Extreme Sloppiness at the Wall Street Journal

 
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale College.

At noon, while waiting for lunch, I glanced at The Wall Street Journal and noticed that, in the “Personal Journal” section, on pp. R4-R9, that newspaper — with the help of Times Higher Education — had provided its readers with a list of 497 American colleges ranked in light of endowment, likelihood that graduates would get a job, engagement, environment, average salary of graduates, and the like.

Naturally, I looked through the list to see where these publications ranked Hillsdale College. But I could not find it on the list. Figuring that I might have overlooked the entry, after teaching my afternoon seminar and participating in the oral examination of a graduate student, I went to the website, which had a convenient search facility. When I typed in Hillsdale, it did not come up. There was, however, another way to search. One could do so by state, city, and so forth. So I typed in Michigan and learned that, on the website, they ranked many more than 497 institutions.

Here is what it showed for Michigan:

RANK COLLEGE OUTCOMES RESOURCES ENGAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT OVERALL SCORE
#24 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 38.2/40 22.2/30 17.4/20 6/10 83.8/100
#63 Michigan State University 32.9/40 15.5/30 17.7/20 5.7/10 71.8/100
#150 Michigan Technological University 25.8/40 17/30 16.6/20 4.1/10 63.5/100
#172 Kalamazoo College 24.7/40 17.1/30 14.8/20 5.4/10 62/100
#182 Albion College 22/40 20.1/30 16.9/20 2.5/10 61.5/100
#206 Kettering University 23.7/40 16/30 15/20 5.2/10 59.9/100
#235 Hope College 23.8/40 15.3/30 17.2/20 2.5/10 58.7/100
#238 University of Detroit Mercy 20.9/40 17.2/30 15.9/20 4.7/10 58.6/100
#261 College for Creative Studies 20.1/40 17.3/30 15.2/20 4.9/10 57.5/100
#267 Alma College 20.6/40 18.3/30 15.4/20 2.8/10 57.1/100
#281 Calvin College 18.9/40 16.4/30 17.5/20 3.4/10 56.2/100
#315 Andrews University 11.3/40 18.8/30 15.7/20 8.2/10 54/100
#325 Lawrence Technological University 16.4/40 16.6/30 15.1/20 5.5/10 53.7/100
#344 Wayne State University 12/40 17.3/30 15.9/20 7.9/10 53/100
#473 University of Michigan-Dearborn 15.5/40 10.9/30 15/20 6.8/10 48.3/100
#492 Ferris State University 17.6/40 9.1/30 17.3/20 3.7/10 47.7/100
#501-600 Adrian College – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 44.3-47.2/100
#501-600 Western Michigan University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 44.3-47.2/100
#601-800 Grand Valley State University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 39.3-44.1/100
#601-800 Madonna University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 39.3-44.1/100
#601-800 Spring Arbor University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 39.3-44.1/100
#> 800 Aquinas College – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Central Michigan University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Cornerstone University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Eastern Michigan University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Lake Superior State University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 University of Michigan-Flint – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Northern Michigan University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Oakland University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Rochester College – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100
#> 800 Saginaw Valley State University – /40 – /40 – /40 – /40 23.7-39.2/100

As you can see, the list is long. But Hillsdale is not on it. What makes this especially ridiculous is the fact that, if you were to rank the schools in the state by the average ACT scores of this year’s entering freshman class, we would rank alongside the University of Michigan as the top school in the state.

How did this happen? The slobs at The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education appear to have used a database called “College Scorecard” provided by the US Department of Education. This database lists only college and universities that take federal aid to education, and we avoid taking that money because there are strings attached that allow the authorities to micromanage the institutions which they “aid.”

There is no excuse for The Wall Street Journal missing this. When the College Scorecard was published by the Department of Education last year, our Provost published an op-ed in that newspaper about our omission from the list. It says something about the state of journalism in this country that the writers and news editors at The Wall Street Journal do not even read their own newspaper.

Somebody should give Bill McGurn a call.

Published in Education, Education, Journalism
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There are 38 comments.

