Talk:Bennington College/Archive 1

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Archive 1

Stay Objective

A number of editors have been repeatedly injecting their opinions into this article. Please stop. And visit this page Wikipedia:Five_pillars. If you would like to include information on the the symposium or other controversial topics, research the topic and list sources. And if you want to present an "alternate history", start your own web page. Remember that there are ways to objectively discuss controversy. I would love to see that. Daly 17:17, 17 May 2006 (UTC).

When there are such different opinions about this institution, there will be several views of objectivity. It seems to me that the current administration has an interest in:

a) denigrating the past students by calling them anarchic. It is objectively true that Bennington students were more serious and committed than their peers at "straight" schools. It is also true that Bennington was bohemian and more likely to be "self-expressive." It is certainly objectively true that the present administration is well served by presenting itself as having stepped in to save a "bad" institution. Current students should be aware of that self-interest. Don't get me wrong - I think that the representation of the school as it is now should be left to the adminstration and those who must live with it as it is. But why must the past be maligned and misrepresented in order to paint a picturee of the school as it is now? Remember, there is an official Bennington.edu site that is controlled, as is proper, by the college that exists now. If the administration and current students would keep from trying to rewrite past history, there would be no need to bring in the most objective measure of all - the rather and embarrassing performance of the college since 1992 on the US News ranking list.

Finally, I assume the business of "most expensive" is an importation from the administration, who thinks it is cute and an achievement. I think it is trivial now and was trivial in the sixties. I'd be happy to agree to drop it. (Hofjude)

I have added to the paragraph about students in the past, removed the tease about how far down the list of academic quality the college has fallen, and made a nod to continuity. Please do not erase if you were not there.Hofjude 21:49, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I disagree with the statement "please do not erase if you were not there." Stay objective. If the information can't be gathered by someone who has never attended the college, it shouldn't be in the article. In an entry about apples, it would be innapropriate to say "apples are the most delicious fruit". It would be better to say "apples are one of the world's most popular fruits" (and this statement would be even more valuable were it backed up with cited literature.) Daly 01:08, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Being objective and withholding information based on actual knowledge are two different things, a distinction that present-day Bennington students seem incapable of making. Accordingly, because you have eviscerated the description of the alumni and past faculty, I shall restore and continue to restore the objective, independently verifiable information from US News about the College's academic ranking these days. Cheers!Hofjude 19:42, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Hof, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't many people critical of the way US News and World Report ranks colleges? Besides, there are plenty of other sources (such as the book the top 351 colleges) that rank Bennington as an excellent school.

There's also no need for the "bennington students seem incapable" of making. That's an assumption thats insulting. One can disagree with the administration of the school, but to make generalizations like that seems a tad inappropriate. --Jonmedeiros 22:51, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

It's true that the US News and World Report ranking systems are questionable. Some schools, like Reed College, will not even participate in the ranking system at all. I find it ironic that people who continually claim that Bennington used to be SO much more progressive than it is now resort to using generic mainstream rating systems to "prove" their points. Even if those rankings are useful, did they even exist back in Bennington's earlier days? No. So there is no way to try to use that information to prove anything about how the school has changed. And stop putting down current students. Those claims are utterly and completely unfounded and reveal deeply subjective motives. LNealon 19:13, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

I have an issue with the purported objectivity of contributors to this article. I noticed in the history that an entire section entitled "Recent News" was edited out because a professor at the college felt the information was "dubious at best.” A girl died at this school and another was seriously injured. Doesn't it bother anyone that this information was removed, and by a professor at the college no less? Yes, it was a bad thing that happened, but that doesn't give someone the right to edit out important information about the school just because they think it gives the school a bad name, or that the section may contain dubious information. We should do the responsible Wikipedia thing and require citations, references, or better wording for the section instead of removing it entirely and painting an inaccurate picture of modern-day Bennington. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.232.159.7 (talk) 14:14, 1 October 2006

