiger Stadium ("Death Valley") (football), Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field (baseball), Bernie Moore Track Stadium (outdoor track), Carl Maddox Field House (indoor track), Highland Road Park (cross country), LSU Natatorium (swimming and diving), LSU Soccer Stadium (soccer), LSU Tennis Complex (tennis), Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC) (basketball, gymnastics, volleyball), Tiger Park (softball) and University Club of Baton Rouge (golf).

LSU's academic center and practice facilities include the LSU Academic Center for Student-Athletes, Charles McClendon Practice Facility (football), LSU Football Operations Center (football), LSU Indoor Practice Facility (football), LSU Basketball Practice Facility (basketball) and LSU Gymnastics Training Facility (gymnastics).

Tiger Stadium

Although originally nicknamed "Deaf Valley" for its excruciating levels of sound, the nickname "Death Valley" caught on instead. It is legendary for the crowd noise generated by fans. It is the sixth-largest college football stadium in the nation and third-largest stadium in the SEC, holding 102,321 fans after its latest expansion in 2014. The Tiger Stadium atmosphere is generally considered one of the loudest and most electrifying college football experiences in the country. During a nationally televised game against Auburn in 2003, ESPN recorded a noise level of 117 decibels at certain points in the game. In 2007 when the No. 1 ranked Tigers played the No. 9 ranked Florida Gators, the noise level registered at 122 decibels when the Tigers made a come-from-behind win in the final minutes of the game.

A similar sound level resulted in the legendary "Earthquake Game" against Auburn in 1988. LSU won 7–6 when quarterback Tommy Hodson completed a game-winning touchdown pass to running back Eddie Fuller in the waning seconds of the game. The crowd's roar registered on a seismograph, shaking the ground as much as a small earthquake. This reached a magnitude of 4.7.

Rivals
Rivals include the traditional intra-SEC West rivals the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Ole Miss Rebels,and the SEC East rival Florida Gators (designated under the SEC's inter-division "designated rival" format). LSU and Arkansas play annually in football, alternating sites between Baton Rouge and Fayetteville (Little Rock from 1994 through 2010). The winner of the game is awarded the "Golden Boot", a gold-plated trophy formed in the shape of the two states. The game was played the Friday after Thanksgiving in 1992, and every year between 1996 and 2013, except 2009, but starting in 2014, the SEC separated LSU and Arkansas on the final weekend of the regular season. The Tigers now play Texas A&M on the final weekend of the regular season, while Arkansas plays Missouri.

LSU and in-state rival Tulane Green Wave battle for the "Tiger Rag", a flag divided evenly between the colors of the two schools. This rivalry was recently suspended after a payout from LSU.

The LSU-Ole Miss game, known as the Magnolia Bowl (a name selected by the student bodies of both schools) has become more formalized over the years, with a large trophy and a large traveling fanbase for both teams present each year. The LSU-Florida rivalry also has major importance as the two schools won three football national championships between 2006 and 2008 (Florida in 2006 and 2008; LSU in 2007). The LSU-Alabama rivalry has become very important in recent years due to the Nick Saban becoming the Coach of Alabama and the two teams' dominance of the SEC's West Division and their matchup in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game (the only time the standalone game featured two teams from the same conference).

Mascot

LSU Athletics is represented by its mascot, a live Bengal tiger named Mike the Tiger. LSU is only one of two institutions of higher education in the United States to have a live tiger as their mascot; the other is the University of Memphis. The tiger was named after Mike Chambers, LSU's athletic trainer in 1936, and was bought for $750 from the Little Rock Arkansas Zoo. Mike V reigned from 1990 to 2007 and remained housed in his on-campus habitat until his death due to kidney failure on May 18, 2007, at age 17. Mike VI was an 11-year-old, 500 lb tiger acquired from an Indiana big cat sanctuary. Previously known as Roscoe, "Mike VI" is a Bengal-Siberian mix and was officially named Mike on September 8, 2007. He was introduced to fans at the home game against Florida on October 6, 2007. In 2017, LSU officially introduced Mike VII, formerly named "Harvey".

In 2005, a new $3 million Mike the Tiger Habitat was created for Mike between Tiger Stadium and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Its amenities include lush plantings, a waterfall, a flowing stream that empties into a wading pond, and rocky plateaus. The habitat has, as a backdrop, an Italianate tower – a campanile – that creates a visual link to the Italianate architectural vernacular of LSU's campus.

