Talk:Brock Blomberg

Contested deletion

This page should not be speedily deleted because... (With recent terrorist events in France there are more searches and interest for research on the economics of terrorism. Brock Blomberg is one of the few experts in the area. Perhaps the formatting needs to better contructing but I was following pages from his less famous colleagues at Claremont McKenna like Eric Helland. How does it need to be rewritten to seem less "promotionable") --SamwitWIKIBlomberg (talk) 20:58, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Contested deletion

This page should not be speedily deleted because... (Dean Blomberg is listed on the wikipedia page Robert Day School of Economics and Finance as dean. Hence this is a hyperlink to it to explain his background) --SamwitWIKIBlomberg (talk) 21:10, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101216065300/http://claremontmckenna.edu/rdschool/discover/mckenomics/march2004.pdf to http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/rdschool/discover/mckenomics/march2004.pdf

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Sources for "Early life and education" section

Hello, Wikipedia community. I'm Tom, the chief communications officer at Ursinus College, and I created a Wikipedia account to offer suggestions and improvements to articles related to the college. I also wish to acknowledge my conflict of interest, with the hope that any requests and recommended updates are viewed in as transparent a way as possible. I look forward to working with editors to review those requests and to update the article on my behalf.

The Brock Blomberg article has an 'Early life and education' section, but I noticed some of the sentences are not entirely correct or sourced. For example, I found some references confirming he received his Bachelor of Science (not Bachelor of Arts) from the University of Tampa, and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Johns Hopkins University. Here are the references to consider adding to the article:

• "Ursinus taps a political economist as next president" states, "Blomberg graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tampa and got his master's and doctorate in economics from Johns Hopkins University."
• "Ursinus College names economist Brock Blomberg its 17th president" states, "An El Paso, Texas, native, Blomberg received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tampa, where he graduated magna cum laude. He went on to receive his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from John Hopkins University, according to materials found on Ursinus's website."

Therefore, I propose replacing "He graduated from The University of Tampa magna cum laude in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. He spent the next several years working on his Doctor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University.", with the following: "He graduated from the University of Tampa magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science, then received his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in economics from Johns Hopkins University."

References

Additionally, in the info box, "BA" should be changed to "BS" next to "University of Tampa". I understand editors may prefer different wording, but my goal here is to share helpful references for text lacking citations. Will someone review this request and update the article on my behalf?

Thank you. TY Ursinus (talk) 17:18, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

@Bbb23: This article has received lots of edits from unregistered users, but I see you're an active editor who has worked on this page before. Might you be able to help with this request, or suggest a place to get editor assistance? Thank you. TY Ursinus (talk) 18:02, 10 September 2019 (UTC)

@TY Ursinus: My edits were four years ago. I have no interest in this article. If you follow the instructions at {{Request edit}}, hopefully an editor will review your request.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:16, 10 September 2019 (UTC)

OK, thanks. I've added the template above. TY Ursinus (talk) 00:31, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Reply 11-SEP-2019

  Edit request implemented  

• The requested changes were made. As the infobox |alma_mater= parameter is for linked names of the last-attended institutions of higher education, the degrees obtained therein were omitted.

 Additional changes made:

1. Items which were not referenced were either omitted or given Citation needed inline templates.
2. The list of numerous "appointments" was referenced by only one source. Ideally, these appointments ought to be referenced by the individual organizations which appointed the subject, as they are the ultimate authority on appointments and dates of appointments.
3. The list of the subject's publications were given digital object identifiers {{DOI}}.
4. Claims regarding the subject's early years as referenced by the Claremont McKenna source were insufficiently paraphrased from the source material and were omitted.
5. One instance of |deadurl=yes parameter was changed to |url-status=dead in order to clear the resulting CS1 formatting error.
6. One instance of |title=Archived copy parameter was given the item's actual title in order to clear the resulting CS1 maintenance error.

Regards,  Spintendo  04:38, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

Request to remove inaccurate and misleading content

Thanks to User:Spintendo for helping above. I am disappointed to see some basic and important biographical/career details removed from the article, especially since I was just trying to fix an error and improve sourcing, but I trust you're working to make the article more compliant with Wikipedia's rules. I will try to submit some additional requests to add back some of the claims, using better sourcing.

