Last year, I attended a University of Maryland men's basketball game. After Maryland won the game, I remember cheering along with the rest of the crowd, "We're number one! We're number one!" Here at Amherst there seems to be a far different reaction to winning. The reaction amongst our administrators to the news that U.S. News & World Report ranked us as the best liberal arts college in the country has been ambivalent at best. When asked about his reaction to the rankings, our esteemed president Tom Gerety said in last week's Student article "College claims top spot in U.S. News rankings," "it's arbitrary, it's influential, it's a pain in the neck even if you are number one." Gerety sounds about as enthusiastic concerning the rankings as a student who has just been voted teacher's pet.
I have always believed that being the best in any endeavor, whether it be athletic or academic, is something to take pride in and celebrate. Thus, I am confused by the College's reaction. Even though the rankings are a source of controversy, we should still be honored to be voted number one. There are all kinds of problems with the SAT, but I do not see high school juniors and seniors complaining that they scored a 1600 on the test.
Moreover, there are several positive aspects of the ranking system. For instance, the rate of retention at Amherst is very high, indicating that, by and large, students enjoy their experience here. Also, the peer assessment ranks Amherst at the top, showing that professors at other universities respect Amherst professors as knowledgeable in their field of study. Amherst was deemed the most highly selective liberal arts college.
What surprises me the most about Amherst's downplaying of the rankings is that it seems to contradict our intense rivalry with Williams College. Amherst students routinely sport T-shirts that proclaim, "Williams Sucks!" My personal favorite is the bumper sticker that reads, "Williams was my safety." Athletic teams circle the Williams matches on their schedule as the most important game of the season. But now that Williams is ranked second and we are once again first, we do not seem to be gloating.
Whether the College likes it or not, the reality is that the rankings count for a lot. One of the most important factors in applying to colleges for most students is academic reputation. Whether you agree with the rankings or not, Amherst's reputation allows the College to attract better students. Additionally, the rankings might assist in giving the College geographic diversity. While Amherst is very well known in Massachusetts, New York and California, this is not always the case in Montana or Colorado, or even internationally. In her opening speech during orientation, our director of admissions, Katie Fretwell, said that our freshman class is the most diverse in the history of the College. Don't we want to continue this trend?
Overall, Amherst is an outstanding institution. Although there is always room for improvement, it is okay for us to take a moment to pat ourselves on the back for achieving a high academic standard. I would like to thank U.S. News & World Report for reminding us all how lucky we are to be here. After all, we're number one!
Melissa Sidman '06
Singing the internet blues
I wonder if there was ever a time when any of the $36,000 that we each dump into Amherst's pocket every year went to give us internet service that worked. No, really, I'm not joking. Well, maybe I am.
Our internet does work (though not very well) about five days a week. Two weekends ago, for example, email worked only sporadically for a span of about three days. Some of us could send email, but some of us couldn't receive it. Some of us could receive email, but some of us couldn't send it. You get the idea. The result was a campus full of students calling each other up saying, "did you get the email I sent you? I think it sent, but some people aren't actually getting email so I wanted to check. By the way, don't reply, because I haven't been able to receive any emails since yesterday."
Sigh. This is Amherst for you: we're wired for the future.
I'm not asking for a network that is 100 percent bug-free. I mean, this is a massive computer network we're talking about. Even I, who have never taken any computer science classes, understand it's hard to coordinate such a network without a hitch. I just wonder why attending the best liberal arts college (according to U.S. News & World Report) doesn't entail having reliable email service.
You all know I'm not only talking about email. A quick and dependable network is needed for web browsing. Whether the nature of our internet use involves looking up the scores of tonight's game or doing research for that 10-page paper due tomorrow morning, we need to be able to browse the web at more than a snail's pace. It's not a matter of being spoiled (though many of us do come from homes where a 56k modem is considered slow). It's a matter of our sanity, not to mention the fact that some nights I could run to the library to make a copy of a journal article before I could actually get the electronic version to load on my computer.
While I'm on the subject, does anybody know where to download music these days? I tried Napster before it went under but I vaguely remember the fact that I could access Napster anywhere I wanted except on campus. When my friends use Kazaa, they can't download as fast as someone using a battery-powered 24.4 modem.
Does it just so happen that Amherst sits in the middle of a bizarre rip in the internet continuum? I find that very unlikely. I think it is the case that our IT department is doing their job-they have to make sure that no internet sites or services cause our network to crash. For that, they can be commended. However, I fail to understand why I, out of all my friends at a number of colleges and universities across the country, am the only one who can't wait to get off campus because that's the only way I can download music in peace.
I don't think I'm being unreasonable. All I want is a network that works as well as other college networks across the country. For $36,000 a year, I think that is the least we can ask for. We could even all write emails to President Gerety telling him how much we would appreciate a network upgrade. Just make sure you also give him a call or stop by his office to see if your email ever actually got there.
Jerry Hilinski '04