Alma mater
The "LSU Alma Mater" was written in 1929 by Lloyd Funchess and Harris Downey, two students who developed the original song and music because LSU's first alma mater was sung to the tune of "Far Above Cayuga's Waters" and was used by Cornell University. The band plays the "Alma Mater" during pregame and at the end of each home football game.

Fight song
"Fight for LSU" is LSU's official fight song. During LSU football games, it is played when the team runs onto the field, after the field goal or extra point is attempted/scored and at the end of each half (though at the end of the first half a recording is played since the band is already on the sidelines and unable to perform it live). Contrary to popular belief, the song "Hey Fightin' Tigers" is not LSU's fight song, however, it is a staple at pep rallies and is often sung by fans before games and after wins.

Louisiana State University Lab School
The university operates the Louisiana State University Laboratory School, a Kindergarten through 12 public school. The school was established by the College of Education of Louisiana State University and has operated under its auspices for over eighty years. This coeducational school exists as an independent system to provide training opportunities for pre- and in-service teachers and to serve as a demonstration and educational research center. Since the school is part of LSU, students are required to pay tuition. The school is on the main campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. LSU Laboratory School was the first International Baccalaureate Diploma Program school in the state of Louisiana and is adopting the complete K–12 program.

Farm

Hill Farm established in 1927 by the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station in order to carry out research horticultural crops as part of Louisiana State University's mission as a land-grant university.

During the 1960s a large part of the Farm's land was reallocated for the construction of sorority houses, as a result, many of the fruit breeding programs had to be moved to other parts of the state. In the 1990s a new student recreation center and playing fields were created on the site of most of the remaining land, the remaining research programs were moved to the Burden Research Plantation. Today five acres of the original Hill Farm remain and used primarily as an agriculture teaching facility and community garden. Individual garden plots are nine by five feet (9' × 5') and may be rented by students, faculty, and the community at large. The price per lot has been deliberately kept low to support the Farm's mission to "provide access to gardening space, education, and resources necessary for the community to grow food in environmentally sustainable ways as a means of creating a food system where locally produced, affordable and nutritious food is available to all, and where the community can come together to share, play, and inspire one another." Although the gardeners are not required to plant certified organic seeds and plants, the Farm requires gardeners to use organic farming methods.

Notable alumni
LSU athletes have gone on to achieve prominence in their respective sports. "Pistol" Pete Maravich played basketball for LSU and was a three-time consensus first-team All-American and 1970 National 'Player of the Year'. Shaquille O'Neal ("Shaq") also played basketball for LSU and received many honors, including being named twice as a first-team Men's Basketball All-American and twice as the SEC Player Of The Year. Billy Cannon played Halfback for LSU and was the first LSU player to win the Heisman Trophy (in 1959), the second being Joe Burrow (in 2019). Cannon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. JaMarcus Russell, Oakland Raiders quarterback number 1 draft pick of 2007. Professional golfer Johnny Pott, five-time winner on the PGA Tour, was a member of the 1955 NCAA winning golf team. Teammates Alex Bregman and Aaron Nola were both 2018 Major League Baseball All-Stars.

LSU alumni have also been active on both the national and international stage in the fields of politics, academia, and the arts. Such notables include Mike Johnson who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since October 2023. James Carville, who was the senior political adviser to Bill Clinton, and Donna Brazile, the campaign manager of the 2000 presidential campaign of Vice-president Al Gore both earned bachelor's degrees. Hubert Humphrey, the 38th vice president of the United States, earned a master's degree in political science before becoming the junior United States senator from Minnesota. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a United States ambassador to the United Nations appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021, earned a BA in 1974. Randy Moffett, president of the University of Louisiana System (ULS) and former president of Southeastern Louisiana University received his Ed.D. from Louisiana State University in 1980. Academy Award-winning actress Joanne Woodward majored in drama during her enrollment at LSU. Author and screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto, creator of True Detective, graduated from LSU with a BA English & Philosophy. Another writer that graduated from LSU was Marcelo Ramos Motta, a noted author on the subject of Thelema. The rock band Better Than Ezra also are LSU graduates.

