Should Mishandled Sexual Assault Cases Affect College Rankings? Members Of Congress Say Yes
ByTen Democrat and two Republican members of congress sent a letter to U.S. News & World Report asking that their rankings include campus safety procedures for sexual assault, the Huffington Post reported.
With so many prestigious universities in the news for mishandling sexual assault cases, activists and lawmakers believe they should be held more accountable. They want the U.S. News & World Report to lower schools' rankings with checkered histories, a list that includes some of the country's most recognizable universities like Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and more. Of course, the better the college the more press. Really, the initiative is about forcing a system to change for the betterment of its students.
"When parents and students compare colleges and universities, they deserve to know which campuses are safe and which have demonstrated a pattern of failing to protect and respond to sexual assault," Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who drafted the letter, said in a statement. "U.S. News & World Report should not be giving top marks to institutions that don't follow the law."
The U.S. News & World Report received the letter and acknowledged its message. Spokeswoman Lucy Lyons said she hoped to meet with Speier and others.
"We appreciate Congresswoman Speier's letter on expanding the Best Colleges methodology to include campus safety, in particular sexual assault, and have featured her comments on usnews.com," Lyons told The Huffington Post.
"We hold and attend meetings throughout the year with higher education experts in order to listen to their suggestions and criticisms, as well as to understand the latest trends in higher education," Lyons said. "The consultations with college presidents, deans, institutional researchers and high school counselors give us an opportunity to gather feedback on our rankings methodology."