Uncategorized

A high percentage of tenured or tenure-track college faculty is often viewed as a measure of academic excellence. Job stability allows professors to focus on their research and teaching. Tenured and tenure-track professors are likely to spend decades, even their entire professional career, at a single college. In the enrollment year of 2016-2017, the U.S. Department of Education published estimated figures for 1,241 American colleges and universities. In its own summary of the findings, the Chronicle brought to light consistencies across public and private schools. The City of New York University system showed the highest number of tenured/tenure-track faculty, reporting just under 100%. Perhaps the greatest surprise comes from the California public universities (see chart below). Many private liberal arts colleges reported upward of 85% tenure/tenure track faculty. Some colleges stand out: Cooper Union shows 96.5% whereas Duke reported 44%. Most highly selective colleges reported between 65-80%, including Yale (74%) and Wesleyan, Skidmore, Wellesley, Brandeis. Vanderbilt and the University of Southern California reported just over 60%.

Many students limit their college search to schools with a low ratio of students to each professor. The hope is that small class size is a strong indicator of a good education. When professors are not stretched to their responsibility for hundreds of students, they are better able to dedicate their time to individuals both inside and outside of the classroom. Not surprisingly, the top small liberal arts colleges in the country maintain the lowest ratios of students to each professor. According to a list provided earlier this year in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Vassar, Reed, Whitman, Carleton, Grinnell, Lawrence and Bowdoin, to name a few, all boast a ratio of between 9 and 11 students per professor. The Chronicle’s list includes 1,200 institutions and is based on an analysis of estimated figures provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

On campus liquor and drug violations are more common at small liberal arts institutions. In its analysis of data gathered by the U.S. Department of Education, the Chronicle identified several high profile colleges and universities with higher than average drug and liquor violations. The report looks at the annual number of violations per 1000 students over three consecutive years: 2014-2016. The University of Colorado Boulder, Reed College, Bates College, and Wesleyan were just a few of the colleges on the list. The data analyzed by the Chronicle compares disciplinary actions and arrests that occurred in colleges with 500 students or more. Residential colleges revealed up to three times more incidents of violation than large universities.