U. returns to Ivy cellar in annual 'U.S. News' ranking

We're back in the cellar again. After a brief stint atop Brown University in the U.S. News & World Report College Guide, the University again dropped to last place in the Ivy League, according to the seventh annual survey of "America's Best Colleges" released yesterday. Overall, the University fell to 16th place, dropping three slots from last year's position, and raked up an overall score of 90.3 out of a possible 100. Brown jumped six slots to 12th place and Northwestern and Rice universities also passed over the University to rise in the ranks. Interim President Claire Fagin called the results of the poll "disturbing." "I don't like the ranking," Fagin said. "It's easy to say the way [the poll is] done isn't right, but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed." The magazine compared the University with 203 other national universities – "America's best known schools" – which use selective admissions standards and have greater resources than colleges in the survey's other categories. The rankings are based on subjective evaluation by college presidents, deans and admissions directors, as well as more objective criteria like student selectivity, faculty resources, financial resources, graduation rate and alumni satisfaction. Student satisfaction was not considered by the magazine in this year's rankings. Harvard University topped the rankings, followed by Princeton and Yale universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The University achieved its highest ranking in in the poll during 1990 and 1991 at 13th place and was at its lowest point in 1989 at 20th place. At one time, the University did not even place within the top 20 universities. This year, the University experienced the most significant drop in the area of faculty resources, falling from 18th in 1991 to 50th, lower than any school in the top 25. The faculty resources ranking was derived by taking the ratio of full-time faculty to full-time students, the percentage of full-time faculty with doctorates, the average 1992 faculty salary and the proportion of small to large classes. The University placed sixth in the Ivies for academic reputation – beating out Dartmouth College and Brown – and 14th overall in the category. In the area of spending for educational programs, the University ranked seventh in the Ivy League. The University's spending on instruction, student services, administration and academic support per student totaled $22,337. Yale University spent the most money per student of any university in the Ivy League with $39,110. Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson said the University is doing very well, given its current financial situation. "If I put the pieces together, it sounds like, given the fact that we are under funded and under endowed, we are actually doing an outstanding job," he said. "It sounds like they rated us down because we lack the financial resources." Lazerson said the poll confirms for him what he has known for a long time – that the University "overachieves." "I'm less concerned about our ranking overall than I am about issues like student selectivity and academic reputation," he said. "The message that this gives to me is that we need to do our best to increase the fiscal resources of our University." Fagin said the U.S. News ratings have always been criticized for their quality, the way they are assigned and how accurate the information is. "To say I don't care, I can't say that," she said. "I always care. I like to rank high in the polls." Fagin pointed to the University's high ranking in alumni satisfaction – eighth overall – as proof of how highly the University is regarded in terms of "love of the University." Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said parents and potential students look at the best schools as a collective group. "Our contacts with students and parents tells us that their focus is on general rankings in top groups and not necessarily in specific rank positions," he said. "Even though it's a trend in the wrong direction, my sense is that it will have a limited affect on our attractiveness." In addition to ranking the University as a whole, U.S. News also ranked the best University graduate departments. The physics, economics, English, history, sociology and psychology departments all were ranked in the top 20 in the country, but none ranked higher than ninth. Fagin said when the rankings are taken as a whole, they "will not make anyone happy." "They are clearly problematic," she said. "We do have to look at all the items they have isolated and try to understand them.

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