Chronicle of Higher Education quotes thought-leader Merisotis '86 on rankings

The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s Richard Kahlenberg discusses a new book by Ben Wildavsky, former education editor at U.S. News and World Report, that analyzes the proliferation of college rankings vis-a-vis the now-global competition for the best students. The book, The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World, includes quotes from higher-education thought leader Jamie Merisotis ’86, a Bates Trustee and president of the Lumina Foundation, who tells Wildavsky that “rankings are popular [because] that they actually serve a purpose.” Rankings, Merisotis says, “are basically reflecting the market’s desire for more information.” The Chronicle‘s Kahlenberg points to ever-more-useful rankings, like Washington Monthly‘s, that evaluate colleges by their contribution to the public good, in areas like social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students) and service (encouraging students to give back). Here, Bates ranks 19th in the country and in the top 10 for service to the Lewiston-Auburn community. View story from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 23, 2010.