Education
Columbia University Drops in U.S. News Rankings, From No. 2 to No. 18
Columbia College was demoted from No. 2 to No. 18 within the influential U.S. Information & World Report school rankings on Monday, about eight months after a Columbia math professor accused the college of fudging some key statistics used within the rankings.
The downgrade comes after Columbia introduced that it was trying into the professor’s allegations and stated that it was withdrawing from the rankings. On Friday, the eve of the brand new rankings, Columbia stated that it had submitted knowledge on class dimension and the variety of school members with superior levels utilizing outdated or incorrect methodologies.
U.S. Information put the blame for the lowered rating on Columbia officers in a press release on Monday, saying that it “requires a high-level educational official to attest to any knowledge submitted by establishments immediately.”
Columbia apologized for the errors, saying, “We deeply remorse the deficiencies in our prior reporting and are dedicated to doing higher.”
Nearly yearly, U.S. Information broadcasts that it has discovered discrepancies in knowledge submitted by universities for the rankings. However Columbia, an Ivy League establishment, might be essentially the most storied and prestigious college in current reminiscence to be accused of offering incorrect knowledge.
Current Points on America’s Faculty Campuses
U.S. Information has not stated whether or not the errors within the knowledge have been intentional or not, and Columbia stated they have been a outcome, a minimum of partially, of the “complexity” of the reporting necessities.
However the inaccuracies have created a notion of dishonest or dissembling round Columbia’s rating — and should have undermined the broader rankings system by revealing how straightforward it’s for universities to get away with submitting incorrect knowledge. After the maths professor, Michael Thaddeus, accused Columbia of submitting unhealthy knowledge, U.S. Information responded that it relied on the integrity of universities and didn’t have an impartial auditing system for the info.
Some consultants stated that there additionally appeared to be a vindictive component to Columbia’s demotion. In his unique critique, Dr. Thaddeus made a giant level of claiming that he believed Columbia’s rise within the rankings had been too fast to be true. He famous that the college ranked 18th in 1988 and vaulted to eighth in only one yr, largely as a result of the rankings methodology had been modified to rely extra on knowledge and fewer on a survey of fame amongst college presidents.
“I believe that’s precisely what was going to occur as soon as they realized they have been lied to,” stated Jed Macosko, a physics professor at Wake Forest College. Dr. Macosko is the pinnacle of AcademicInfluence.com, a rival firm of teachers and knowledge scientists who say they’re engaged on “an goal, non-gameable influence-based rating.”
“I want that U.S. Information weren’t so highly effective as a result of it makes for unhealthy dynamics,” Dr. Macosko stated. “So if the particular person in cost needs you to be No. 18, they’ll jiggle the U.S. Information rankings till you’re No. 18.”
U.S. Information stated that it was offering what it known as a client service “with the very best stage of integrity, for highschool graduates and their households to make selections.” Due to Columbia’s refusal to supply knowledge this yr, U.S. Information stated it had assembled knowledge from exterior sources for the brand new rating.
“We aren’t assured within the accuracy of the info Columbia submitted and didn’t use any prior yr knowledge,” U.S. Information stated. “For the 2022-2023 rankings, Columbia’s rank was calculated with knowledge from the U.S. Division of Training’s Nationwide Middle for Training Statistics, knowledge from the peer evaluation survey carried out by U.S. Information, the Faculty Scorecard and assigned aggressive set values for knowledge the place no third-party knowledge exists. Based mostly on these knowledge units, Columbia ranks No. 18 in nationwide universities.”
This yr, the rankings have been nonetheless predictable. Princeton ranked first, M.I.T. was second, whereas Harvard, Yale and Stanford tied for third. Final yr, Columbia was second to Princeton and tied with Harvard and M.I.T.
Columbia revealed on Friday that it had confirmed errors in two of the metrics questioned by Dr. Thaddeus: class dimension and the proportion of professors with the very best levels of their area.
“Whereas lots of Columbia’s undergraduate courses have lengthy had below 20 college students,” the college stated, “the prior methodologies used resulted in overreporting the variety of courses with below 20 college students and underreporting of courses with between 20 and 29 college students.”
On so-called terminal levels, Columbia stated that whereas the vast majority of school had at all times had the very best potential levels, the definition of terminal levels used within the U.S. Information rankings “in sure disciplines are completely different from Columbia’s necessities, leading to some overreporting.”
Education
Video: Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
new video loaded: Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
transcript
transcript
Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to block access to Pomona College’s graduation ceremony on Sunday.
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[chanting in call and response] Not another nickel, not another dime. No more money for Israel’s crime. Resistance is justified when people are occupied.
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Education
Video: Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
new video loaded: Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
transcript
transcript
Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
Police officers arrested 33 pro-Palestinian protesters and cleared a tent encampment on the campus of George Washingon University.
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“The Metropolitan Police Department. If you are currently on George Washington University property, you are in violation of D.C. Code 22-3302, unlawful entry on property.” “Back up, dude, back up. You’re going to get locked up tonight — back up.” “Free, free Palestine.” “What the [expletive] are you doing?” [expletives] “I can’t stop — [expletives].”
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Education
How Counterprotesters at U.C.L.A. Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours
A satellite image of the UCLA campus.
On Tuesday night, violence erupted at an encampment that pro-Palestinian protesters had set up on April 25.
The image is annotated to show the extent of the pro-Palestinian encampment, which takes up the width of the plaza between Powell Library and Royce Hall.
The clashes began after counterprotesters tried to dismantle the encampment’s barricade. Pro-Palestinian protesters rushed to rebuild it, and violence ensued.
Arrows denote pro-Israeli counterprotesters moving towards the barricade at the edge of the encampment. Arrows show pro-Palestinian counterprotesters moving up against the same barricade.
