Assault. Sexual assault. Underage drinking. Indecent exposure. Alcohol poisoning. Another assault. More alcohol poisoning. Sound like a fun night to you? Then you will probably be sad to hear that Craig’s, aka Favorites Pub, a popular college drinking destination on York Rd. has been shut down by the city’s liquor board.
If you want further evidence that college rankings don’t make a whole lot of sense, check out the Daily Beast’s annual list of the country’s best colleges.
It’s the time of year that college administrators and admissions officials have been waiting for: the annual release of U.S. News’s college rankings. Even as the whole idea of rankings had been heavily criticized, and despite other magazines trying to steal the glory by developing their own lists, the U.S. News list remains a focus for students and administrators alike. Here’s how local schools measured up this year:
Have you heard the phrase “meds and eds”? It refers to the idea that hospitals and universities are the institutions with the money and power to revitalize struggling cities. Baltimore has a wealth of both.
The Baltimore City Anchor Plan is a formalization of Baltimore’s plans for meds and eds-based development. The eight hospitals and universities that signed on to the plan this week promised to prioritize four areas: public safety, local hiring, local purchasing, and quality of life in the city.
I love commencement season — not just because of the caps and gowns and excitement in the air, but also because it’s the time of year when local universities bring famous (or, well, semi-famous) folks to town to deliver the commencement address. While none of the speakers announced so far rivals Ira Glass (who spoke at Goucher in 2012), they make for an intriguing mix:
Johns Hopkins: Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube. Why this is cool: She’ll be just the fifth woman to serve as Johns Hopkins’ graduation speaker since 1974.
Stevenson: ABC News Anchor Byron Pitts, who you may recognize from his reporting appearances on Good Morning America, Nightline, and 20/20. Or from Morgan State’s 2013 commencement speech. Why this is cool: He’s a native Baltimorean!
Just how long can you be “up-and-coming” for? In the case of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, the answer appears to be at least five years: that’s how long the school has spent at the top of U.S. News & World Report’s list of schools “that are making the most promising and innovative changes in the areas of academics, faculty and student life.”
Last year, I wrote that colleges’ summer reading picks for incoming freshmen could be seen as “a litmus test for how a school sees itself.” Intellectual? Cutting-edge? Not too difficult? There’s a book that fits that description! This year, Baltimore Fishbowl continues that tradition of overanalyzing freshman required reading from local universities:
If you’ve paid a tuition bill lately, you may find it difficult to believe that many colleges and universities are at risk of running out of money. But according to Forbes, many schools — especially those considered “non-elite” — are having trouble keeping their endowments up, attracting students, and offering a high quality education at the same time. “In some ways colleges operate like prestige-seeking liquor brands,” Matt Schifrin writes. “In other ways they are more like Macy’s offering regular sales days, only quietly.” According to the magazines’ “financially fit schools” ranking, only two Baltimore-area universities can consider themselves A or B students when it comes to having healthy finances.
The Princeton Review released its annual college rankings yesterday, and while the academic lists are more important, it’s those Biggest Party School rankings that everyone really likes to read. Below are a few Maryland-centric highlights from this year’s list:
Loyola biology professor David Rivers is the kind of bug guy who’s into cockroach racing, mealworm stir fries, and maggot spitting contests. (Seriously.) And his research is even grosser! But we’re not here to talk about flies that feed on fetal pigs (ick); it’s cicadas we’re interested in. And Rivers has some answers.
