Ole Miss again top party school
Lauren Beattie
Issue date: 8/23/06 Section: News
Brows furrowed and shoulders shrugged across campus when the results of The Princeton Review's 2007 edition of "The Best 361 Colleges" named the University of Mississippi as the No. 5 party school in the nation Tuesday.
Brittani Hurlburt, an Ole Miss sophomore, laughed when she heard the news and said, "Honestly, being top five in the nation makes me very proud. I wouldn't go to any other school."
Ole Miss was also named on other lists including No. 14 for "Major Frat and Sorority Scenes," No. 15 for "Students Most Nostalgic for Reagan Politics" and second on "Their Students (Almost) Never Study."
In last year's Princeton Review study, Ole Miss ranked seventh in the nation for its party school reputation and first for not studying, and the school has ranked very high on these lists and a few others of uncertain merit for several years.
The faculty and students are well aware of Ole Miss's party school status but none of them seem to be truly concerned about the statistics.
Jeff Alford, associate vice chancellor of university relations, said, "It in no way resembles a scientific survey. It's all just kind of a big joke... I don't think we are any more or any less of a party school than ninety-nine percent of campuses."
Chancellor Robert Khayat agreed.
"We really don't pay much attention to that particular category [party school] because of the way they conduct the survey," he said.
Khayat joked when he first found out about the rankings and said, "If we're going to do something, let's be excellent."
According to The Princeton Review's website, http://www.princetonreview.com, the results are tabulated from an 80 question survey given to 115,000 students from across the nation, about 300 from each campus.
Ninety-three percent of the surveys were submitted online; 7 percent came from paper surveys on location at the campuses.
Some argue that the "party scene" of Ole Miss is based solely on each individual student.
Debra Brown Young, assistant dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at Ole Miss, seemed unfazed by the rankings.
"Any place is what you make it," she said. "And I think we have many students who make something very fine of their Ole Miss experience. And not just honors students."
The statistics, valid or not, have not altered the attitudes of the people who love Ole Miss.
"I'm not sure just what exactly the Princeton survey means," said Alford. "But it could mean that Ole Miss is a fun place to study. That might be a good way to look at it."
Brittani Hurlburt, an Ole Miss sophomore, laughed when she heard the news and said, "Honestly, being top five in the nation makes me very proud. I wouldn't go to any other school."
Ole Miss was also named on other lists including No. 14 for "Major Frat and Sorority Scenes," No. 15 for "Students Most Nostalgic for Reagan Politics" and second on "Their Students (Almost) Never Study."
In last year's Princeton Review study, Ole Miss ranked seventh in the nation for its party school reputation and first for not studying, and the school has ranked very high on these lists and a few others of uncertain merit for several years.
The faculty and students are well aware of Ole Miss's party school status but none of them seem to be truly concerned about the statistics.
Jeff Alford, associate vice chancellor of university relations, said, "It in no way resembles a scientific survey. It's all just kind of a big joke... I don't think we are any more or any less of a party school than ninety-nine percent of campuses."
Chancellor Robert Khayat agreed.
"We really don't pay much attention to that particular category [party school] because of the way they conduct the survey," he said.
Khayat joked when he first found out about the rankings and said, "If we're going to do something, let's be excellent."
According to The Princeton Review's website, http://www.princetonreview.com, the results are tabulated from an 80 question survey given to 115,000 students from across the nation, about 300 from each campus.
Ninety-three percent of the surveys were submitted online; 7 percent came from paper surveys on location at the campuses.
Some argue that the "party scene" of Ole Miss is based solely on each individual student.
Debra Brown Young, assistant dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at Ole Miss, seemed unfazed by the rankings.
"Any place is what you make it," she said. "And I think we have many students who make something very fine of their Ole Miss experience. And not just honors students."
The statistics, valid or not, have not altered the attitudes of the people who love Ole Miss.
"I'm not sure just what exactly the Princeton survey means," said Alford. "But it could mean that Ole Miss is a fun place to study. That might be a good way to look at it."
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jessica Hanchey
posted 8/24/06 @ 2:35 PM CST
Ole Miss has always been a bit of a party school. I feel sad for the current students, though. Ole Miss was more fun when the Gin was open, there were frat parties on campus, and Super T played somewhere each semester!
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