Clemson president gives low grade to other schools

Move over Harvard, Yale, Princeton — and every other college. Asked to rate other universities for the influential U.S. News & World Report rankings, Clemson University President James Barker put his institution on top.

It might sound like the kind of cheerleading to be expected from a college president. But Barker’s votes in the peer review portion of the rankings — which account for 25 percent of a college’s score — appeared to at least partly validate some reported claims last week by a staff member portraying Clemson as consumed with moving up the table.