America's early Space Program benefited from the services of two LSU Graduates. NASA Engineer Maxime Faget was a Naval Reserve Officer and the NASA Engineer responsible for the design of the Mercury Capsule, Apollo Command Module, Capsule Escape Tower System, Mach Meter, and the STS Space Shuttle Orbiter Vehicle and System (STS=Space Transportation System). NASA Pioneer/Founder Walter C. Williams established what is now known as NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, previously known as Muroc Army Station. Williams was directly involved with the Bell X-1 program, "Glamorous Glennis", research flights that led to the first crewed flight exceeding the speed of sound in level flight. Williams was on the Aeronautical Board of NACA and was responsible for hiring many of the "pioneers" of what has now become America's Space Program, NASA. Michael I. Jordan, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley is also an LSU alumnus.

title: Louisiana State University


text:
Caerphilly cheese

Caerphilly is a hard, crumbly white cheese that originated in the area around the town of Caerphilly, Wales. It is thought to have been created to provide food for the local coal miners. The Caerphilly of that period had a greater moisture content, and was made in local farms. At the start of the 20th century, competition for milk in the local area saw production decline, and Caerphilly production was gradually relocated to England.

During the Second World War, production was stopped and diverted to Cheddar in English factories. After the war, those factories began to produce Caerphilly as it was quicker to make than Cheddar, and therefore more profitable. The majority of Caerphilly is now produced in Somerset and Wiltshire. Artisan cheesemakers still make Caerphilly in the pre-war style, and these have been successful at the British Cheese Awards.

History
Caerphilly cheese was originally a moist curd, made in local farms. It has since been replaced with a much drier version produced on an industrial scale. However, there still remain some cheesemakers producing Caerphilly in the old style on an artisan basis. The cheese was originally made to feed the coal miners of the area. It has subsequently been suggested that the salt content of the cheese was required by manual workers, and it can be cut into wedges and does not dry out in the conditions underground. Caerphilly became a centre for cheese production, but over time competing demands for the milk required resulted in production of the cheese moving to England at the start of the 20th century.

Farmhouse Caerphilly production died out during World War II as it did not keep as well as Cheddar from English factories for the war effort. After the war those factories started making their own versions of Caerphilly, which matured very quickly and thus required less financing. Over time, the public forgot the difference between the old and new Caerphilly cheeses.

The majority of mass-produced Caerphilly cheese is now produced in the English counties of Somerset and Wiltshire. There was a resurgence in farmhouse-produced Caerphilly during the 1980s in Wales, as a result of the work of Cenarth Cheese. This originated because milk quotas imposed at the time meant that milk was being thrown away and so Thelma Adams decided to make a business out of producing cheese from the excess milk.

By the late 1990s, there were no cheesemakers in Caerphilly making the cheese for which the town is known. Realising this, Castle Dairies began making the cheese shortly after they opened in the town. Rather than using factory methods, they use the pre-war production techniques by hand. They won a gold and a bronze award at the British Cheese Awards in 2000. Caerphilly cheese was one of nine Welsh products considered by the British Government in July 2015 as candidates for name protection under the Geographical indications and traditional specialities in the European Union rules. It was the only cheese considered as a candidate on the list.

Description
Caerphilly is a light-coloured (almost white) crumbly cheese made from cow's milk, and generally has a fat content of between 45% and 55%. It has a mild taste, with a tang of lemon. A traditional Caerphilly must be made with milk produced by Welsh farms. It can be either pasteurised or unpasteurised, and comes in both organic and non-organic varieties.

It is created by adding rennet to buttermilk, resulting in curd production. This is then formed and cut, before being pressed lightly into a cylindrical mould. These rounds are then submerged in a bath of brine for 24 hours to cause the production of a rind. Rice flour is used to dust the outside of the cheese, resulting in a white colour for the rind. The cheese ripens quickly, in as little as two weeks. The acid production of the cheese is initially slow, but builds up. This and the low temperature used during production mean that the acid naturally dries out the curd, causing the crumbly texture. The cheese is nicknamed "The Crumblies".

Protected status
Traditional Welsh Caerphilly and Traditional Welsh Caerffili are both protected by European Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status.

Reception and legacy
An article in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1987 extolled the virtues of Caerphilly cheese. It described it as having a "mild, salty, buttermilk" flavour and being halfway between ricotta and cheddar.

Bee Wilson, writing for The Daily Telegraph on 9 October 2011, praised the old style of Caerphilly now made by small-scale producers such as Gorwydd Farm. She compared it with French cheeses, calling it "buttery" in comparison to the post-war mass manufactured type which she called "young and flavourless, with the texture of chalk".

