NO. 2 PARTIERS? EXPERTS HAVE DOUBTS

The Princeton Review's rankings may not be as fool-proof as many believe.
LINDSAY HYMA August 30, 2002

As it strives to become a Top 20 public college, Clemson University
recently received high marks in one of the nation's most widely read
publications. This recognition, however, will not likely aid the school in
reaching President Barker's Top 20 goal. Last Tuesday, the Princeton Review
published its 2003 edition of The Best 345 Colleges, which ranks schools
according to student surveys conducted over the last three years and
institutional data. Clemson earned the number two spot among top party
schools, right behind the University of Indiana at Bloomington.

Not everyone, however, is quick to assume that those marks are valid. While
these rankings are supposed to aid high school students in their college
decisions, the validity of the survey and ranking process has been called
into question by several school officials and medical experts.

Since the Princeton Review began their survey in 1992, many experts and
officials have questioned the credibility of the publication by citing
unscientific methods and glorification of alcohol and drugs; however,
Editorial Director Robert Franek recently defended the book when he stated,
"We do this to help applicants and their families decide which of these
colleges is best for them. That has been our mission for over a decade and
will continue to be so."

The American Medical Association (AMA), however, had a different opinion in
a recent statement and is concerned that students will begin to look at the
party school rankings as a self-fulfilling prophecy which will in turn lead
to even greater problems. Dr. Richard Yoast, Ph.D., director of the AMA's
Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, feels the party school list helps
to "legitimize high risk drinking" and promotes the notion that alcohol and
drugs are a central part of the college experience while ignoring the
consequences of these high-risk behaviors. Erik Olson, editor of The Best
345 Colleges, explained that while the survey is not scientific, he feels
it is "completely valid."

"The real college experts are the current college students," he commented,
which means for his magazine that they value student opinion over any other
form of research.

One of Clemson's marketing research professors, Dr. Charles Duke, recently
examined the survey and also questioned the data collection methods used.
He felt that the Review was more interested in producing a "product that
people buy and not necessarily a product that is good."

The AMA has also found evidence that some schools have sent specific
students to the site to enter predictable responses and give their
institution a more favorable rating in the book.

Duke also felt the survey questions were somewhat leading and used
inflammatory wording to evoke desired responses. For instance, students
have to choose how smoothly their school is run on a scale between "like
butter" and "like a bed of nails." Sensationalizing of answer choices and
questions is, according to Duke, an error in the design of the survey that
can skew results.

Based on the information the Review has released, there is also no evidence
to assure a diverse sample of the student body was used, which may have
created a bias if students were mostly Greek or mostly male, for example.
Duke felt that this lack of "systematic representation" was primarily to
blame for the survey's potential flaws as it likely did not represent an
accurate cross-section of Clemson's student population.

Indiana University's Vice President of Public Affairs, Bill Stephan, also
spoke out about his school's No. 1 ranking since IU did not even appear on
the list last year.

"I think there are some serious questions about the methodology of the
study and it really calls into question the credibility of the ranking,"
Stephan said. "We find this to some degree to be suspect in that last year
we were no where to be found." Since 1998, the school has also tightened
its student drinking policies following the alcohol-related death of a student.

IU's sudden jump to the top is just one of many discrepancies found in the
polls from year to year. For example, last year's top party school, the
University of Tennessee at Knoxville, plummeted to 16th in this year's
rankings.

The survey for students is a grid-based questionnaire composed of 70
questions ranging from campus life to academics to political affiliations.
Over the past few years, Princeton Review representatives have visited
colleges around the country to survey students. In addition, students could
also complete the survey from Princeton Review's Web site.

This year's rankings were complied using 100,158 student surveys completed
within the last three years and resulted in 60 lists based solely on
student answers and three lists complied from student opinions and
institutionally reported data.

According to Olson, the Clemson administration was "very cooperative,"
which created an "exceptional case" for the success of the online survey.
Clemson students filled out over 3,500 on-line surveys, more than 10 times
the national average for total surveys filled out per school, which was
300. Olson stated, however, that the large number of respondents was not
responsible for the high rankings.

In addition to the party school ranking, Clemson also ranked first for
intramural sports participation, hard liquor consumption, beer usage,
marijuana usage and fraternity/sorority activity. The school also ranked
fourth for intolerance of gay people and as a "jock school."

Despite the disputation of the rankings, Clemson has had higher than
average rates of high-risk drinking over the past few years when compared
to some national averages. According to the CORE Institute's Alcohol and
Drug survey conducted in Spring 2002, 50 percent of Clemson students engage
in heavy episodic drinking versus 42 percent in the national group.

Drug use on campus, however, is down from the national average, and 15
percent of Clemson students said they had used marijuana in the thirty days
prior to the survey compared to 19 percent of students in the national
reference group. These numbers are not traditionally indicative of a school
ranked first in the "Reefer Madness" list.

According to George Clay, executive director of Student Health Services,
these results were also consistent with other internal findings, including
the National College Health Assessment conducted in December 2000.

While the Princeton Review survey may or may not represent an accurate
cross-section of Clemson's population, the study may help to reflect on an
important issue of perceptions around campus.

"At Clemson, perceptions of our own alcohol and drug use are much greater
than in reality," Clay said. In the CORE study, it was found that 29
percent of those surveyed abstained from alcohol or had not consumed any
within thirty days; however, when asked about others, 95 percent believed
that their peers consumed alcohol at least once a week. While some of
Clemson's statistics are still above the national average, the heavy
episodic drinking rates and marijuana usage rates are down when compared to
CORE's 1999 study. Clay believes Clemson is heading in the right direction
and is working with the Alcohol Task Force to continue decreasing high-risk
behaviors both on and off campus.

One new program works with the idea of "social norming" and is hoping to
bring students' perceptions more in line with actual realities. The program
is a poster campaign that uses conventional marketing techniques to inform
students of actual behaviors on campus and to dispel myths about risky
behaviors. In addition, the Union Programs and Activities Council (UPAC)
has made significant investments in activities to offer students an
alternative to the typical "party scene" during high-risk times.

Student Health Services also offers counseling services including risk
reduction education, group counseling and individual drug treatment counseling.

While the essence of the Princeton Review survey portrayed Clemson in a
somewhat negative light, Clay and others hope the rankings will bring more
awareness to the substance abuse problems on and off campus and increase
the efforts in place to prevent irresponsible drinking and drug abuse at
Clemson.