It would be all too easy to identify "the scandal" that made news yesterday -- I am thinking of CMC's false reporting of its students' SAT scores -- as a CMC problem. And without question, it is a CMC problem. But it is a mistake to think this is only a CMC problem. The truth is every college and university that participates in the rankings is implicated, since our participation lends credibility to the rankings. And the rankings are, without question, garbage. The best response is thus not to castigate CMC (who, after all, needs to be told that false reporting is unethical behavior?); the best response is to encourage our own institutions to stop filling out the survey that is distributed by 'useless news & world distort.' Once a critical mass of colleges and universities opt-out, this crass commercial project will implode. Put simply: when it comes to college rankings, ...
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