College presidents plan 'U.S. News' rankings boycott

[Zynx]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

OAKLAND, CALIF. - A revolt is brewing among college presidents against the influential college rankings put out each year by U.S. News & World Report.

Dozens of schools have recently refused to fill out surveys used to calculate ranks, and efforts are now afoot for a collective boycott.

Colleges have complained in the past about the rankings. But recent events have rallied opposition, including the tying of presidential pay to ranking at Arizona State University and accusations by the president of Sarah Lawrence College that the magazine threatened to use hocus-pocus data to stand in for average SAT scores at the school.

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Several college presidents suggested that they personally could evaluate only five to 10 schools – a far cry from the hundreds on the list. "We know each other through reputation, but that's different than having the kind of intimate knowledge you should have when you are making a ranking," says Robert Weisbuch, president of Drew University in Madison, N.J., who plans to sign the letter.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070412/ts_csm/arank_1

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About damn time. US News is famously corrupt in favor of the Ivy League - same schools on top every year, due entirely to the 25% "reputation" weighting, which is 40% at the graduate/professional level. Slamming schools on what is pretty much an uninformed survey is beyond stupid.

One year Cal Tech actually made #1 - and they forced out the person that was running the rankings that year. Now Harvard and Yale are back in their rightful places and no one is upset. *rolls eyes*

The ABA (American Bar Association, re: law schools) in particular has been ruthlessly critical of the reputation component of the rankings, as well as the idea in general.

[brentspeak]

1. Most of the Ivies hand out A's like they were candy, anyway

There's no justification why they and their "elite college" counterparts (Wesleyan, Stanford, Duke, etc.) should open more graduate school and job doors than all the other colleges and universities.

[Zynx]

Harvard's MBA school class size is a joke

They are literally several times bigger than any other one in the country. Harvard Law School is the same way.

But if certain people don't get their kids spots, certain people might complain, and we can't have that.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. Bush went to Yale and Harvard. 'Nuff said. n/t

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. Amen!

I would venture that it can't be good for "reputation" to have an alum throwing the world into the abyss of perpetual war and seriously competing for the title of most inept President in American history.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Even in the "lower" ranks it was obvious to me as a professor at a

very average liberal arts college that the rankings were of little value. As far as I could see, the rankings of the schools that I was familiar with had nothing to do with their reputations in the real world.

[Godhumor]

5. And who the hell evaluates a school as a whole?

You go to schools for specific programs, and I have always found that the reports where they rank similar degrees across the country to be a hell of a lot more beneficial.

I know people who have gone to a top-10 university only to find out their chosen major was underfunded, understaffed, and valueless.

[LuckyLib]

6. The compilation of data at every institution is VERY suspicious.

No two institutions are using exactly the same criteria on which to report data, and they are certainly going to err on the side of their own best interest. It's BS. University colleges and programs are watching each shift in these rankings very carefully.They salute their placement when it goes up, and point out to faculty when it goes down. That US News, of all media outlets, should have that kind of power is ridiculous.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. People seem to be learning to strong-arm the right in the same way

they've always strong-armed those in their power.

[Ciganina]

8. Curious to see how this plays out

This is my first post ever on DU. (I tried to post earlier today, but flubbed up somehow) However, I could not resist since I work with international students to assist them in university/college search. I am glad to see the schools stand up because my greatest concern has been that the competition rankings press schools to take only top, top, top students to maintain their positions. This makes it impossible to measure the value of a program. I would much rather show my students a school that can help a student develop - the rankings get in the way in that sense. I understand the rankings, but most students do not. They just pick a number and only want universities at that rank or higher. It is especially confusing to an international student.
I want to see how many schools manage to get on board for this.