So, I’m reading my local news website (KGW.com) and came across a story about how a class at Portland State made the Family Security Matters Second Annual “America’s Most Dangerous College Courses”. Ha, Ha, another nutjob think tank handwringing to get publicity. Then, I went to the site to see the full list, and I’m happy to say that dear old alma mater pulled in at number 9.

9. “Body Politics: Power, Pain, and Pleasure” at Williams College.

Feminist Professor Jana Sawicki has created a politically correct, Lefty gem with her Williams College course that promises to discuss such penetrating questions as, “If bodies and pleasures are historically and socially constituted within unequal power relationships, what can or should we do to transform them?” and “Is the body an inevitable source of resistance and rebellion?”

 

One look at the course description, and PC words and phrases just jump out at you: only academic Leftists use the terms “unequal power relationships.” Unfortunately, most students can’t decipher Lefty propaganda until after they graduate. Here’s a tip: stay out of this class if you want rational discussions on important political concepts that don’t have anything to do with feminist professors complaining about how the “man” tries to control “their” bodies. You’re likely to come out of this class dumb and brainwashed, and that is dangerous indeed. 

If you want to marvel in the full list, it’s right here I can’t say it’s a class that I would choose as an elective, but hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Reaction?

At The Boston Globe Jim McCabe, using the current Patriots as a springboard, explores the futility of figuring out which team is the “greatest of all time” but also acknowledges that the very futility of it may be what makes such arguments so enduring and alluring.

The next week is destined to pass slowly. The NFL does itself, and more importantly its fans, a disservice by having the off week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. There is no real reason why this game should not be going on today, though if Tom Brady’s ankle really is injured, pats fans are thankful for the respite. Nonetheless, it feels as if the league has killed some of its own carefully cultivated momentum.

Williams will not join the U.S. News revolt (at least not yet), but it will stop promoting its ranking in admissions materials and news releases.

I don’t think that slight policy change will have any effect whatsoever on Williams’ public perception. Anyone savvy enough about colleges to know about and care about the U.S. News liberal arts rankings wouldn’t rely on Williams itself to promote its perennial high ranking. And I think there are far more effective marketing tools that Williams does, and should continue, to utilize in any event. For instance, the current edition of the prospectus and the current admissions page are oustanding and provide information far more interesting than U.S. News rankings.

In the aftermath of a spasm of Oberlin-induced rage (and who among us hasn’t had one of those?), Manhattan media gossip site Gawker yesterday proposed to identify America’s Most Annoying Liberal Arts College. The good news? Williams didn’t even make the preliminary list, nor was it written into the final ballot today.

No more write-ins please–sorry, Skidmore! — this is our list and we’re sticking to it. To get you started, we turn to the immortal words of commenter LOLCait, who helpfully defined liberal arts colleges for us: “In the form it’s being used here, it’s a four-year liberal leaning, usually in a small town, college with no grad programs, that rich kids go to feel free and take peyote and wander around campus barefoot and shrieking into the night “I’m a real person!” and then graduate and abandon it all for a good job, only to relive it on screened in porches years later when they find an old joint pressed into a copy of the Stranger, so they toke it even though it’s stale and they remember a little bit but then go to bed and wake up just the same as they were the day before.” All right then! To the colleges!

Wesleyan, Bennington and Hampshire all show up, though. Vote early and often!

After reading this article in the Washington Post on Tuesday, I was struck by the absence of Williams. It reminded me that despite the U.S. News rankings, even here in DC, I often receive blank stares when I inform people I went to Williams. One can only wonder how many times in a row Williams would have to rank first to receive more publicity.

(more…)

We all know there is a certain arbitrariness to the US News and World Report College Rankings. The selection of criteria and the weighting of the criteria are idiosyncratic. Alternative ranking exist. For instance, some clever economists ranked colleges by the head-to-head choices made by high school seniors). Well, the liberal Washington Monthly weighs in with its own rankings emphasizing public service:

From this starting point, we came up with three central criteria: Universities should be engines of social mobility, they should produce the academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth; and they should inculcate and encourage an ethic of service.

The authors are forthcoming with the limitations of the methodology and data (part of their purpose is to encourage universities to release data — something David Kane can fully support). The rankings of universities is radically different from US News and World Report. Here are the top ten universities: 1) MIT; 2) UCLA; 3) UC-Berkeley; 4) Cornell; 5) Stanford; 6) Penn State; 7) Texas A&M; UC-San Diego; 9) U Penn; 10) University of Michigan.

The rankings for liberal arts colleges are not radically different: 1) Wellesley; 2) Wesleyan; 3) Bryn Mawr; 4) Harvey Mudd; 5) Fisk; 6) Amherst; 7) Haverford; Wofford; 9) Colby; 10) Spelman.

Williams comes in at #14.

Williams, which U.S. News ranks as the top liberal arts school in the country, wound up at #14 on our list, one slot below Presbyterian, largely because of its weak service numbers.

One methodological irony is how Washington Monthly measured service. Numbers on teachers and government employees are not readily available. However, ROTC numbers for each college are easy to find. So schools with active ROTC programs are ranked more highly than they might be otherwise. Again, I think David Kane might fully support an expansion of the Williams ROTC program.

This might be the only source of agreement between David and Washington Monthly.

The latest US News college rankings are out. Williams has maintained its #1 position, with Amherst second and Swarthmore third. Previous discussions here and here.

Again, it would make a great senior theses to look at the US News system and how Williams has fared over the years. One of the surprises (to me) is that Williams is only 5th on the “selectivity” rank. Why would that be? Note that Amherst also has higher SAT scores and class ranks. Hmmm.