Rankings do not place OU on party school lists

by Cari Armstrong
For The Post

Ohio University moved one step closer to shaking its party-school image with a ranking in the latest issue of "U.S. News and World Report."

The report ranked Ohio University No. 45 nationwide in the doctoral studies category, according to its America's Best Colleges report.

"U.S. News and World Report" ranks colleges annually and reviews every accredited four-year university in the nation in areas such as academics, campus life and tuition.

Reviewers obtain rankings in two ways. Pure assessment, in which deans, presidents and professors rate different aspects of each university, is 25 percent of the rankings. The remaining 75 percent is informational data that is collected by the school, said Rich Folkers, director of media relations for "U.S. News and World Report."

The magazine does not use any student input in the review.

"I think the gold standard would be to get student input, the problem is finding a way to do it for every school," Folkers said. "There isn't an accurate, repetitive method of doing it." The review includes alumni donations as an indicator of a satisfied student body, he said.

While many students may see OU in the academic report, other publications rank schools on different criteria.

"Princeton Review" writers did not rank OU in a list of the 20 "Best Party Schools in the Nation" for the second year in a row.

"The Princeton Review" ranks 345 colleges in 63 different categories annually. Their data for rankings is obtained solely from student surveys, said Harriet Brand, director of public relations at ••The Princeton Review••. "We survey live, on campus in a central location until we get a few hundred responses," Brand said.

Surveyors ask students 70 questions on topics ranging from academics to food to party life.

OU administrators were pleased with the lack of negative publicity for the university.

"It is positive that we aren't cast in that light," said Terry Hogan, dean of students. "We don't think they (the rankings) mean a whole lot. The method is not based on serious research."

Administrators said they do not expect losing a party school ranking to affect the image of OU.

"OU is no more a party school than other colleges, and certainly is no less of one," said Mike Sostarich, vice president for student affairs.

While administrators are happy that OU was not included on the list, they said they still question the validity of the rankings.

OU was ranked in another of the review's categories. The university ranked sixth on the category of "Homogeneous Student Population."

Homogeneous student population means that there is a majority of one race on campus. Ninety-one percent of OU students are Caucasian, according to the review.