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  1. skipsul Inactive
    skipsul
    @skipsul

    Paul A. Rahe:

    I Walton:At noon, while waiting for lunch, I glanced at The Wall Street Journal and noticed that, in the “Personal Journal” section, on pp. R4-R9, that newspaper — with the help of Times Higher Education — had provided its readers with a list of 497 American colleges ranked in light of endowment, likelihood that graduates would get a job, engagement, environment, average salary of graduates, and the like.

    The chief motive for federal aid is that they can attach conditions that have nothing to do with the use of the aid. The folks at Hillsdale figured that out long ago and balked.

    While Grove City actually fought the feds all the way to the Supreme Court.

    • #31
  2. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    skipsul: While Grove City actually fought the feds all the way to the Supreme Court.

    So did Hillsdale. And lost (on the issue of GI Bill recipients — it’s “indirect” federal funding and Hillsdale won’t take it either).

    • #32
  3. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Clavius: If it was in jest, I missed the joke.

    You missed it. Whizzed right past you head like that mosquito spy drone the government is using to inject you with Zika.

    • #33
  4. Anna M. Inactive
    Anna M.
    @AnnaM

    Hillsdale isn’t the only Michigan college or university not on this list (I’m not a subscriber, so I can’t double-check the original WSJ article).

    Siena Heights University (in Adrian, just around the corner from Hillsdale) and Olivet College (northeast of Battle Creek) are missing as well.

    Siena Heights is a Catholic school, founded by the Dominican Sisters in 1919.  Olivet is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and with the Congregational denomination.

    Quite a few of the Michigan private schools on the WSJ list do have Christian affiliations (Spring Arbor University, Hope College, Aquinas College, and others), but why were Siena Heights and Olivet not included?  Both schools are long-established, highly reputable private liberal arts colleges.  I assume that they accept federal funding like all the other schools on the list (the handful of schools that reject federal funding are very well known here on Ricochet and elsewhere in right-of-center media).

    Weapons-grade sloppiness at best, I’d say.

    • #34
  5. Publius Inactive
    Publius
    @Publius

    The Reticulator:

    Paul A. Rahe: The chief motive for federal aid is that they can attach conditions that have nothing to do with the use of the aid. The folks at Hillsdale figured that out long ago and balked.

    As we used to say back in the 60s, there is no such thing as federal aid without federal control.

    He who pays the piper, calls the tune.

    • #35
  6. billy Inactive
    billy
    @billy

    Clavius:

    profdlp:

    Clavius:

    billy:An alt-right college professor off on an anti-media diatribe…

    I guess you haven’t read much of Rahe’s writing. Alt-right is not an accurate description.

    More like Gault-right.

    PS: I think (hope?) that billy was being facetious.

    If it was in jest, I missed the joke.

    And if I was in error in being critical, I withdraw my criticism.

    Paul Rahe’s contributions to Ricochet are one of the principle reasons I subscribe.

    @Clavius

    • #36
  7. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Publius:

    The Reticulator:

    Paul A. Rahe: The chief motive for federal aid is that they can attach conditions that have nothing to do with the use of the aid. The folks at Hillsdale figured that out long ago and balked.

    As we used to say back in the 60s, there is no such thing as federal aid without federal control.

    He who pays the piper, calls the tune.

    Yes, and we should do our utmost to keep them from being the ones who call the tune, even if they are the ones who pay the piper.  Yes, they’ve bought our university system, but we should not let it be easy for them to take ownership of their purchase.

    • #37
  8. Clavius Thatcher
    Clavius
    @Clavius

    billy:

    Clavius:

    profdlp:

    Clavius:

    billy:An alt-right college professor off on an anti-media diatribe…

    I guess you haven’t read much of Rahe’s writing. Alt-right is not an accurate description.

    More like Gault-right.

    PS: I think (hope?) that billy was being facetious.

    If it was in jest, I missed the joke.

    And if I was in error in being critical, I withdraw my criticism.

    Paul Rahe’s contributions to Ricochet are one of the principle reasons I subscribe.

    @Clavius

    Good to know.  I inferred what you did not imply.

    BTW, his first book on Sparta was excellent and I’m looking forward to the new one.

    • #38
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