This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Balliol College, Oxford article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1: 90 days

Historic sites Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Historic sites, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of historic sites on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Historic sitesWikipedia:WikiProject Historic sitesTemplate:WikiProject Historic sitesHistoric sites articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Architecture Mid‑importance

	Architecture portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Architecture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Higher education

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Higher education, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of higher education, universities, and colleges on Wikipedia. Please visit the project page to join the discussion, and see the project's article guideline for useful advice.Higher educationWikipedia:WikiProject Higher educationTemplate:WikiProject Higher educationHigher education articles

University of Oxford Top‑importance

	University of Oxford portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject University of Oxford, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the University of Oxford on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.University of OxfordWikipedia:WikiProject University of OxfordTemplate:WikiProject University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is on a specific College of the University.

Middle Ages Low‑importance

	Middle Ages portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Middle Ages, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Middle Ages on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Middle AgesWikipedia:WikiProject Middle AgesTemplate:WikiProject Middle AgesMiddle Ages articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Classical scholars

There ought to be mention of classical scholars such as Edgar Lobel, Sir John Beazley, WS Watt, KJ Dover and RGM Nisbet, to name only ones I have known personally, and all world-class. They could take the place of quite a lot of facetious trivialities that make parts of this article embarrassing to read. Esedowns (talk) 18:20, 30 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Esedowns, those names are all included at List of Balliol College, Oxford people#Classical scholars, although William Watt (classicist) does not yet have an article. TSventon (talk) 22:20, 30 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

William Watt has an article since June 2022. JPF (talk) 11:49, 3 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Nobel prizes list

The list looks like it's been drawn up by the college's spin doctors, and probably needs a good pruning if its first name is any guide. The only association of Pauling with Balliol is that he spent a year there as a visitor once already famous.^[1] so he was neither a student nor really part of faculty. 130.190.87.39 (talk) 16:00, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. I also removed the wording that "Balliol produced" various remarkable people to reduce the puffery. However, it is worth noting that quite a few established academics came to Balliol as visiting scholars. One way is via the Eastman Professorship which is administered by the Rhodes Trust. These visitors may or may not have done any teaching specific to Balliol. However, they were attached to the college and students and faculty may have had an opportunity to interact with them. One professor came as a visitor in the same year he was awarded a Nobel Prize so the college can take no credit. Such intellectual superstars could have gone anywhere else for a year but they chose to come to Oxford. Perhaps it was immaterial to them which college was attached so we cannot make too much of the connection. A degree of modesty is required. JPF (talk) 12:07, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ "Obituary: Professor Linus Pauling". The Independent. August 21, 1994. Archived from the original on June 16, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2018.

Make page more relevant to students

This college homepage has accumulated a lot of worthy but unimportant information over the years. There is a lot of archaic detail, esoteric factoids and trivia of a rather nerdy nature. The page seems self-important - see for example the comment from the OxfordStudent web journal.

7th – Balliol – 7/10

Corporate but sleek. Calls its ‘Notable Alumni’ page ‘Remarkable Alumni’, in a smug self-satisfied way that brought it lower on the list than it probably deserves.

The page needs a lot of attention to make it relevant to the key people who may read it. These would include potential students researching where to apply as well as current students and those connected to the college. A lot of bold editing is required. JPF (talk) 12:49, 3 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] "Obituary: Professor Linus Pauling". The Independent. August 21, 1994. Archived from the original on June 16, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2018.

[1]