The town of Caerphilly holds an annual three-day festival to celebrate the cheese, entitled The Big Cheese (Y Caws Mawr). Also in Caerphilly is a sculpture of a cheese. A best Caerphilly cheese category forms part of the annual British Cheese Awards. In 2004, Gorwydd Caerphilly won both the Caerphilly prize and the overall award for best Traditional British cheese. It was made by brothers Todd and Maugan Trethowan at their family farm in Tregaron, Ceredigion. However, they failed to win the Best Welsh Cheese category.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Caerphilly cheese


text:
User talk:Jtdirl/Archive 8

Excuse me, but in gay pride the part about some people thinking pride is sin and some people thinking that homosexuality is just a social construct is essential!

I remembered your interesting comment on elect vs. appoint on Talk:Adolf Hitler; would you mind adding a few thoughts to Talk:Politics of Germany? Thanks. djmutex 08:29 8 Jul 2003 (UTC)

By the way, your comment is invited at Talk:Droop Quota. I don't know how you feel about going back to the original text for clarification, since things can change over time... Evercat 23:17 8 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I missed the debate. could you point me to it? The last I'd heard, (movie) was added as a disambiguator only if necessary, and it didn't seem necessary. Koyaanis Qatsi

 * My understanding of it was that the disambiguator we decided on was (movie), and that it was added only when there is ambiguity. In this case, there is no other The Towering Inferno, and if there is, then The Towering Inferno should be a disambiguation page, not a redirect.  Koyaanis Qatsi 03:43 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * I have to say I think that proposed system of using (movie) sometimes and (film) sometimes, based on location, seems a bit silly. What about a film directed by Hitchcock, funded by MGM?  (film) or (movie)?  A film directed by Spielberg funded by New Zealand?  ... I think we should decide on one disambiguator and use it.  I don't care which.  Mostly it's been (movie) because that's what we decided way back when (whenever, I don't remember, I dissented but relented).  If we decide that (film) serves it better, I'd be happy to help move them.  But I do think we should use one disambiguator only.  I also don't care whether we use the disambiguator always or only when necessary, but I think we should talk about what to do and then do it, instead of each user just doing his or her own thing.  ^_^  Let's rekindle the debate if necessary.  (assuming we can find it.)  Koyaanis Qatsi 03:52 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * I'm a film buff, and I don't buy it. I think, still, that we should use only one disambiguator.  If it should be film, that's fine with me, I don't care.  I'll help move them.  But I don't expect everyone to know which disambiguator to use, or to care why they should use one and not the other.  Koyaanis Qatsi 04:23 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I thought you might be interested in the opinion poll going on now at Talk:Clitoris. MB 18:05 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)

--- Dear JT- Writers use the passive may be used to good effect in three situations: 1. When the actor is not known. 2. When the actor is commonly known. 3. When the writer does not desire to reveal the actor.

Bad writers use the passive too much. I was shocked to see the poor quality if the writing in the World War II article and made a few corrections.

Of course the "Passive voice is to be avoided" comment is simply an exampleo f the passive voice. Something like a pun.

We Apple people have to stick together.

Now, with three tildies … PaulinSaudi

Have you taken a look at WikiQuote yet? It's only just started and could do with your input -- Jim Regan 02:54 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Claire Short demands our Tony's resignation, when was this? No report on the BBC yet? Mintguy 22:11 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * S'ok I've got it on Ananova - http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_799090.html

 * Hm... just found a video of the interview on the BBC. She used the words... "I think it would be better for his legacy... and the legacy of the party ... if he made a voluntary departure". This is hardly the same as demanding his resignation. I don't have time to change it now, as I'm off to bed. Night. Mintguy 22:23 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Take a closer look at Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, particularly the term of office as stated in the table. -Smack 00:41 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I notice that you just wrote "Prime Minister" as "prime minister" in the article on Iain Duncan Smith. Is that the capitalisation convention you support for the term? I thought you were one of the biggest supporters of the use of Capital Letters around here! -- Oliver P. 05:11 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Hmm... I'm not entirely sure I see why there should be a distinction between "Elizabeth II being queen" and "Elizabeth II being the Queen". Whatever I would do for one I would do for the other. But to be honest, I'm probably inconsistent in what I write in both cases! Certainly if I was talking about "Queen Elizabeth", I'd use upper case, and if I was talking about "queens" in general (I mean in the aristocratic sense, you understand!) I would use lower case. The other cases seem to be in between. (And similarly for P/presidents and P/prime M/ministers) Hmm. I'll have to think about that. Oh, but please don't associate me with Jordan. I really have no interest in her at all. I'd just been up all night, and my brain was half asleep. I had no idea what I was doing! -- Oliver P. 05:41 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

