Dive Summary:
- U.S. News & World Report is considering a plan that would require colleges to have a senior official, outside of enrollment management and in the top-tier of an institution's administration, sign a statement affirming the accuracy of information submitted by the school.
- In the past year, five colleges and universities have admitted to submitting false data to U.S. News for the magazine's college rankings, and Editor and Chief Content Officer Brian Kelly compares the potential new requirement to the Sarbanes-Oxley Law that requires CEOs to stand behind financial reports.
- The fact that U.S. News is even considering such a plan represents a change in stance for the magazine, as its editors previously insisted that there was no evidence of a widespread problem with institutions reporting false data or any need for new measures to assure accuracy.
From the article:
In an interview, Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer at U.S. News, compared the idea to the Sarbanes-Oxley law, adopted by Congress in the wake of various business scandals, which among other things requires CEOs to certify that they stand behind financial reports being filed. The idea is to create incentives for those at the top of organizations to push for honesty in the materials produced about their organizations. "The integrity of data is important to everybody," Kelly said. ...