Clemson Scamming U.S. News and World Reports?

I’m not a journalist, nor was meant to be…  So this isn’t a journalistic piece, but a short note about something going on at Clemson University, where I finished my master’s degree in 2005.

The site Inside Higher Ed ran a story today about Clemson’s quest to raise it’s U.S. News and World Reports rankings.  If you’re not involved in higher ed, you might not appreciate how important these rankings can be to a college.  Think Consumer Reports but for colleges.  Now, there is a lot of discussion about if these ratings are actually important or valid, but that’s an issue or another time.

Basically, Clemson’s been gaming the system a bit.  Not violating rules, but playing it close.  You can read the whole article here.  They’re raising salaries, reducing class sizes, increasing fundraising participation, and raising admission standards.  But, they’re doing this by raising tuition on already overburdened parents, raising some classes to above 50 students and reducing others to below 20, getting people to make only token donations to increase participation, and excluding all but the top third of graduating seniors.

You tell me if this is ethical or moral.

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