One more thing - regarding Cooking on a campfire, the article of mine that you listed for deletion. I'm rather surprised that, after its removal from the deletion list, you haven't taken any further action. If it's really as bad as you said it is, it probably needs an "accuracy disputed" statement at the top. If you think it's bad enough that you should blank it temporarily until you get around to fixing it, I won't protest. I'm leaving it at your discretion, provided that the article doesn't disappear all of a sudden :) . -Smack 06:25 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Silly me! I should have checked before I moved Wolfe Tone. It's just that so many of these Britannica articles are being put in on the full name -- the other day I moved William Harcourt from "William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt", which was quite ridiculous. Could you maybe change the text of the Wolfe Tone article, where it says, "commonly known as", to explain which bit is what? Deb 19:09 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Must've been tired -- I put this on your user page instead of your talk page, first time round. And you didn't notice! Deb 16:23 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

In Britain the tax year still runs to April 5. Mintguy

I've put a note of possible interest at Talk:Papal Tiara. If it's true, you might want to incorporate the information into the actual article. -- Someone else 05:52 14 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I must, again, inform you that your lack of utilization (or utilisation for you non-Americans) of AIM is troublesome. --Dante Alighieri 09:16 14 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I thought it might be him when he created that "purges" article, but I didn't think to trace the IP until you raised the alarm. Thanks! - Hephaestos 04:28 15 Jul 2003 (UTC)

-

Oh a Mac user ! Hi !

No worry. No hard feeling because you were sharp. It is your nature to be sharp, better be used to it :-) I understand others being sharp ;-)

Thanks for explaining GrahamN business. I understand. I never seconded the sysop-bashing on Erik part. Just the democratic (not the right word, but the proper one is failing me) principle implied by the votes for undeletion page. I thought several times of deleting all the sysop bashing part from the page, as it has nothing to do here, is diverting the purpose of that page, and is giving it bad reputation. This makes me unhappy. Because a good principle is being shadowered by poor use of it. I should be more bold in editing what other people say, when irrelevant, or removing their stuff where it does not belong. Sysop questioning did not belong to that page. Next time that happen, I will boldly delete it.

I should say here I don't like rules very much. I respect them quite little on the fr wiki (but we also have far less rules :-)). I see no problem with Erik deleting things boldly. I would be happy that people see no problem with others undeleting things boldly as well. I would be perfectly content not to respect the rules of votes for deletions, but right now, I respect them because I respect all of you, and all of your opinions. I am quite troubled that some don't feel they should respect these rules themselves, but heck ! why not ? :-) What makes me really unhappy is to read I am abusing sysop powers just for having tried to respect the rules to the utter precision point. If that come to that point, I might just as well take it easy with rules :-)

I hope you see that this has nothing to do with GrahamN. This is just a question of principles. But I understand your concern about GrahamN behavior. Thanks again for explaining.

perhaps, the votes for deletion page should be utterly refactored ? I think it is really causing more trouble than it should.

Wikilove. user:anthere

I doubt that the anonymous IP you blocked belongs to DW. The blocked user mailed the wikien-l mailing list under the address "_khl at heh dot ca". heh.ca appears to be a pro-pedophile website, the WHOIS entry says that it is registered on one Jason Garrison from Montreal. The IP address is from the pool of Sympatico.ca, which claims to be "Canada's most popular ISP", so it is quite likely that IP addresses by many Canadian users will look very similar. Unfortunately, we can't just assume that they all belong to DW. It's a lot like the situation with Michael.

For the time being, I'll assume that this is not, in fact, DW, so I have unblocked his IP address and restored the edits (except for the ones to gay and NAMBLA). --Eloquence 20:57 15 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * I thought there'd been a blanket IP block imposed on the specific range of IPs within sympatico used by DW? Has this been lifted? It wasn't straight after the weekend and I've not heard anything since... Martin 11:10 16 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Um, Jimbo made it quite clear that this was only valid for the weekend (on June 27! that's ancient history ..), so there was no need to explicitly lift it. --Eloquence 11:22 16 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Can I interpret that as "yes, the blanket block has been listed"? If so, thanks for the info. :-) Martin

 * There's been a pedophilia advocate? Just as I was harping on and on about diversity of ideas. It's just too bad that vandalism and unpopular opinions have to correlate so strongly! 172

 * His edits have been restored -- e.g. ILGA Purges. Eat your heart out. --Eloquence 12:11 16 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Thanks for the nice words Jt.

