<p>It's probably not going to happen, but it would be a modest step in the right directions if colleges and universities simply refused to provide one item to USNWR: peer assessments of their overlaps/competitors. That's surely the most subjective and easily manipulated of the items in USNews's formula, and a large chunk of the total ranking (25%). It wouldn't make the whole house of cards collapse, but it would shift the balance at least a notch away from the current emphasis on overall ranking and toward comparision on a variety of parameters.</p>