Many of the nation’s leading medical and law schools have dropped out of U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best graduate programs. The rankings have long been used by highly rated schools as marketing tools.
Now Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has become the first historically Black educational institution to pull out of the rankings. In a message to the university community Cynthia Warrick, president of Stillman College, said “there are organizations that do not accurately represent the impact that a Stillman degree has on the community, the state, and the nation. Chief among these organizations is the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, which do not accurately measure and portray the value of a Stillman College education, nor the tremendous investments and outlook for our future, as we reshape our liberal arts profile to align with emerging workforce trends, like cybersecurity and data analytics. I write and share this letter to inform our students, alumni, community, and stakeholders that Stillman College will withdraw from the U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings, effective immediately.”
President Warrick added that “we are recommending that the U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges Rankings create an independent task force including outside stakeholders to reevaluate the indicators used in developing the rankings. By incorporating factors that promote success at HBCUs like Stillman College, our students’ achievements and impact will be appropriately valued.”