I disagree that every incident and accident that makes the news is appropriate material for an encyclopedia article. Accidents happen. A large college could fill pages and pages of obituaries! I haven't examined the incident of which you speak, but I'm saying it would have to be a very notable event to merit inclusion. It seems that the professor made the right edit, even if for the wrong reasons! Kace7 (talk) 13:54, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

It speaks volumes that the Wikipedia article as it stands skips from 1969 to 1993. I was a student at Bennington from 1984 to 1988. I received an excellent--in fact priceless--education in literature and writing, and feel eternal thanks especially to Phebe Chao, Maura Spiegel, and Richard Tristman--all axed in the purge--among many others. They taught me not only to read and write, but to think and live without artifice or pretension as a critic and thinker. Give President Coleman due credit for restoring the college to solvency, but recognize also that she was a scorched earth megalomaniac in the process, and arguably destroyed the college in saving it. That's simply fair: by her own measure, students would be better off attending a more endowed mainstream institution. On balance, I also studied with Mansour Farhang in International Relations, and had one of the most amazing seminar experiences of my life with Ted Hoagland- both of whom survived the purge as Coleman acolytes. Whatever. I'm just glad that I got the chance I did before Liz blew it all away. Most alums of my era feel the same way. Oh, and I'm glad to hear Leroy Logan finally received a settlement for the disgraceful way he was treated. -Brendan Kirkpatrick '88

Recent News

1. "Recent News" as a category is dubious. The news itself was indeed tragic and newsworthy. I was there. I knew the girls who were injured. I cried with everyone else.
2. I wasn't the one who removed the text. Someone else did. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks "Recent News" doesn't belong in an encyclopedia article.
3. I don't think "Recent News" belongs in an encyclopedia article. Among the handful of other articles about liberal arts colleges I checked none of them has a "Recent News" section.
Joe 23:48, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Riots?

A couple of observations:

the observation that there were "student riots" seems like an exaggeration, but that was way after my time (although I did attend a reunion that year - just didn't see any evidence of riots).
there is no mention of what is now called "field work term"
the school is still famous in the minds of many for sexual hedonism (for lack of a better term). I still hear people say "oh isn't that where they dance naked?" in response to mention of the college. Bennington received an A+ rating from Playboy in 1968, a fact that I mentioned in my admissions interview on November 15, 1969.
the "pop culture" references seem sophomoric to me. the school is very famous.

I was there during the "riots" and there weren't any. That's ridiculous. There was a peaceful sit-in.

Article needs major overhaul

Does anyone else think that the Pop Culture section is unwieldy and a bad idea that's going to continue to grow to enormous proportions and eat this article alive? Joe 01:05, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

"Public Image" doesn't capture the essence of Bennington at all, I don't think. Instead that section currently focusses on some financial issues that are becoming dated.

I restored the references to the Shirley Jackson short stories because it's something I only know from reading this article, and something I wish I had known when I was student at the college 35 years ago.

I still think the "Pop Culture" references are trivial. References to Bennington are hardly unusual. Would an article about Harvard list miscellaneous references to the college? 129.55.27.4 14:48, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I have again removed the references to Shirley Jackson. Whether or not pop culture references are necessary or appropriate to this article, it is simply inaccurate to list these stories under the heading "Mentions of Bennington College exist in:", when there are verifiably no mentions of Bennington College in either story. The idea for "The Lottery" arose from Jackson's feelings of alienation while living in the insular community of N. Bennington, and "The Haunting of Hill House" was inspired by the very creepy Jenning mansion. Neither, however, explicitly mentions Bennington College. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ebenpack (talk • contribs) 02:31, 3 March 2006

This is embarrassing. Look at an article like Vassar's... Bennington deserves better than this.

