(09-10-2015 08:32 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-09-2015 07:44 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(09-09-2015 07:16 PM)Hashtag Wrote:  This magazine seems to think UNC is still decent...I'll just go with their opinion...no offense.

But its just US News and World Report, so what relevance does it have to the academic status of a university?

Believe it or not, US News rankings are taken seriously in the halls of academia, even at the more elite universities. Administrators know the flaws of their method, of course, but also know it doesn't matter, because the press and public takes those rankings seriously and hence they do impact the prestige of a school.

And in academia, prestige is the coin of the realm.

Essentially, this is how the UNC scandal is viewed from the academic realm: It's dreadful, of course, and probably merits the death penalty for basketball and football for a year or two. It's that bad.

But from a general academic perspective, UNC is still a world-class school, as the malfeasance was confined to the education of athletes. Giving athletes make-work classes and falsifying their grades doesn't make UNC's physics department or english department or accounting department any less competent, so it has no affect on the school's overall ranking.

It matters because employers will have that in the back of their mind when a UNC grad goes in to interview. That's why UNC grads should be out taking scalps of those who have been trying to hush it up. And imagine if you are an African-American studies major with a UNC degree? You have zero credibility.