Guides differ on UO rankings
I he results of college
guides can vary greatly,
and cause incoming
students much confusion
By Sarah Skidmore
Oregon Daily Emerald
The University was ranked
18th for "Birkenstock-wearing,
tree-hugging, clove-smoking veg
etarians” in a 1998 national col
lege review.
In another recently released
1999 review. University students
are characterized as “primarily
Caucasian with an especially
heavy dose of the athletically in
clined.”
Deciphering the truth of these
rankings is difficult because of
their sheer number and inconsis
tency.
The 1999 Fiske Guide to Col
leges ranked the University in
the top 42 public and private
schools as one of the “best buys”
for students.
The Fiske Guide ranks the Uni
versity as a school “where you
can get the best possible educa
tion at the most reasonable cost,”
wrote Edward Fiske, a former
New York Times education re
porter who edits the guide.
Fiske also ranked the Universi
ty as one of only three schools on
the West Coast that offer “re
markable educational opportuni
ties.” However, Money Magazine
did not list the University in the
top 150 schools in its “value
ranking.”
Only one consensus is reached
by all the reports — that all re
Reviews in brief
Fiske: A great education for the
dollar. One of only three schools on
the West Coast that made the top
42 “best buys" in the nation
Money Magazine: The University
was not included in the “Value
Ranking" that listed their top 150
schools of the nation
U.S. News and World Report: The
third tier, an overall quality ranking
that places the University between
118th and 167th, nationally
Princeton Review: The University
has four separate rankings in the
national review: #3, “Dorms like
Dungeons”; #16, "Reefer Mad
ness": #14, “Party Schools"; #18,
“Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hug
ging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians”
suits are subjective.
“No complex institution can
be described in terms of a single
number or other symbol, and dif
ferent people will have different
views on how various institu
tions should be rated,” the Fiske
Guide said.
Martha Pitts, director of admis
sions, said there are a number of
reasons for the dissent in opin
ion. Different means of collecting
information, goals of the maga
zine and varying criteria are
some of the primary problems in
finding a consensus among re
views.
“Each guide has to sell itself
and each has to have a particular
niche or ploy to get students to
buy it,” Pitts said.
Comparing previous reviews to
the recent Fiske review, the final
results of each seem to demon
strate the power of subjectivity.
"Rooms in the dorms tend to
be small but clean and comfort
able, and they have Internet con
nections,” the Fiske Guide said.
The 1998 Princeton Review
gave the University the No. 3 slot
in the “dorms like dungeons”
category.
“Obviously they can’t be too
accurate if one is saying this and
another is saying something else.
How accurate can that be?” stu
dent Stacy Turnbull said. “That’s
just logic.”
This difference in ranking
methods account for many con
tradictions, which is particularly
evident between the U.S. News
and Fiske guides, Pitts said.
According to Fiske’s compila
tion, the University library sys
tem is the best in the state, the
quality of life rates four stars and
the academics and social life are
three stars out of a five-star rating
system.
However, the U.S. News and
World Report ranked the Univer
sity in its third tier (118th to
169th) for overall quality. The
academic reputation score of the
University was a 3.4 out of 5.
Pitts said conflicting reports
can send confusing messages to
students deciding where to go to
college.
“The college decision process
is a difficult and scary process for
families, and they want to make
the ‘right decision,’ and they
struggle with that,” she said.
News Brief
Judge permits Jewell
suit to proceed
NEW YORK — A federal judge
has allowed a libel case brought by
former Olympic Park bombing
suspect Richard Jewell to proceed
against the New York Post after
trimming away some of its claims.
Jewell, who earlier settled with
NBC and CNN, had filed a $15
million lawsuit against the Post,
accusing the newspaper of libel
ing and defaming him.
U.S. District Court Judge Loretta
A. Preska kept most of the lawsuit
in place, but threw out claims that
a photograph and an editorial car
toon had defamed him.
The suit alleged as libelous and
defamatory a series of articles,
headlines, photographs and edito
rial cartoons that appeared in the
newspaper in the days after The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke
the story that Jewell was a suspect.
Jewell, 34, was initially por
trayed as a hero for spotting a sus
picious package and helping to
clear people from the area before
the July 27,1996, explosion.
But he became a villain after the
FBI confirmed he was a suspect. He
became the target of extensive me
dia coverage until cleared by the
Justice Department months later.
— The Associated Press
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