Bennington is no more expensive than most liberal arts colleges EVEN THOUGH it is closed for the winter months. Compare the academic calendar; the days of undergraduate residency are comparable to other schools. Yes, the school is closed for two months. Still, students are in class and on campus as many days as everywhere else. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.150.81.160 (talk)

There should be separate lists of distinguished faculty and alumni. 129.55.27.4 17:59, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I made the split. Please check for errors. Some of these people I've never heard of. Also, it would be nice to add dates for both Faculty and Alumni. 129.55.27.4 18:23, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

I vote a weak "yes" for keeping notable alums, and a strong "yes" for getting rid of the ridiculous "pop culture" list. I think every notable alum should have a brief description. An unlinked and unexplained notable alum is meaningless. Joe 13:31, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I copied the categories "Notable Faculty" and "Notable Alumni" from the Bard College article (although it's pretty common usage in Wikipedia articles describing schools, my quick glance at Bard was a somewhat random style reference). I don't really mind the "pop culture" references as they are kind of fun, if a bit sophomoric. I think at the moment the only "notable alum" listed without a link or additional information is Mary Ruefle, who (I think) is a fairly accomplished, published poet. Anyway, the list is a work in progress. I'd like to see dates for all the people. The listing order for both categories is pretty arbitrary as well. In general, I'd like to see more information added rather than see information removed. 24.128.218.189 21:56, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I also vote "yes" for getting rid of the "pop culture" section. Daly 11:22, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

And to whoever anonymously added my name to the list of notable alumni: I haven't graduated yet. And I'm not notable. Someday, maybe, but not yet. Daly 16:52, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Alumni protests? Maybe some alumni had some objections, but it seems to me that alumni reaction was mostly mixed. What exactly is meant by "protests"? Did alumni and students occupy the administation building? Did they form a picket line? 129.55.27.4 18:02, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

caption for the picture of the new houses -- these houses were not completed in 1999. They had not even been started then. The first students lived in them in the Fall 2001 semester, so they were probably completed in 2001.72.83.106.101 15:57, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

"Most Expensive College"

"In the 1980s, Bennington gained unexpected notoriety for being the most expensive college in the country"

Bennington was already the most expensive college in the country, by far, in the 60s. I've tried editting this before but someone keeps changing it. My freshman year in 1970-1 cost $5200, and that was the first time any college in the United States had charged more than $5,000 for annual tuition, room and board.

The references to student "riots" need to be revised as they are simply not accurate. Moreover, student protests of administration policies were not without precedent. The administration offices were occupied for a couple of weeks (or more) in the spring of 1972.

I feel sad to see the "riots" bit go, since it was funny--like other posters, I was there for those (assuming we're talking about the walkout/sit-in and the AAUP thing, which I drove up to Vermont to attend), and they were hardly riots. But I rephrased that sentence somewhat; hope my changes don't offend. Iralith 20:46, 2 November 2005 (UTC) (sorry, this was my post)

Current Students

What do people think of the "current students" section? I don't like it. Daly 20:22, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

I think the "current students" section is awesome. I haven't looked at any of the links, but this is exactly the type of information that we can provide that (probably) won't be found on the official college website. 129.55.27.4 14:42, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Maybe it would be more appropriate for the official website. Is this what Wikipedia is meant for?

What about adding the links to the "external links" section? If they belong anywhere, that's probably where they should be.

Please sign in before adding comments, by the way. It's rude not to. Daly 11:03, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

I tend to agree that they should be moved to the external links section. Ryanjohnson 19:09, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm not a big fan of it either. As much as I like the idea of free publicity for student websites (mine included!), I think it gives a misleading cross-section of BC students. It's probably something we could get on www.bennington.edu if we bothered Bob Graves and David Rees enough. I feel like there's a certain type of "internal information" that just isn't appropriate for Wikipedia, and "some current students" is included in that group. If someone really wants to get a sense of the students, they should visit campus! Max

Moved them... Max 23:54, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Other

