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Ask Foy

Open helpline run by Auburn University

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ4807068
Source-derived summary

The Foy Information Desk, or the Foy Information Line, is a telephone and walk-in information service provided by Auburn University and hosted in the new Student Union building. The service has been in continuous operation since it was started in 1953 by the Dean of Students, James E. Foy. At one time, the service was available 24 hours a day, but is now available from 7 am to 11pm Central Standard Time. The Foy Information Desk service was initially designed as a resource for Auburn students who were looking for course information, grades, or campus services, but now accepts calls from the general public. The operators are Auburn University students, and the free service attempts to answer any question within reason asked by a caller or visitor about Auburn University. Auburn's Foy Information Desk service is one of the busiest information lines, receiving around 1000 calls each day.

The service was featured on the Today Show on November 27, 2007.

On October 10, 2014, an employee at the Foy Information Desk received a bomb threat from a caller. The building was evacuated while police searched for explosives, finding none. The call was traced back to a 15-year-old in Tennessee.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ask Foy” as open helpline run by Auburn University. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around helpline, Auburn and University.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1953, 1000, 2007, 2014—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with helpline, Auburn and University providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ask Foy”, the useful work is to connect “open helpline run by Auburn University” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4807068. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1000, 2007 and 2014.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ask Foy”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ask Foy primary sources, Ask Foy archive and helpline research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ask Foy”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ask Foy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.