Incomplete grade? Columbia loses ranking over dubious data
U.S. News & World Report has unranked Columbia University from its 2022 edition of Best Colleges
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.U.S. News & World Report has unranked Columbia University from its 2022 edition of Best Colleges, saying in a statement that the Ivy League institution failed to substantiate certain 2021 data it previously submitted, including student-faculty ratios and class size.
The decision to rescind the school's No. 2 rating among national universities in the 2022 edition came about a week after Columbia announced it would not be submitting data for the 2023 edition of Best Colleges after one of its mathematics professors recently raised questions about the accuracy of past submissions.
The 2022 edition was first published in September 2021. Prospective students often rely on the U.S. News & World Report rankings to determine where they should apply to college.
Columbia Provost Mary Boyce, in a statement posted June 30, said the school was reviewing its data collection and submissions process in light of the professor's concerns and could not complete the work in time for U.S. News and World Report's July 1 deadline for the 2023 Best Colleges edition.
“Columbia has long conducted what we believed to be a thorough process for gathering and reporting institutional data, but we are now closely reviewing our processes in light of the questions raised,” she wrote. “The ongoing review is a matter of integrity. We will take no shortcuts in getting it right.”
U.S. News said it contacted Columbia officials in March after learning there were questions about the accuracy of the university's submission and asked it to substantiate some of information.
“To date, Columbia has been unable to provide satisfactory responses to the information U.S. News requested,” the publisher said in a statement Thursday.
Therefore, the publisher said , it has removed the numerical ranking of the school in various lists including 2022 National Universities, 2022 Best Value Schools and 2022 Top Performers on Social Mobility.
Columbia will remain ranked in other areas that relied on ratings from top officials at other universities and departments and didn't include data from Columbia.
The unranked status will appear on Columbia's profile page on USNews.com.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.