I think that it would probably be good to expound on topics that are pertinent to current students at Bennington. I mean, I think at least a couple hundred of us "crashed" that faculty meeting when the new guy came in and tried to take away nudity (or did he accomplish it? I left before the matter was down). I don't think that the current wiki really captures the meaning of Bennington. I mean, true, it's something you have to experience to completely understand, but we could at least clue people into it. Maybe have some information about the different houses? Think about the huge differences between, say, Franklin, Kilpat, and Perkins. People need to know that there are still different groups at Bennington, because the wiki seems to make it all very one-dimensional. Allison Stillwell 01:04, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree, Allison. Also, the entire "public image" section needs to be rewritten. As it is, most of the stuff about protests against Elizabeth Coleman's reforms is very dated, very specific to the 90s. It might be better to have different sections for different decades. I don't think the public thinks of Elizabeth Coleman when they think of Bennington. IP129.55.27.4 14:52, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Do the students even think of Elizabeth Coleman at all? I know the first time I ever saw her was after I left Bennington, and my initial viewing was actually on Wikipedia. Prior to that, she could have come up and slapped me open-palm across the face and I wouldn't have known who she was. Allison Stillwell 01:25, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

In response to the last two entries: Ideally, all "college" entries follow a similar format and don't stray from objective information. This is not the place for colorful accounts of our time at college. Daly 15:48, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Right, we certainly wouldn't want an article about Bennington College to be unconventional. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.151.204.14 (talk) 03:00, 27 March 2006

BC is unconventional, but I think it can speak for itself. Wikipedia is a place to speak about interesting things in the most boring and objective manner possible. Max 23:44, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't like the section on Bennington athletics. Unless there are citations, it should be removed. Also, the information can be worked into another section if need be (and it's true). What does everyone else think? Daly 05:37, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the athletics section is ridiculous and sarcastic in tone. Also, the bit about students as art buyers reads as underhanded and rude.

What do people think about getting rid of the sub-heading "public image?" Everything seems relevant to the "History" heading. Saying "public image" is confusing and seems unnecessary. Also, I'd like to start a section for buildings on campus. Name of building, date built, architect, notable features, etc. What do people think? [LNealon May 5, 2006]

Some kind of decade-by-decade history of the college would be very interesting. I think one of the problems Bennington has today is reconciling its "progressive" past with whatever image it is trying to project today. We see this reflected in the heavy-handed censorship of the Wikipedia article itself by current faculty and students who seem embarrassed by anything written about the school that is a little unconventional. A Bennington education used to mean something. It wasn't just another liberal arts college. JoppaFlats 17:03, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

I think we can write about the college's history objectively, and help each other do that. The problems arise when comments about the past put down current students and faculty or imply that the college was once special and is not special anymore. Either implication isn't fair. LNealon 18:38, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Bennington's Wikipedia entry doesn't need to be as "progressive" as the college itself. DClement 18:39, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Because Bennington has twicehad a rupture with its past, for better or worse, it is important that this article represent both Bennington as it is and Bennington as it was. The ruptures were in 1969, when boys were admitted, and in 1992ish, when the current adminstration purged it of its faculty. Hence the need for respecting separate areas of the article. The "Bennington Girl" in fiction is important because Bennington played an important part in American culture in the 20th century as the one place that a certain kind of intellectual, artsy bohemian could get a great education. Now there are many such places. What purpose Bennington serves now is for current students and faculty to say. But it is objectively true that it was once a different place, that it was significant, and that truth must be allowed to stand. In addition, the role of an encyclopedia is to give history and background - again, the college as it is has its own Web site and marketing materials to present its current reality. (hofjude)

Well said, hofjude. It's a shame that we can't squeeze out an informative article about Bennington - there is a lot of history being suppressed in the name of "objectivity" - or I don't know what. As it is, the Bennington College article serves as proof for everything that is wrong with Wikipedia. 129.55.27.4

Bob Dylan's These Times They Are A-Changin'

I've heard it repeated over and over again that Bob Dylan spent some time on campus and that the school owns the original copy of These Times They Are A-Changin' (do I have that right?) because he submitted it to some sort of publication. I wouldn't even know where to go about confirming something like this, but it might something worth mentioning if it's true. --Jonmedeiros 17:36, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I believe this is a canard. I was there in 1968-72, and it was never a rumor then, at a time when it would have been in the recent past. On the other hand, among those who did hang around trying to pick up girls was Tuli Kupferberg, another Village figure from the 1950s and 1960s and a founding member of The Fugs.Hofjude 21:47, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

