“Right now, private rankings like U.S. News & World Report puts out each year…it encourages a lot of colleges to focus on ways to — how do we game the numbers?”
This comment from President Obama, its contorted grammar aside, hints at a critical and hidden reality. Many college policies, procedures and practices are designed solely to influence U.S. News rankings, not to improve education. Meanwhile, the U.S. News rankings fail to take many things into account that profoundly affect education and the overall college experience.
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, “college presidents agree that binge drinking is the most serious problem on campus.” NIH data underscore the fallout, noting “about 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing classes, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers and receiving lower grades overall.”
Almost 2,000 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries, nearly 700,000 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking, and more than 97,000 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.
At many schools, binge drinking — having five or more drinks for a male and four or more for a female within two hours – is becoming the norm. A Harvard survey at 120 campuses revealed 44 percent of students engaged in binge drinking (known in certain contexts as “pre-gaming”) in the previous two weeks. At Princeton, the top U.S. News ranked college, university policy “prohibits the consumption and serving of alcoholic beverages by and to persons under 21.” Enforcement is another matter, based on a Princeton 2011 survey that revealed 73 percent of students had recently pre-gamed, up from 67 percent in 2008.
A few colleges are actually doing something about this. Following alleged recent sexual misconduct at two fraternities, Brown banned alcoholic events in residential areas, and Dartmouth recently banned liquor with more than 15 percent alcohol from its campus. But the status quo prevails at most universities — albeit with hand-wringing and solemn expressions of serious concern tempered by statements on the difficulty of doing anything meaningful.
But imagine if U.S. News changed its criteria to include a metric on alcohol abuse, as well as efforts to reduce its incidence. Is there any doubt universities would address the problem with greater urgency?
For perspective, a September 2014 Boston Magazine article described how Northeastern University president Richard Freeland set out to move up in the rankings after realizing “schools ranked highly received increased visibility and prestige, stronger applicants, more alumni giving, and, most important, greater revenue potential…This single list, Freeland determined, had the power to make or break a school.” He embarked on a path to “recalibrate the school to climb up the ranks…”
U.S. News Editor and Chief Content Officer Brian Kelly has stated, “It’s not up to us to solve problems. We’re just putting data out there.”
Yet the data U.S. News chooses to incorporate are never far from a college president’s mind. By not including campus drinking data, U.S. News may contribute to the problem. Perhaps mindful of the emphasis the magazine places on retaining students (22.5 percent of total rank), administrators don’t wish to risk alienating their charges by curbing drinking.
There is no greater influence on college behavior than U.S. News. Yet the influence of drinking on education is ignored. The magazine needs some prodding — from government, public interest groups, parents and even educators to change its criteria. With a gentle nudge from U.S. News there is no doubt universities, which are home to some of the greatest minds in America, could develop sound approaches to reducing campus pre-gaming. That’s a game that should begin with all deliberate speed.
Elliott Millenson is the father of a college freshman. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions for editorials, available at this link.
