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The real story about Eckerd College
Published: September 21, 2010
The Tampa Tribune's decision to publish a table comparing core requirements in several Florida schools based on information and opinion provided by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni does your readers and the colleges you list a great disservice.
It is one thing for Michael Barone to express his views ("Who needs college? Skills slip; costs rise," Views, Sept. 11); it is another for the Tribune to represent Eckerd College the way it did - without checking its source and without asking us for comment.
The mere fact that schools such as Yale, Williams and Berkeley receive "F" grades from the very politicized and widely discredited American Council of Trustees and Alumni should have given you some idea about how biased and patently silly its rating system is.
We trust your discerning readers will know that these are the evaluations that matter to our students and their parents:
Phi Beta Kappa, the most widely respected academic honor society in the United States, recognizes Eckerd College for excellence in liberal arts education. Eckerd is one of only six colleges in Florida and 280 in the country with a PBK chapter.
The Policy Center on the First Year of College named Eckerd College one of 13 "Institutions of Excellence in the First Year of College."
According to the Institute of International Education's Open Doors 2009 Report on International Educational Exchange, Eckerd ranks 10th among the top 40 baccalaureate institutions sending students to study abroad.
Eckerd was recognized as No. 7 among PC Magazine's 2008 Top 20 Wired Colleges. The leading technology publication in the United States, PC Magazine chose colleges along with The Princeton Review. The "Top 20 Wired Colleges" honors colleges with the most comprehensive computing and technology offerings.
Eckerd has been selected as one of the top 10 environmental studies schools in the nation by Edward B. Fiske, former education editor of The New York Times and author of the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2011.
The 2010 Princeton Review Guide to 286 Green Colleges recognizes Eckerd as one of the country's most environmentally responsible colleges.
Perhaps most importantly, the college is listed as one of 40 liberal arts colleges profiled in Loren Pope's book, "Colleges That Change Lives."
We hope you will give us a call the next time you list our name in a table. We can help you interpret the data, evaluate the methodology and provide your readers with accurate information about Eckerd College and higher education.