My former house chair claimed he heard it from an alumni. Not that that means much. --Jonmedeiros 22:54, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

In their letter to prospetive students they claim that he first submitted the lyrics to this song to their litery magazine "Silo" in the fall of 1963. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.244.7.247 (talk) 21:58, 7 March 2008

It is not a "canard." I was a Trustee at the college and have seen the edition of Silo with the original lyrics. In fact, it even shows the edits, with certain words crossed out and replaced. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.4.192.2 (talk) 12:58, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

added

added this "It should be noted that there significant controversy over both US News Magazine's rankings and college ranking in general." I feel like if someone is insisting on including the US News rankings there should probably be an acknowledgement of the controversy over their rankings/college rankings. --Jonmedeiros 22:04, 29 May 2006 (UTC) (forgot to sign before)

Good addition. I removed the arbitrary reference to other schools. The Symposium report is available on the Bennington website for anyone to read. Could we include a link to the symposium report after the sentence "changes under the board of trustees improved the financial picture but..."? I would add it, but I don't know how to link other sites. KikiG 18:26, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree that the Symposium report should be linked but also don't know how and don't have the time to figure it out right now. Someone has added a link for what I have added, good idea. --Jonmedeiros 22:46, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Someone - probably from the admissions office - has made the false claim that Bennington is number 14 on the USNews list of liberal arts colleges. I suppose that's one way dealing with the problems of the US News rankings, but the fact is that it is number 91 - moved up from number 99 - well done, President Coleman! Admissions people, please tell the truth.Hofjude 22:03, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Bennington Girl

Does this section really need to be here? I feel like it's characteristic of a "yeah we're small but look how often we pop up" attitude. Maybe I'm wrong though.--Jonmedeiros 00:22, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I think it trivializes and downplays Bennington's signifigance. Would it make more sense on the Bennington people page? KikiG 18:27, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Plus there are a whole hell of a lot of Bennington pop culture things that pop up, not always having anything to do with females. It seems a bit selective to limit it, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't understand, though I remain certain that it really doesn't belong here or anywhere. --Jonmedeiros 22:48, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to be bold and take it out. It's just silly and will only get worse. Daly 06:31, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

So, it's gone. I actually don't think that a section on the "Bennington Girl" would neccesarily be bad, but it would have to be a relative explanation of the "Bennington Girl" as a perenial pop culture reference and include citations. An ad hoc list is not a good idea. Daly 06:39, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Bennington's Endowment

I'm not sure if the measurement was just total size, but if it was perhaps it should be looked at in relation to the size of the school. Obviously Marlboro would still have a larger endowment (as it has less students). I'm not sure about the size of the other schools, though I assume they are bigger. I feel as though looking at the size of the endowment / number of students makes much more sense, as the size of schools are vastly different. --Jonmedeiros 18:18, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Endowment dollars per student is an important point to consider. Even so, Bennington's endowment is far behind the national median for liberal arts schools (Mills College $177 million; Wellesley's over a billion; Reed $350 million; Hampshire $26 million.) The larger Bennington's endowment, the less the college will have to rely on tuition revenue and the more need-based aid the college will be able to award. Relative to many other schools, Bennington is "young"; its only been around for 75 years. The alumni population (the most likely population to support the college philanthropically) is also small. Bennington most likely recognizes that strengthening the endowment should be an institutional priority, hence the mentioned "large fundraising campaigns." KikiG 00:36, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Pop Culture again

I'm removing the new "pop culture" section. See above discussion. "Igby Goes Down" probably doesn't belong here, and it certainly doesn't need it's own section. If the list is comprehensive it's out of place; if it's short it's trivial. Keep it out. Daly 01:05, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Question: is "Bennington College in Fiction" an appropriate section? I say yes. Why not "in film"? Because it's actually interesting to know that so many authors have fictionalized "Bennington College", and while it'a true that trivia to one person may be fascinating to another, we've already dealt with the consequences of including a pop-culture section: as long as "In Fiction" doesn't get out of hand ("on page 184 of so-and-sos book Bennington is mentioned"), it seems useful enough. Many Bennington Students have experienced the thrill of seeing their college mentioned in Harper's Magazine or a David Brooks book and resisted the urge to catalogue it on Wikipedia. Daly 01:21, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I think in "In Fiction" section would be beneficial here, especially for the hilarious recent slight on 30 Rock where Alan Alda's character is reprimanded that Bennington is only "for kids who couldn't get into Middlebury."

