Rankings do not matter. This is the standard response of GW officials confronting the University’s perennial disappointment in the annual U.S. News and World Report list of the best American colleges and universities. But administrators’ words do not always match their actions. When GW last appeared in the “top tier” of the U.S. News rankings, the University printed signs and passed out buttons reading “GW is forty sixth.” More recently, the current University budget contains an allocation specifically intended to bring GW back to the first tier. But the breakdown of those funds makes little sense. Now that GW is obviously spending money on improving rankings, University officials should be honest about their intentions and the fact that they care about GW’s standing vis-a-vis other schools.
More than $8 million is budgeted to improve GW’s ranking, but most of it – $6.4 million – goes to the Law School and graduate programs. Gelman Library takes a $1.2 million chunk, the University Honors Program gets $400,000 and the Elliot School of International Affairs comes away with $75,000. And $375,000 is to be used to shore up operating budgets in various unspecified departments.
The bulk of these funds seems to go toward GW’s strengths rather than addressing some of the challenges the University faces. The Law School is GW’s best performer in rankings, having remained high on the list for several years. And GW’s graduate programs are widely recognized for their quality. But the rankings that matter are the undergraduate education – the one area of University operations that gets short shrift in this particular fund. Certainly more books at Gelman will help undergraduates, and the Honors Program funds will undoubtedly improve at least a few undergraduates’ experience.
Administrators say they would like to bring GW up to the level of Duke, Northwestern and Stanford universities. To do that, GW needs to devote money to reducing class size, hiring more full-time faculty members and lowering acceptance rates while increasing the number of high-caliber applicants.
GW has many strengths that deserve funding and praise, but the best way to improve in the standings is to focus on GW’s weaknesses.