You know, it is very curious. If you click on an international link, there are other issues there, other rules, other habits, other fights and mostly other people. Two different worlds for me. Perhaps I can not assume being in two different places and manage well at both. I am a visitor here. Too many differences. Two many unspoken rules. Too many written rules which are in fact not the rules applied. Habits not written, but discovered by chance. Too many events I don't live directly, but only through the eyes of other people. Much longer time to get to understand other ones than when in your own language. Either one stay out of it, just hit and run (edit an article and just leave it be), or one get involved into every bit. And as long as one does not know the bottom line of any events, one is an outsider somehow. To come with other eyes and other thoughts and other ideas, try to apply them, and be told "this is not the way it works here". Then nicely, people take time to explain to you what obviously you missed. Will always miss. I wish more english people would participate in other wikipedias. I think this is an inherent limitation of NPOV here.

I've written some paragraphs on King Petar II of Yugoslavia, which you seem to have had in mind. Please, take a look and do what you want with the text. I won't make troubles. :-) -- Ruhrjung 19:49 16 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Why capitalize "apostolic succession"? The preference for the wikipedia is to downcase things, and "apostolic succession" is usually not upcased in contemporary writing. --Tb 23:16 16 Jul 2003 (UTC) --- JT - please make sure to take something older away when you add something new to the Selected Articles section on the Main Page (otherwise the page looks really bad at 800x600). Also, newer entries are placed nearest the subhead. Thanks! :) --mav

With all respect, don't you think your change in http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=World_War_II&diff=1146583&oldid=1146495 makes a somewhat displaced impression? If Éire's deviations from "true" neutrality are listed, soon also the other countries' will be. Wouldn't it be sufficient to note such "exceptions" at sub-pages to World War II? -- Ruhrjung 23:00 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Thank you for your note on my talk-page, which I naturally agree with.

My thought is however, that it might be suitable to make an article of its own on the different deviations from strict neutrality and the impartial attitude toward the belligerents according to the conventions of the Second Hague Conference. If I as a reader had a choise, I would prefer to see Éire's, Sweden's and Switzerland's sensitive manoevres in the same context/on the same www-page.

Neccessarily with some sort of brief summary where it's linked to the page, but... ;-) What do you think? -- Ruhrjung 15:01 19 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I've just been researching duelling for list of famous duels. The Irish MPs of the late 18th century seem to enjoy shooting and stabbing each other. Take a look at http://www.chirl.com/1700/1770.html Mintguy 01:37 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Disagreements on naming policy are hardly indicative of irreconciable worldviews. That said, it is indeed interesting that a "Jewish State" (I put this in quotes because I do ascribe to the Chomskian view that modern Zionism is not true to what I perceive as Judaism) would practice many of the same evils which it condemned during early epochs.

As a proponent of the theory that nation-states are actors upon the world scene much as an individual acts upon the local microscene, I must note that this same sort of problem occurs with the victims of domestic abuse. Thusly, I perceive the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as involving two groups attacking each other, not because of any real anger towards the other; but rather, because of displaced anger.

Naturally as a leftwing radical, I ascribe the cause of the displaced anger to capitalism. I believe that World War II, in stemming from World War I, in turn stemming from the era of New Imperialism; was obviously a war of capitalism. As such, I perceive the Jews as victims of imperialist economics. Likewise, I perceive the Arabs as the victims of imperialist economics (for obvious reasons which center around the word "colonialism").

One might then ask how I can favor one nation over the other, my reasoning is that Israel (being a fully ratified nation-state) is an "adult" while Palestine is a child. Indeed, the sucide-bombers often are children. As such, I hold Israel at fault although I am most certainly willing to accept an insanity defense. I do not believe Israel knows or comprehends the difference between right and wrong.

I do hate to go on at length, but I urge you to read GE Bridger's WWI-era book "Psychology of Nations" which serves as one of the cornerstones of my geopolitical POV. I would characterize Israel as existing in a state of manic depression, not unlike that psychosis which grips the United States. Indeed, a sign of depression is a lack of interest in things once found to be vitally important -- for example, religion. It is obvious beyond measure that the modern Judaism, that known as Zionism, has abandoned its deeply religious past. How many Jews do you know who ascribe to the argument that Judaism is more than a religion, it is a culture; and that the religious aspect of Judaism is so inferior that, for many Jews, it isn't a factor in their daily lives. I have yet to meet a Jew who, of course in my POV, truly ascribes to the message of peace, and forgiveness, which permeates the Old Testament.

In any case, I have gone on enough. Let me merely re-emphasize the key point: one cannot expect Palestinians to make any significant effort to halt the violence -- they lack the necessary infrastructure. Only Israel is able to "stop the train" as they say.

