Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alaska Pacific University

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was Nomination Withdrawn. (non-admin closure) MrKIA11 (talk) 16:49, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alaska Pacific University[edit]

I'm by no means certain, but I have a feeling that this article may be part of an elaborate hoax. No one will be happier than I to find that this is not true, but I'm looking at the following facts:

The address listed for this university is actually, according to Google Maps, the location of the University of Alaska-Anchorage
The university is listed as being a member of the "Eco League"; the article Eco League is completely unsourced, but I looked at the listings for the other ostensible members schools, and the first one I looked at, Green Mountain College, has no sourcing other than the "official" university website, and the address given therein for the school does not exist, according to Google Maps
The article College of the Atlantic, another EcoLeague member, says that the college is located at an address that Google Maps says is the location of Acadia Senior College. The article also says that College of the Atlantic is located on Mount Desert Island, but that article doesn't have any mention of the college.
The Welcome message from President North of Alaska Pacific is identical, word for word, with the Welcome message from President North of Thornhill University.
The only one of the EcoLeague schools which I had personally heard of is Antioch College, which has, conveniently, closed down.
One of the universities websites (I'm sorry, I can't any longer figure out which one, I must have 60 websites open looking at all this) has some good links, but also has links that go to pages like this
All of the EcoLeague university presidents have 100% non-sourced wikipedia articles

And so it goes . . .

I'm not 100% positive on this; indeed, I really want to be proven wrong--I spent a lot of time cleaning up the APU article last year. But what this looks like to me is an elaborate hoax created by some very talented college students. If this is true, then they have created extensive websites to make this look pretty real. Why would anyone do this? I suppose because Wikipedia is now a big player, and if you can make fools of Wikipedia, then that's about the ultimate punk to pull now. And if this is a hoax, then I guess maybe the whole EcoLeague thing is, too. I don't know what to think, this is a bit overwhelming to contemplate, that someone might create not only a dozen Wikipedia articles but also websites to go with them. I'm sure hoping that someone out there can provide truly independent corroboration for these institutions.

I am also nominating the following related pages for two reasons:

If the problem I fear is real, then these articles are as suspect as the APU article, and
If the problem I fear is not real, then this will draw more people in to this discussion, people who hopefully will be able to offer corroboration of these institutions.

Unschool (talk) 18:29, 26 October 2008 (UTC) Unschool (talk) 18:29, 26 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Inquiry. The other articles that I am co-listing for nomination with this one are listed ~~on the talk page for this page~~. If that is the wrong way to handle it, I would appreciate someone else letting me know, or, better yet, correcting my error. Thanks. Unschool (talk) 23:24, 26 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Corrected. Uncle G (talk) 00:03, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Legit Unless the pranksters also snuck info into the local newspaper, this extract from | Anchorage Daily News contains, some way down the page: "BUDDHIST SERVICES: Join the Rev. Yuho Van Parijs at the White Lotus Center for Shin Buddhism/Myoko-in Temple at Alaska Pacific University Chapel, Atwood Building" (my emphasis). I doubt a local paper would run an ad for a non existent local university. I also doubt that someone would seed false leads so thoroughly as to have fake services in the local newspaper. the very obscurity of this reference makes me believe that this is not a hoax. (Anything put in place for a hoax would tend to be far more detailed and directly related, I would expect) keep MadScot (talk) 23:53, 26 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- There's also a notice of a new hire by the university in this article in ADN. Again, I can't see a local newspaper reporting on a non existent local institution. MadScot (talk) 23:56, 26 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Living people-related deletion discussions. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 00:01, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Alaska Pacific University - This University is listed in numerous guides, for example here, where it is stated that it is eligible for US Government grants. From the cited Thornhill University all links lead to an advert for an ISP which makes me wonder about the nomination. TerriersFan (talk) 00:06, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What does that mean, TerriersFan? Unschool (talk) 00:47, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

CNN coverage The College of the Atlantic article has a ref to CNN which explicitly mentions the college, indeed it is the subject of the CNN report. That seems to verify that college. I have little doubt that these all exist; indeed, Occam's Razor would seem to suggest that any contradictions in the articles are simple editorial mistakes, and that there are redlinks and lack of coverage because they are SMALL colleges. But to set up such an elaborate hoax, including inserting info into major media.... that really stretches credulity. MadScot (talk) 00:08, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Relist the others - bulk nominations of universities is a really bad idea since each one has different claims to notability but mixing in some individuals (who frankly look pretty marginal) is against policy. TerriersFan (talk) 00:13, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I think that it might be easier to simply sort out the confusion. Uncle G (talk) 00:20, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment To-may-to, to-mah-to? Google News search has 15 hits for APU [[1]] and 95 for U. Alaska Anchorage. [2]. Perhaps it has 2 names, an official one and a common one. If the two article refer to the same campus/school, they should certainly be merged or one should be deleted. More research needed. Edison (talk) 00:16, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Reply I honestly don't know where the idea of APU and UAA having the same address comes from. The wiki article on APU lists no address. The APU website lists "4101 University Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508" . UAA's website gives their address as "3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508". Those appear to be different. MadScot (talk) 00:25, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - They are two parts of the same road. UAA and APU are right next door to each other. They share a library. Uncle G (talk) 00:40, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Schools-related deletion discussions. —TerriersFan (talk) 00:18, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Unschool, I suggest that you start with pages 96 and 1120–1121 of ISBN 0768917492. If this is a hoax by university students, they probably deserve some sort of award for getting it into a university admissions guidebook. ☺ Uncle G (talk) 00:20, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- APA is also listed on page 22 of ISBN 0375764062, so these students managed to fool The Princeton Review as well. ☺ Uncle G (talk) 00:26, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Hint: You can use these as sources to make the article better, too. Uncle G (talk) 00:49, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Withdrawn! This is what I was looking for . . . I'm convinced. (As to the address issue, Scot, insert that 4101 University Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508 address into Google maps--it shows that as being smack dab in the middle of the UAA campus. I would now have to guess that Google has made an error in their maps.) So how do I get this speedily kept? (I'm so ignorant of these processes.) Unschool (talk) 00:42, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The map is off slightly - APU show their little campus further to the east, with a little loop road with the buildings round it. UAA and APU have a shared library, so it's not surprising the two campuses (campii?) are adjacent. MadScot (talk) 00:56, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comment But WAIT Please do not close this AFD until it is revealed: Is it two colleges, or one college with two names? ("Two, two, two mints in one!", "Her name was Magill, she called herself Lill, but everyone knew her as Nancy..." "He lived under the name Sanders") Edison (talk) 02:11, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Two colleges. They have independent web prescences, and APU refers to "sharing" library facilities with UAA, which it wouldn't have to say if they were the same facility. And tracking the history of both gives different stories, as you'd expect for distinct institutions. MadScot (talk) 02:28, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps something like Columbia College and Barnard College? Or are they more tightly integrated? What is the point of two colleges at the same place? Edison (talk) 03:00, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.