I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion about the precipitous rankings fall which has happened at the law school too, plus in the free speech rankings SU is near the bottom. Btw when Kent took over he said 53 was too low and he'd work to improve it.
He's been here 11 years.
Your are over-reacting.
Almost everyone agrees that rankings are flawed, but it's myopic to ignore multiyear (downward) directional trends as compared to peer schools. One could argue that this administration has prioritized fundraising and real estate development, among other things, over sustaining SU's academic reputation. And the current Chancellor did note when he assumed office that a USN&WR ranking of 53 was too low and that he would take steps to address that.
The rankings can be flawed. But that is what people look at. That is what Kent looked at when he said that 53 was too low. The rankings may not matter to some but I would rather us be 39 as we were, than where we are right now.
Not intending to defend KS here, but the world of Higher Ed is changing rapidly and is focused on Engineering, Research and Applied Science more so than ever. SU is a traditionally strong Liberal Arts University and making a shift in focus to Research and STEM has been slow going. That said, we've regained some status as a research institution with the R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity grade from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. I would prefer that the focus be on creating a richer and better realized research environment than worrying about M Street or converting the Sheraton to dorms and closing South Campus, but I guess we can't focus on only one thing. I would think we could have made more headway on taking over SUNY Upstate or having a much bigger role there with an alum in the office of Governor, especially since she seems to support and endorse funding research environments (see GVI, Roswell Park, and the newly announced proposed CGT center on Long Island with Northwell), but perhaps she is more focused on not appearing to have favorites and the lack of Micron progress is slowing further Syracuse initiatives or potential. You really can't underestimate the lack of size/available space on campus (hopefully this is why the apparent urgency with South Campus) as well as the scale of the programs at other institutions that are outperforming us in these fields.
If I recall, the diminutive one was at SU for some time and did much to damage the academic reputation. Reputations take much longer to build than to destroy.
He’s a Georgetown guy.
No question Cantor got the ball rolling in the wrong direction. But 11 years is a long time.
I think 11 years is more than enough time to change a reputation and he’s been here longer than Nancy who was here a little over 8 years. Today’s HS seniors were in first grade when he started.
The slide began under Buzz, continued under Cantor and has accelerated under Kent. It takes a group effort to precipitate a decades long fall in rankings and academic standing. Can't just put the blame on Nancy.
Does he have a buyout?
At this point it's just lazy analysis. We have dropped 15 spots since Kent took over. We only dropped 3 during Nancy's tenure. I get no one liked her and she hired Gross, but as I said there's an argument to make that Kent has been much worse.
Do you have a site to show that? Not saying I don't believe you at all. It's just my memory is that it is worse than that.
I don't think these rankings are the end all be all, but saying they're "meaningless" seems like an overstatement. A lot of students and parents and employers value the prestige that the rankings imply, even if they're able to be manipulated to an extent. I see US News rankings as similar to say 5 star Rivals recruiting class rankings or Michelin restaurant stars. Are they a perfect predictor of quality? No. But over the long haul I would rather have them than not have them.