In an aside, I often encounter those who are unfamiliar with the symbology of "the train". This of course is primarily in reference to two concepts, that of panoramism in which industrialrevolution-era French remarked upon the changing worldview brought by mechanized transport; this is also in reference to the remarks by Kaiser Wilhelm, at the outbreak of World War I, that he would stop the war if only there were someway for him to stop the trains which carried his army.

As I was saying, the Palestinian Resistance (for that is what it is) is organized as a partisan guerilla organization; as GW would say, "They are terrorists" and as terrorists they are organized into cells -- as such, not even knowing who else is part of their organization -- they are completely unable to communicate with one another. Only Israel has the ability to communicate, it can communicate both with the Palestinians and with itself -- sadly, the only message it broadcasts is "Surrender or Die"

I must note that many historians have argued that the primary reason Germany did not surrender in 1943-45 was that the Allies were adamant that there must be a total and unconditional surrender. Unfortunately, a multi-celled political entity is incapable of unconditional surrender; there will always be some part of the entity which remains unaware of the decisions made by the others.

In closing, let me refer you to another book. This book, unfortunately, I am no longer sure of the name. There is a movie called, perhaps "Dawn's Early Light" (or is that the book), or perhaps the name is "Twilight's Last Gleaming". In this fictional book, World War III is occurring and the American bombers are flying to Russia. The bomber crew (around which the book revolves) mutinies and returns to American airspace; before the Americans shoot them down as traitors, the Russians interpret this withdrawal as a gesture of peace and so, while they do not stop the war (indeed, the bomber crew witnesses a submarine attack against an aircraft carrier during this part of the book -- note that submarines are analytically akin to a "terrorist cell") - the Russians do manage to withdraw some of their bombers from American airspace -- thusly, and gradually, although the war does not immediately end, it DOES come to a peaceful and happy ending. The lesson to be learned from all this, of course, is that Israel must "turn the other cheek" to suicidebombing and must return to the 1948 borders and must offer the olive branch of humanitarian aid WITHOUT strings attached.

Indeed,

Pizza Puzzle 01:55 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Thanks for the note on my talk page about your ideas for VfD. That page certainly needs a lot of thought, the way it's been going lately. So I'll give it a lot of thought before contributing to the discussion again. I'm having a bit of a break at the moment, you see. I'll get back to it soon enough, though. :) -- Oliver P. 16:35 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

In the United States, at least, NO place has "St." as its official name. The US Government has an official policy that "Saint" should be spelled out in the place names. I am conforming to this, and you note that I have not changed Canadian and British placenames. BRG July 19

I don't know what you mean by the "official map." The official definitions are as given by the US Geological Survey. Take a look at the Board on Geographic Names site and you will see what the "official" policies are. BRG July 19

- Please see Great Depression. A single user has turned this article into a monetarist tract. I think that it would be a good idea to restore the flawed, largely incomplete, earlier version until the new contributions can be integrated into a balanced article. It would be great to hear your position. 172

Hi. Can you explain why you reverted Jack Russell terrier? RickK 04:57 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * I just did on your talk page. I was writing it while you were leaving the msg here. FearÉIREANN 05:05 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

--- Thanks for your convincing intervention on the Great Depression page yesterday. Since then, I've been working on the causes section, which is still far from complete.

Today, I'd like to know what you think about redirecting the US-centric article to a page such as Great Depression (United States). Thanks in advance! 172

--- Thanks for the idea. The article requires a good deal of work before it's workable, but I'll definitely try to do it. 172

 * BTW, would you be interested in contributing to an article on the Depression in the UK? If not, I'd get to it someday or find someone interested. Right now, I'd like to finish the US-related material and perhaps move on to Latin America and Canada before going to Europe. I can't believe it; I fell into the trap of another massive, never-ending project! 172

Am I to interpret your silence as an indicator that my essay was not well received? Pizza Puzzle

I really don't understand where all this hostility comes from. Surely a handful of teensy-weensy changes (essentially linking words to articles and nothing more) is not some indication that I am some other user with whom you have disagreed; and certainly my changes were not inappropriate.

