On January 14th, the College of Education (COE) at the U of I shared the 2013 U.S. News and World Report Rankings. As a first year doctoral student who had been less keen on rankings when applying to graduate schools (other issues took priority in analysis), I was eager to learn how "my college" did. Only after opening the link and seeing the top image was when I became less interested in the college and more concerned about "my department". I automatically saw what was there - in the rankings - and what was not: EPOL. Once you visit the site you will notice how other departments within the COE rank among the top ten graduate programs. This is bittersweet for me. I am proud to be a student in such a great University, an inviting College, and an inclusive and diverse Department. Yet, I cannot avoid the emptiness I feel for what not being there represents.
As we may all know by now, EPOL is the most diverse Department on campus; there is a mixture of different minorities, international, non-traditional, aged, gendered, classed - and hopefully - queered students. At a moment in which we are discussing diversity in higher education, I think it is important that we reflect on what these rankings mean or do not mean, how they are perceived, and why they are used.
I argue that even among a department that seeks to provide as much access to higher education as possible, the findings in this report are not coincidental. I share this information not to criticize the Department, faculty, or fellow students, but rather as an example of how critical we should be when discussing issues on diversity. It is crucial to realize that there are indeed structural forces, power relations that take place even after we obtain access to higher education. As part of my comment on Dr. Baber's Jan. 14th post, I mentioned that as minorities we have to work twice as hard to get half as far. Do you think these rankings/stats resemble this?
I do think the ratings resemble the fact that minorities still do have to work harder to get half as far. I would say, don’t always believe what you read. You also have to take into account where the ratings are coming from and who is collecting the data; most of the time the information is very inaccurate. EPOL is the most diverse department on campus and that might have a lot to do with the ratings. What is taught and discussed in some of the EPOL classes is history that some folks do not like, understand or want to hear; and telling it like it is, some folks don’t like this either and unfortunately it comes out in the ratings. I think EPOL is one of the best departments on the University of Illinois campus.
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