Neutrality Disputed

I'll be the first to say that this article needs some work, but placing "citation needed" after every sentence is not the best way to fix it. Daly 21:27, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

No, the best way to fix it is for an objective party (read: not Liz Coleman's half-literate publicist) to actually do some research and reporting on the History of Bennington College. Personally, I 1) am not objective, and 2) don't have the time. Short of simply deleting the current content, flagging it as bullshit is the best thing I could come up with. --Marschv 08:27, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

I hope my contributions have helped in this regard.Goldenband 05:50, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, this is much better. Thanks for doing the research. Although it is a shame so much space has to be given to this subject, Bennington is and was so much more than this. Also, how can neutrality still be disputed when everything is cited? KikiG 21:50, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

You're very welcome. I think the tag can be removed now, though I shouldn't be the one to do it as it would be a conflict of interest on my part. The Symposium had a massive impact on the college at the time, and more than a few people think that the outlook and climate of the institution are still very much affected by what happened in 1994. Certainly, the round of firings in 1999-2000 raised some major concerns.Goldenband 22:40, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Citation Needed

The following passages have been removed from the main article due to being cite-needed tagged for several months without anyone providing any. If you can provide the needed citation from a reliable source, please do so and re-integrate the passage into the main article. As their factuality has been challenged for some time, they should not be restored without the needed citation. Alvis 07:02, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Financial mismanagement between 1932 and 1986 nearly destroyed the institution^{[citation needed]}
Changes in 1994 under the Board of Trustees and President Elizabeth Coleman improved the [school's] financial picture^{[citation needed]}
Huge fundraising campaigns and a re-vamping of the college's image countered low enrollment rates^{[citation needed]}
By the late 1990s, Bennington College was at its most stable point in 20 years^{[citation needed]}
Rising enrollment, large donations by older alumni from the first 10 classes, especially recent multi-million donations made by the Merck family (owner of Merck Pharmaceuticals), and vigorous expansion have made Bennington once again a viable option for students seeking a liberal education.^{[citation needed]}

Houses?

Isn't a big part of going to Bennington the layout of the campus? Wouldn't it be prudent to describe the histories of the various buildings?

Probably, but my beef with the article came after looking up this school since that is where Carol Channing went to school. Believe it or not she is still alive and nearing 100 years of age. I always want a real overview of the campus to see what the layout is like. The University of Central Florida has the best layout I have observed so far. But when I tried to view Bennington College in Google Earth, the first question was, Huh? The earth coordinates are wrong. Here is what I have that puts you in the grass on the Commons near the main building in what you give my version of Google Earth (exact) to get there: 42.91852, -73.23925. Will somebody please correct the coordinates? The one that is there now plops you down a fair amount north of where you should be. Thanks, hhhobbit (talk) 11:11, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

Symposium

I hope my contributions to this section will satisfy those who feel it important to see information about this event included, and those who want to make sure that said information is properly sourced, referenced, and as NPOV as possible. (Perhaps it could use more of Coleman's/the Trustees' counterarguments -- the quotes I could find are a bit skeletal.) I put quite a lot of effort into obtaining proper references and so forth.