Since this has attracted so much attention, I have been reading the talk pages and looking through the edit history and it would seem that one user (user:Vera Cruze), some time ago, attempted to move part of the article to imperialism and theories of imperialism so that the page would not exceed 32k. I believe that user had the right idea; unfortunately, it would seem that some others mistakenly believed that text was being deleted -- however, that doesn't seem to have been the case. Pizza Puzzle

- Lir/Vera is reverting to his old ways. I think that he's stirring up trouble on the New Imperialism page too. As you can see above, he's maintaining the pretension that he wasn't the user, Vera Cruz, who was banned for attempting to hijack the page at question. 172

-- Thanks for posting your last message on Pizza Puzzle's page. You are a very forceful communicator. However, I fear that it won't work. My guess is that he'll be back tomorrow or even later tonight (BTW, sorry for my provincial use of US Eastern Standard Time; it's morning for you right now) on the New Imperialism page insisting that he's not Vera. It seems as if he might have a behavioral disorder impeding his ability to understand others. However, it's a shame. He's very knowledgeable (very impressive considering that he's an undergrad student, from what I've heard) and is an extremely active contributor. Perhaps, under all his incarnations, he has been the most active contributor of all in terms of his number of edits, which is my impression from the most active Wikipedians page. He could be another Mav if he were only more cooperative and less dogmatic. 172

Well, my skepticism was warranted yesterday. He's back on the New Imperialism page with this most outlandish of claims: "I don't have a clue why 172 thinks I am some other user. Pizza Puzzle"

I'm beginning to fear that the New Imperialism page is going to have to be protected.

172

Hi.

Could you provide a summary, or a link to such a summary, of the evidence that Pizza Puzzle is in fact the user formerly known as Lir? To date I've only seen supposition and some circumstantial evidence, but you seem to be implying that it has been established beyond a shadow of a doubt. If so, I would like to see that evidence, as currently I feel I am not seeing the entire picture.

Thanks, Martin

-- As you'll be able to see, the New Imperialism page has turning rapidly into the disaster that got Vera Cruz banned months ago.

Pizza Puzzle should be forced by the community to add a disclaimer to his user page admitting his past, listing all his incarnations, and admitting that he has been given a second chance by Jimbo. I'd like to know what you think about this idea. If you're receptive, I'd e-mail the idea to Jimbo. 172
 * I don't mean to call the cops. This would be a "preemptive" measure. I just think that having a disclaimer on his page would force him to behave and preemptively avert problems. He wouldn't do it himself, but it's something that Jimbo could force him to do. 172

 * Thanks for the wise, deliberative advice. It appears that the situation has stabilized. He has taken the advice of several users, including myself, to freely work on his own version of the article on a temp page. So I'm content that the main page of the article, at least so far, is safe from being slaughtered gradually by a series of minor edits. And he's content that he finally has a New Imperialism sandbox with which to experiment after all these months. Perhaps my firm reaction (or over-reaction) encouraged him to give in to the idea of a temp page, which he shrugged off when it was first advised. So that's an improvement in itself from earlier personas; before he'd never give into a compromise along the lines of a temp page. So I'll take your advice and keep a low profile on the page, and concerning the PP issue altogether, for now. 172

This Catholicism problem reminds me of Fred Bauder on Communist state. 172

Thank you very much.... for that birthday song :-)Rickyrab 18:43 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

concerning catholocism I edited the information to be more NPOV, yet you keep changing it back to the old information, not as POV, in addition, you remove information and links that provide proof, proof not present in your version, just leave it alone, it's basically the same, except you're not letting me have my links that prove the info, wouldn't you want that in your proof? Nostrum 04:56 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I had really hoped that by now you might have come to your senses, realized that I know more about what is "official" in the USA than you do, and apologized. It seems that because of my fights with various Britons (though you'd think an Irishman wouldn't be so pro-British!) over earlier placename edits, you have a predisposition to take the opposite side to anything I do. Briefly, my one point is that the websites of various cities in the US that may have "Saint" in their name have no official status, the BGN's database is the one authority in the USA that has official status, and that Wikipedia if it wants to be taken seriously must be in agreement with the BGN on US placenames -- I am sure there are other authorities that might apply to Australian, Canadian, British, and Irish placenames, but I claim no expertise there. If you want to talk of an "official map" you will not find one, but there is an official mapping database at http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form and you will find that it does not just list mountains, rivers, etc., but also "Populated places." I really wish we could get this argument over with, so I could go back to entering the hundreds of multiple-place names I have to put in here. Your refusal to recognize the BGN as official is really ridiculous, and if anyone else is swayed by your arguments, it can only harm the efforts of Wikipedians to get Wikipedia taken seriously. BRG July 23, 2003

 * Check the naming conventions talk page, I actually TALKED to the BGN on the issue. --Dante Alighieri 16:31 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)

title: User talk:Jtdirl/Archive 8