With last week’s release of U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings, some students and faculty are wary about the meaning of Syracuse University’s progressive slip in the regarded list, while university officials hold that the downgraded ranking does not accurately reflect the quality and initiatives of the university.

‘If a school is falling a lot over time, then should that mean something to the students?’ said Robert Morse, the director of data research for U.S. News. ‘Yes, but I’m not sure the typical student looks at the data at the level to be able to determine what was behind that drop and if it’s a meaningful drop.’

U.S. News ranked SU No. 62 in its annual list of the best undergraduate schools in the country,

a seven-spot slip from 2011’s No. 55 ranking. U.S. News analysts do not consider that a major move, but SU has dropped 13 spots since 1996, when it was ranked No. 49.

Sometimes a change in ranking is caused by other universities improving, but SU’s drop this year was caused by a number of small decreases in some of the categories U.S. News assesses, Morse said. In U.S. News’ terminology, SU was ‘relatively weaker’ in reputation, which is calculated from reviews by peer college presidents, provosts and admissions deans.

SU was also ‘slightly weaker’ in four categories: retention and graduation rates; admissions, which looks at admissions rates and how many students in the incoming freshman class were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes; faculty resources, which refers to anything from salaries to class sizes to proportion of full-time faculty; and graduation rate performance, which is how a university’s actual graduation rate compares to U.S. News’ projected graduation rate.

Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, said university officials do not believe SU’s ranking and the categories the list focuses on accurately reflect the areas which SU considers of greatest importance, a sentiment reflected in a letter Chancellor Nancy Cantor posted to SU’s website the day the rankings were released.

SU is focusing on catering to the ‘new normal,’ a term defined differently in different situations. But SU defines the term as the need to invest in and focus on meeting the financial needs of potential and current students in light of the sluggish economy, Quinn said. The phrase also encompasses the need to focus on recruiting students from areas where the college-aged population is growing, such as the South and the West, he said.

‘As we expand our geographic reach, when you do that, by necessity, you’re going to admit more students,’ Quinn said. ‘And one of the things U.S. News prioritizes, really, is the amount of students you admit versus the number you reject.’

The university stays aware of and considers the rankings over time, but Quinn said the university mainly recognizes that other institutions place value on the list. He also said he does not believe the rankings have negatively affected outside perceptions of SU.

Quinn pointed to SU’s billion-dollar campaign, which has raised 90 percent of its fundraising goal, as a sign of the success of the university’s policy.

Morse, U.S. News’ director of data research, acknowledged U.S. News’ rankings are not a comprehensive measure of a university’s quality and are sometimes volatile. There was an anomalous year, 1998, when SU was ranked No. 40, but then it dropped down to 47 the next

year. And just because SU was ranked No. 40 in 1998, does not mean current students are getting a worse education, he said. It does mean the university has changed in some way, though, he added.

‘I think college presidents don’t like to admit their school has changed a little bit,’ Morse said. ‘On one hand, they say, ‘We’re improving the school,’ but on another hand, they say, ‘Our schools don’t change.”

Jeff Stonecash, a professor of political science and former member of the University Senate Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee, said he believes it is irresponsible for Cantor to disregard the rankings.

No matter how much people do not want to admit it, the university is a business that needs to focus on making money by attracting students and faculty, Stonecash said. One way to do that is to balance the number of students who receive full financial aid with those who pay the full tuition. A long-term decline in rankings could deter those who can afford to pay the full tuition, Stonecash said.

‘I find it astonishing that somebody could just blandly state that, ‘Don’t worry, we can live by other rules. We judge ourselves differently,” he said. ‘And what really troubles me about this is that there’s no plan, there’s no logic, there’s no analysis, there’s no reassurance by factual persuasion.’

Quineese Works, a junior political science major, said the lower rankings throughout the years bother her, but she feels rankings are not affecting her education in the long run.

Works said she would prefer it if SU were ranked higher, but that she still feels she is getting a quality education. She also said she hopes the lower rankings do not dissuade potential students.

‘I feel like prospective students should take the rankings with a grain of salt,’ she said.

And in the long run, Works said she does not think anyone will care that she attended a No. 62 school as opposed to a No. 40 school.

‘I don’t think potential employers are going to pull out old copies of U.S. News rankings during an interview,’ she said. ‘I think the SU name still has weight.’

rhkheel@syr.edu 

Published on September 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm