UF drops from #1 public university to #34

Cool, now maybe they can focus on football.

 

Based on my conversation with a UF administrator this weekend, this is rumored to be one of the reasons we had a President step away amongst UF staff. He simply didn’t care about rankings in general.

 

Are we being punished for taking conservative stances on some issues?

 

A definite meh for me.

 

There in lies the issue. You do not need to run out the liberal arts to have conservative. For instance, F$U is by all accounts is an arts school; however, they took massive donations from Charles Koch for programs to be conservative leaning. Why everyone thinks both cannot coexist as part of a curriculum is beyond comprehension to me. Part of the rankings is voted on how other universities view your university. Right now the state of Florida looks like a toxic environment to those in academia. This isn’t my opinion, it comes from educators with whom I associate. Politics and higher education do not mix well.

Charles Koch Foundation Supports Florida State University Breakthroughs in Criminal Justice Research | FSU Foundation

 

UF is being punished for cutting out dead weight professors and dropping DEI.
If you breakdown the numbers, UF actually became more diverse over last year and increased our graduation rate.

 

Our change in the rankings has almost nothing to do with changes at the university itself or for us being punished for the political views of our (former) leadership. Rather, it is almost entirely a result of changes in the way that the rankings were done -- one reason Sasse was suspicious of rankings in general. The results are slightly absurd: Bentley University (who?) is ahead of Penn, Colombia, Brown, and Cal Tech; Babson University is ranked second among all universities, Harvey Mudd twentieth, Cal State Stanislaus ahead of UCSD and UCI, to name a few of the more notable oddities. And, as noted above, FIU is ahead of UF. The comments on the WSJ's website rightly pan these results.

 

It's so freaking sad that a major media outlet can shape the narrative in such a punitive way over political differences. We have slowly become a banana republic. Most of us just don't realize it yet. How is it even possible to drop from #1 (ie the best of the best) down to #34 in one freakin' year? Make it make sense! It doesn't. Joke society we live in.

 

putting FIU above UF shows ya what a joke the list really is.
I too think these lists are meaningless, UF was great in the 90s and wasn't considered in the top tier yet and offered so much more than school like UNC and UVA for example.
All of it is BS.

But FIU, that highlights even more than ever that these lists have zero credibility.
Maybe yall know of some, I've never met a human in my life that got into FIU and UF and chose FIU.

 

The WSJ's rankings were absurd both last year and this year. Don't let it bother you.

 

Exactly. And yes, I graduated from UF. Don’t care about academic rankings. Only football.

 

UF hasn’t used race in admissions for two decades. Source: an admissions officer. As far as student experience, cutting DEI funding on campuses across the state has received a ton of blowback from students. Perception of the state education system is the lowest it has been in years. That’s not my imagination, it’s what happens when you work to not make students feel welcome or secure.

 

Does this mean we can go back to being a football school and start winning some championships again?

 

The students are pansies. Attending university is voluntary, if you don't like it go somewhere else.

 

Some really good students are choosing to go elsewhere. Good of you to recognize the issue with politicizing academia.

 

Let them, it's their choice. I suspect there are plenty of really good students that are quite ok with the set up.
I'm just not a fan of students demanding everything being bent to their feelings.
The university is setup a certain way for a reason. Either accept it and get an education or go to another university that meets your criteria.

 

I can't remember the last time anyone brought up their alma mater let alone it's ranking. No one cares.

 

It goes well beyond just admitting standards. Clubs (a bunch of them) have been booted from campus facilities. Anything that isn’t Greek or honors has lost meeting locations and university assistants. Part of the collegiate experience is having clubs based on interest, religion, etc. with whom you can network. It was all removed without even considering those who are actively engaged.

 

And those clubs can't still continue on their own? I'm curious what percentage of the students actually care?
When I went to UF, I didn't bother with any of that. I went to class, worked and hung out with my friends.