More Opposition to U.S. News Rankings

The number of college presidents coming out against the annual list has doubled as a new survey using new methods is bandied about

by Alison Damast

The outcry by 12 college presidents against the annual U.S. News & World Report college rankings appears to have gained momentum. The presidents of at least 13 other liberal arts colleges have agreed in the past two weeks to boycott a section of the survey in which they're asked to rate other schools, according to an organizer (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/7/07, "The College Rankings Revolt Heats Up").

In addition, Lloyd Thacker, president of the nonprofit, Portland (Ore.)-based Education Conservancy, said on May 18 that he is setting up meetings with two leading education advocacy organizations, the Teagle Foundation and the I Have a Dream Foundation, to come up with a new "interactive" system to assess the colleges. He hopes to come up with a system to evaluate schools that emphasizes more communication between students and colleges, he said.

"What we need to do is think our way out from under the influence of the rankings system so we have a better way to more comprehensively and legitimately think about how students make choices, and what we say is important about education," Thacker said.

Rankings Rankle

The boycott movement started May 5, when the presidents of 12 colleges sent out letters to their colleagues at an estimated 1,000 liberal arts schools, asking them to boycott the portion of the U.S. News rankings that asks them to rate other schools. They also asked schools to not use the U.S. News rankings—which evaluates about 1,500 schools and is widely used by parents and prospective students—to promote their respective schools. In the letter, the presidents said the ranking implied a "false precision and authority" that was misleading to students and parents.

The numerous consumer rankings of college programs—including BusinessWeek, which ranks business programs—have been criticized for exerting undue influence on educational priorities (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/5/05, "A Rank Offense to B-Schools?"). Advocates of rankings say they provide valuable and independent information on colleges for prospective students and their families.

While a large-scale boycott could pose a threat to the U.S. News project and similar rankings, Brian Kelly, the U.S. News editor in charge of the rankings, said May 18 that while the magazine was "happy" to have other people in the business, he doubted the dissident group would have much success in coming up with a new rankings scheme. "I'll believe it when I see it," he said. As for the schools joining the revolt, he said, "These are fundamentally schools that don't want to be ranked."

Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.