Maybe the article as a whole is a bit bottom-heavy now, but I would suggest that, since this is a huge event in Bennington's history that needs fairly substantive treatment to do it justice, it would be a better idea to further flesh out other sections, rather than shorten this one. Certainly there are other phases in Bennington history, not to mention other things about the college, that deserve writing about...Goldenband 05:49, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Bennington as most expensive

I think it's worth mentioning the "tradition" that Bennington was the most expensive college in the United States but this was not something that was specific to the 80's. Bennington was the first college in the United States to charge more than $5000 for tuition with room & board in the 1970-71 academic year (my freshman year), about twice what other schools cost at that time. We seem to be going in circles on this, and the content of the article in general. Thomas144 17:25, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Thomas, this is definitely something that'd be good to include if you can find a source to cite. What other content issues seem to be going around in circles lately? Goldenband 02:16, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Merce Cunningham

I have deleted the reference to Merce Cunningham as having been an "alumnus" of Bennington College

He was born in 1919 and performed at Bennington several times in 1942. He may have been on campus with some sort of faculty appointment at the time (perhaps the college has records that can confirm this). But since Bennington only became co-ed in 1969, there is no chance that he was an alumnus, since that term normally refers to someone who attends an institution and completes a degree course and receives a degree as a result. He may at some time have obtained an honorary degree; but that does not normally qualify a person to have "alumnus" status.

His performances in 1942 certainly qualify him as a Bennington College Person; I will leave it to those who have actual knowledge of his connection with the college to decide how, or if, to list him in the main article. If the only connection is three performances in 1942, that seems pretty thin. Bill Jefferys (talk) 00:35, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

motto

what is their motto? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.244.7.247 (talk) 02:59, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Officially there is no motto or mascot for Bennington 69.118.43.109 (talk) 20:04, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Radar Link

I removed 99.250.71.30's reference added in this revision to the Radar article naming Bennington as one of "America's Worst Colleges." I'm obviously biased as a happy graduate of the college, but in the spirit of WP:VERIFIABILITY, I don't think that a website whose tagline is "POP - POLITICS - SCANDAL - STYLE" is really verifiable or authoritative enough to warrant a link from Wikipedia; especially not to this sophomoric, unsourced article. Max (talk) 20:41, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Bennington College in Fiction

I think the BC in Fiction section is growing to scarily resemble the old Pop Culture section. I can see why someone included the original part about Ellis' novel, but the Hey Arnold reference in particular makes me cringe as superfluous. I just don't think it's appropriate for an encyclopedia entry. I'm wondering if the Rules of Attraction reference belongs, either. For now, I won't remove the section--or any part of it--in the interest of giving it a chance, but I recommend that someone else should. Max (talk) 02:27, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Bennington in media

Deleted material on 1946 incident, seems to be trivial in this context.Parkwells (talk) 17:13, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

File:Martha Graham 1948.jpg Nominated for Deletion

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Alan Arkin attended before it went co-ed?

Alan Arkin is listed as being part of the class of '55, but the school didn't go coed until 1969. Can someone clarify this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by ChiHistoryeditor (talk • contribs) 19:57, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Never mind, finally figured it out myself--the drama department admitted men long before the entire college went co-ed in 1969. ChiHistoryeditor (talk) 14:17, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

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Donna Tartt alumni worth mentioning?

Reasons why not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Karakoima (talk • contribs) 06:03, 22 December 2020 (UTC)

Work of Amy Kelly in planning Bennington

I leave it to someone else to incorporate these sources - or not - regarding the 16 months of work Amy Kelly invested in the planning of Bennington College.

"Miss Amy Kelly Completes Her Survey On Curriculum". Newspapers.com. The Bennington Evening Banner. May 24, 1927.
"Miss Amy Kelly Completes Her Survey On Curriculum, cont". Newspapers.com. The Bennington Evening Banner. May 24, 1927.
Scarborough, Katherine (May 13, 1928). "A new force in Women's Education: Coordinating Life and Study". Newspapers.com. The Baltimore Sun.

Lightbreather (talk) Lightbreather (talk) 00:00, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

Reinhard Mayer

As sorrow does not slow. ...and so it goes. ...and so it goes. For those who do not know. Reinhard Mayer passed away and in 2013. Please write your condolences, so every-one can know how integral he was in your life. The up keep of his Legacy page is being tended to by a private donor. Send only your Love.

Reinhard's obituary can be found at Legacy.com NarrativeScienceJDM (talk) 04:06, 17 April 2018 (UTC)