Beth Keserauskis

Hunger Strike to Challenge College Rankings

Continuing with the season of college rankings, here is an interesting story about a student embarking on a hunger strike to draw attention to the inadequacy of the U.S. News and World Report college rankings process. I don’t know about anyone else, but I think there are more important issues in the world about which we should go on a hunger strike.

Washington Monthly puts out an interesting college guide. They rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories:

• Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students)
• Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs)
• Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country)

This certainly sounds like a much more worthwhile ranking system for prospective students and parents than the U.S. News rankings based on fame, exclusivity and money.

September 7, 2010 - Posted by Elizabeth Keserauskis | higher education, marketing, public relations | college rankings, highered, measurement, PR, reputation