In the meantime, I am concerned about the last two paragraphs of the "Career" section, which are inaccurate and a clear misinterpretation of the references. The text attributes issues specifically to Blomberg when actually sourcing is focused on other people or Ursinus in general. If I explain how the text is problematic, can an editor update the article on my behalf? Currently, the article says:

Current text

In April, 2016, Blomberg dismissed Terry Winegar, the dean of the college who had served as interim president prior to Blomberg's appointment. Winegar later sued Blomberg and Ursinus, claiming age discrimination. In September, 2016, offensive tweets by board chairman Michael Marcon were circulated on campus, leading to criticism of Blomberg for not taking action. Marcon subsequently resigned from his position. In 2017, Blomberg approached journalist Juan Williams about being Ursinus's commencement speaker. A controversy erupted when faculty members learned about this, citing accusations of plagiarism and sexual harassment against Williams. Blomberg denied that a formal invitation was made, and Williams was removed from consideration. In 2018, Blomberg notified the campus community that Ursinus was obligated to self-report potential athletic financial aid violations to the NCAA. References

I've outlined how the current text is problematic below:

Terry Winegar

• The first two sentences ("In April, 2016, Blomberg dismissed Terry Winegar, the dean of the college who had served as interim president prior to Blomberg's appointment. Winegar later sued Blomberg and Ursinus, claiming age discrimination.") are based on this reference, which does not actually say that Blomberg dismissed Winegar. The linked source is just reporting on the lawsuit that Dr. Winegar filed, in which he alleged he was fired. Actually, the source says, "Rather, Ursinus fired him because he was too old, alleged the 62-year-old Winegar." The source does confirm that Winegar later sued Blomberg and Ursinus. I should also note, Dr. Winegar is still a psychology professor at Ursinus, so the text is not entirely accurate. A more accurate summary would look more like the following: In April 2016, former Dean Terry Winegar filed a lawsuit against Ursinus and Blomberg claiming age discrimination.

Michael Marcon

• The 3rd sentence ("In September, 2016, offensive tweets by board chairman Michael Marcon were circulated on campus, leading to criticism of Blomberg for not taking action.") is supposedly supported by this source, which mentions Blomberg but does not mention any criticism for his actions. The source says, "Brock Blomberg, president of Ursinus, said the tweets 'don't reflect the values and history and mission here at Ursinus College.' He said Marcon regrets having posted them... The case, the president said, can be used as a learning experience for everyone, from students to the board chair... Blomberg said the board is supportive of Marcon and his leadership, though not of the tweets." This source is about Marcon, not Blomberg, and the Wikipedia article's text misrepresents the source.

• The 4th sentence ("Marcon subsequently resigned from his position.") is based on this source, which confirms Marcon's resignation and mentions Blomberg in passing. The text may be factually accurate, but this "controversy" is not about Blomberg. It doesn't seem appropriate to include in his biographical Wikipedia article, since his role here is simply having commented on the situation on behalf of the institution. A more accurate summary would look more like the following: In September 2016, some people argued that tweets by the board chair were offensive; the board chair ultimately resigned from that position.

Juan Williams

• The 3 sentences about Juan Williams are based on this source, which says, "Yencho said that Williams was originally approached by Brock Blomberg... 'to gauge his interest and his availability'." This source mentions Blomberg in passing and does not suggest he was highly involved in this "controversy". The phrase "controversy erupted" is subjective and not an accurate representation of what happened, and is not supported by the referenced article. Williams was not invited to speak and thus was also not dis-invited. A more accurate summary would be along the lines of: In February 2017, journalist Juan Williams was considered for commencement speaker, but was removed from consideration when faculty and students cited accusations of improper conduct earlier in Williams' career.

NCAA

• Finally, the last sentence is supported by the college's student newspaper. Whether or not editors consider student newspapers reputable sources, this piece is more about the college and Blomberg's action as president than a personal controversy. A more accurate summary would be: In 2018, Blomberg notified the campus community that the college self-reported to the NCAA possible violations related to certain student-athletes and the financial aid packages they received.

I hope editors will agree that none of these so-called "controversies" were instigated by Blomberg and that he had little, if any, direct role. The current text presents "allegations" as facts. I propose removing the last two paragraphs of the "Career" section altogether. I understand editors reviewing this request will be skeptical, especially since I am submitting this on behalf of Ursinus College, but I hope editors will agree this contentious material is unfair.

Will someone review this request and update the article on my behalf by removing the last two paragraphs of the "Career" section? Hopefully then I can work to add back some of the career claims removed by User:Spintendo as a result of the above edit request. Thank you. TY Ursinus (talk) 12:38, 13 September 2019 (UTC)