Talk:1991 University of Iowa shooting

Latest comment: 4 years ago by Unready in topic Capitalization of a person's job title

Page bias edit

A request for clarification has been requested... Clarify WHAT? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.170.180.84 (talk) 21:05, 21 July 2012 (UTC)Reply

This page is biased in that it portrays Gang Lu as a victim of an uncaring educational system. (The addition of the movie - which should be in there - makes Gang Lu look to have been abused by the university.) This is far from the truth.

See: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/04/us/iowa-gunman-was-torn-by-academic-challenge.html?ref=michelmarriott and http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-11-03/news/9104080982_1_van-allen-hall-dissertation-jessup-hall

Someone without knowledge keeps reverting it back to the "Gang Lu was a victim" version.

From NY Times

""He had a very bad temper and saw himself as No. 1," said Xuming Chi, a doctoral candidate who was a former roommate of Mr. Lu. "He had a psychological problem with being challenged.""

From the Chicago Tribune

"Lu, who some said grew jealous of Shan, especially after the latter`s doctoral dissertation was nominated for a prize Lu coveted, became known as a recluse, holing up in the department`s Van Allen Hall and seldom socializing with his peers."

and

"``He is very bright but he was extremely lazy. He always wanted everything but wouldn`t give people the time of day. It was always, `Me, me, me,` `` said Matt Goeckner, who earned his Ph.D. in physics at Iowa."

Page move edit

I agree that this article is more about the shooting than the shooter. Cla68 (talk) 07:02, 2 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

His field of work edit

Astrophysics is correct.

Does anyone know more about what he was studying? the movie Dark Matter portrays him as a astro-physicist, but I would like to find more credible sources of information... Leav (talk) 16:36, 26 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

According to this NY Times article, he worked with plasma physics. Capmo (talk) 05:13, 7 September 2009 (UTC)Reply
It would be good to know that, as far as the "field of work" bit is concerned. 97.127.136.170 (talk) 23:44, 20 January 2010 (UTC)Reply
Goertz was the lead of the group, which included Lu, for theoretical space plasma physics. The research group meeting was for his group. Basically everyone at the meeting (including the two unmentioned survivors) in Van Allen Hall worked for Goertz. Specifically, Lu did numerical simulation. --Unready (talk) 20:26, 26 April 2013 (UTC)Reply

That's not entirely correct - the plasma physics seminars were usually "cross cutting" among the research groups: so there were people in the room that were part of Goertz's research group as well as other faculty and students in other research groups in the physics department. (Some experimental groups, some theoretical groups,some focused on space plasmas, etc.) Source: former U of I physics student. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.17.113.158 (talk) 02:47, 28 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

It wasn't a seminar. It was just a meeting. --Unready (talk) 15:57, 16 November 2016 (UTC)Reply

Football? edit

This is an absurd addition to this article with no relevance and I suggest it be removed or every other act of mourning, both on and off the football field be recorded...

"The following football game saw the Hawkeyes football team appear in uniforms stripped of all helmet logos, and striping, as an official sign of mourning." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.234.52.131 (talk) 00:54, 21 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

Due to the significance of the football team at the U of I, and the relative rarity of the removal of the tiger hawk from the helmet (I've been unable to find any other instance of this happening), I think the section should stay, although it could be incorporated with other instances of mourning. 97.127.136.170 (talk) 23:54, 20 January 2010 (UTC)Reply
It happened during the Alamo Bowl in the early 00s if I remember correctly when a player's mother died in a collision on the way to the bowl game, but that time and the game after the shooting are the only two instances with which I'm familiar. --Sephiroth9611 (talk) 15:44, 1 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

The author of the first reference should be "Mann, Jim" not "Mann, Mann". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.103.31.20 (talk) 21:39, 13 December 2015 (UTC)Reply

Additional sources edit

WhisperToMe (talk) 04:16, 24 July 2016 (UTC)Reply

This Article is Missing the Usual Personal Data on the Shooter edit

Where was the shooter born (city)? Why was he in the United States and how did he get in (types of visas and years for each)? How was he financing and supporting himself in the United States? The article should include his financial condition from before coming to the United States and through the entire period that led up to the shooting.Starhistory22 (talk) 04:39, 2 November 2017 (UTC)Reply

Capitalization of a person's job title edit

@Unready: See MOS:JOBTITLES: "The formality (officialness), specificity, or unusualness of a title is not a reason to capitalize it." The person is "an associate vice president for academic affairs". No department was named. If the person was "an associate vice president in the Academic Affairs Department", I would not have changed the case, but search Wikipedia and you will see that "the accounting department" is only capitalized in about 17% of articles. Some people feel the need to capitalize every noun when a university is being discussed, but that is not the style Wikipedia uses. Chris the speller yack 13:57, 19 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

It's not about the job title. Academic Affairs is the name of the department, even without "Department." --Unready (talk) 08:29, 20 July 2019 (UTC)Reply