<p>This could be nice-- not to have to pay U.S. News for all that info.</p>
<p>An article in Inside Higher Ed is most interesting and talks about the relative impact of this letter. While considered a milder rebuke of USNWR rankings, it is thought to have potentially far more impact because the signatories are mostly top 25 LACs.</p>
<p>And Bro Adams, Colby's president, is widely quoted as follows:</p>
<p>At least one president who signed the letter released Friday might still sign the Education Conservancy letter. William D. Adams, president of Colby College, said he was “very sympathetic” to the Education Conservancy approach. The new letter was “a step in the right direction,” he said, but Adams added that “I wish it had been closer to one of the central provisions of the Education Conservancy letter,” namely the pledge on not filling out the “reputational” survey.</p>
<p>Adams said that he didn’t feel he could take a stand on the Education Conservancy letter or the survey until he can discuss the issues with his board, which he plans to do at a meeting next month. “This isn’t just a personal decision. It’s an institutional decision,” he said.</p>
<p>While some of his board members have “very strong, very critical feelings” about rankings, Adams said that trustees pay attention to them. And he said that presidents at other institutions, “if they are being honest,” will say that their board members do so.</p>
<p>Adams said he didn’t know which way his board would go. But while most educators are “deeply skeptical of rankings,” many trustees are not. “I think these are much more accustomed to these kinds of rankings, which are very common on certain corporate settings.”</p>
<p>Adams added that even in its more limited form, the letter issued Friday took a “very important” position against publicizing rankings results — and should have credibility since the letter comes from institutions that do well.</p>