Police arrived hours later, but they did not intervene immediately.
An arrow denotes police arriving from the same direction as the counterprotesters and moving towards the barricade.
A New York Times examination of more than 100 videos from clashes at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that violence ebbed and flowed for nearly five hours, mostly with little or no police intervention. The violence had been instigated by dozens of people who are seen in videos counterprotesting the encampment.
The videos showed counterprotesters attacking students in the pro-Palestinian encampment for several hours, including beating them with sticks, using chemical sprays and launching fireworks as weapons. As of Friday, no arrests had been made in connection with the attack.
To build a timeline of the events that night, The Times analyzed two livestreams, along with social media videos captured by journalists and witnesses.
The melee began when a group of counterprotesters started tearing away metal barriers that had been in place to cordon off pro-Palestinian protesters. Hours earlier, U.C.L.A. officials had declared the encampment illegal.
Security personnel hired by the university are seen in yellow vests standing to the side throughout the incident. A university spokesperson declined to comment on the security staff’s response.
It is not clear how the counterprotest was organized or what allegiances people committing the violence had. The videos show many of the counterprotesters were wearing pro-Israel slogans on their clothing. Some counterprotesters blared music, including Israel’s national anthem, a Hebrew children’s song and “Harbu Darbu,” an Israeli song about the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign in Gaza.
As counterprotesters tossed away metal barricades, one of them was seen trying to strike a person near the encampment, and another threw a piece of wood into it — some of the first signs of violence.
Attacks on the encampment continued for nearly three hours before police arrived.
Counterprotesters shot fireworks toward the encampment at least six times, according to videos analyzed by The Times. One of them went off inside, causing protesters to scream. Another exploded at the edge of the encampment. One was thrown in the direction of a group of protesters who were carrying an injured person out of the encampment.
Some counterprotesters sprayed chemicals both into the encampment and directly at people’s faces.
At times, counterprotesters swarmed individuals — sometimes a group descended on a single person. They could be seen punching, kicking and attacking people with makeshift weapons, including sticks, traffic cones and wooden boards.
In one video, protesters sheltering inside the encampment can be heard yelling, “Do not engage! Hold the line!”
In some instances, protesters in the encampment are seen fighting back, using chemical spray on counterprotesters trying to tear down barricades or swiping at them with sticks.
Except for a brief attempt to capture a loudspeaker used by counterprotesters, and water bottles being tossed out of the encampment, none of the videos analyzed by The Times show any clear instance of encampment protesters initiating confrontations with counterprotesters beyond defending the barricades.
Shortly before 1 a.m. — more than two hours after the violence erupted — a spokesperson with the mayor’s office posted a statement that said U.C.L.A officials had called the Los Angeles Police Department for help and they were responding “immediately.”
Officers from a separate law enforcement agency — the California Highway Patrol — began assembling nearby, at about 1:45 a.m. Riot police with the L.A.P.D. joined them a few minutes later. Counterprotesters applauded their arrival, chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.!”
Just four minutes after the officers arrived, counterprotesters attacked a man standing dozens of feet from the officers.
Twenty minutes after police arrive, a video shows a counterprotester spraying a chemical toward the encampment during a scuffle over a metal barricade. Another counterprotester can be seen punching someone in the head near the encampment after swinging a plank at barricades.
Fifteen minutes later, while those in the encampment chanted “Free, free Palestine,” counterprotesters organized a rush toward the barricades. During the rush, a counterprotester pulls away a metal barricade from a woman, yelling “You stand no chance, old lady.”
Throughout the intermittent violence, officers were captured on video standing about 300 feet away from the area for roughly an hour, without stepping in.
It was not until 2:42 a.m. that officers began to move toward the encampment, after which counterprotesters dispersed and the night’s violence between the two camps mostly subsided.
The L.A.P.D. and the California Highway Patrol did not answer questions from The Times about their responses on Tuesday night, deferring to U.C.L.A.
While declining to answer specific questions, a university spokesperson provided a statement to The Times from Mary Osako, U.C.L.A.’s vice chancellor of strategic communications: “We are carefully examining our security processes from that night and are grateful to U.C. President Michael Drake for also calling for an investigation. We are grateful that the fire department and medical personnel were on the scene that night.”
L.A.P.D. officers were seen putting on protective gear and walking toward the barricade around 2:50 a.m. They stood in between the encampment and the counterprotest group, and the counterprotesters began dispersing.
While police continued to stand outside the encampment, a video filmed at 3:32 a.m. shows a man who was walking away from the scene being attacked by a counterprotester, then dragged and pummeled by others. An editor at the U.C.L.A. student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, told The Times the man was a journalist at the paper, and that they were walking with other student journalists who had been covering the violence. The editor said she had also been punched and sprayed in the eyes with a chemical.
On Wednesday, U.C.L.A.’s chancellor, Gene Block, issued a statement calling the actions by “instigators” who attacked the encampment unacceptable. A spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized campus law enforcement’s delayed response and said it demands answers.
Los Angeles Jewish and Muslim organizations also condemned the attacks. Hussam Ayloush, the director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on the California attorney general to investigate the lack of police response. The Jewish Federation Los Angeles blamed U.C.L.A. officials for creating an unsafe environment over months and said the officials had “been systemically slow to respond when law enforcement is desperately needed.”
Fifteen people were reportedly injured in the attack, according to a letter sent by the president of the University of California system to the board of regents.
The night after the attack began, law enforcement warned pro-Palestinian demonstrators to leave the encampment or be arrested. By early Thursday morning, police had dismantled the encampment and arrested more than 200 people from the encampment.
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