Campus examines BU's Princeton Review rankings

"With a few clicks or flips of a page, it seems that high school seniors, transfer students and other academic faculty are able to get a sense of what a particular college is all about with the help of The Princeton Review.

Binghamton University is no different, except for the fact that students, faculty and off-campus community members have discordant views regarding the accuracy of such listings.

The Princeton Review publishes its book, 'The Best 361 Colleges,' annually based on electronic student surveys, in which students are asked to validate their identity with an academic e-mail address. According to Rob Franek, the Review's Editorial Director, the academic e-mail address is meant to ensure the fact that the person is an actual student at the claimed university, and to prevent the student from filling out the survey more than once per academic year.

'We have some very good outreach into the academic community working with administrators on campus to get the word out about the Princeton Review survey ' Binghamton in the past has certainly been very proactive about getting the word out about our survey,' said Franek.

'And frankly many students have used our book and used our Web site when thinking about schools themselves ' hence I think that they are sort of apt and verbose about the way they respond to the survey,' he added.

This year, the survey asked 115,000 students for their opinions on topics ranging from financial aid to the best parties, a press release for the 2007 edition said.

The book was released this August, with the majority of information gathered from the 80-question online survey seeking opinions on academics, the administration, fellow students and student life in general.

According to Franek, the survey generally results in 10 percent of students' responses from the undergraduate community of each school, a number he says the company is quite proud of.

BU AS No. 20 FOR 'LITTLE RACE/CLASS INTERACTION'

Out of the 361 schools ranked by the Princeton Review, BU ranks after schools like Syracuse University, Fairfield University and Miami University.

But faculty members on campus question the accuracy of BU's place on the list.

'I'm surprised to hear it,' said Linda Morales, director of multicultural affairs. 'I think that first-year students, whether it's a transfer student or a freshman, will seek out people who share similarities with them, that could be cultural similarities, which include race, ethnicity, region of the state or country you come from, socioeconomics, religious background. It's normal when you move into any new community ' to seek out the familiar as a way to alleviate the stress 'That's normal '

Morales cited that group projects in academic settings also increase the frequency of students with different racial and cultural backgrounds working together, as do programs that are organized cooperatively between groups.

'The longer a BU student is here, the more opportunities they have to interact and engage with people who are different than them, whether it be racially different or economically different,' said Morales, describing different cultural groups as also encompassing gender or orientation-based organizations.

For students who feel that the listing is accurate, Morales encourages them to stop by her office so that together they can work on an 'individual strategy on how they could increase their interactions with people who are culturally different.' Likewise, if students feel that they are interacting with others but perceive that others are not, she still encourages students to come visit.

Vice President for Multicultural Affairs David Bass agreed with Morales that there is definite interaction between students of different cultural backgrounds, but differ in opinion as to the extent of the interactions.

'In some ways I might see where that perception is coming from,' he said. 'I think that there's great cultural interaction between underrepresented students of different groups ' Especially this year, I've really seen cultural organizations work together a lot more, and there's a real effort made that we're one student body.'

Bass, however, did acknowledge that there is room for improvement on campus.

'But the other side of it, and maybe this is where it's coming from, is that I do think there's a pretty big divide unfortunately between white students and students of color,' he said. 'And I think that's where it may be coming from.'

In an effort to increase these interactions, Bass has also set up a VPMA liaison program in the residential halls in order to facilitate culturally different relationships outside of just student groups.

BU AS No. 17 FOR 'CAMPUS IS TINY, UNSIGHTLY OR BOTH'

Binghamton was ranked behind Drexel University, SUNY Purchase and SUNY Albany for the attractiveness of campus, but above SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Stony Brook ' making the latter more attractive than BU.

Karen Fennie, spokeswoman for Physical Facilities on campus, has a different opinion. According to Fennie, BU's 100-acre nature preserve alone bumps up the image of campus, in addition to other projects.

'We continue to work on improving the campus, with the peace quad project and ' Operation Green Space. We actually take areas that are paved but not really used into green space,' said Fennie. 'We've actually transformed over 11,000 square feet from pavement to grass over the last four or five years.'

Although she has not participated in any scientific study, Fennie said 'anecdotally people always compliment the campus.'

A summer program will, according to Fennie, improve the outdoor areas, including the central campus walkway that stretches from the Student Wing down to the University Union.

However, some students on campus have differing opinions on BU's appearance.

'I agree with the listing, I think if they hired a real landscaping crew the campus would be better,' said senior economics major Rob DiMasi. 'There are only two places on campus with flowers. But the thing is the weather isn't good either, so I'm not sure how to go about fixing the problem.'