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The Maroon Tiger Work

STUDENTS SPEAK OUT IN PRINCETON REVIEW SURVEY

By SAEED AHMED

A recent survey of college students are the nation's top 309 colleges places Morehouse among the top twenty colleges campuses -- but mostly for the wrong reasons.

The survey, conducted by the Princeton Review, ranks Morehouse College 15th among campuses where "students pray on a regular basis," and 18th among colleges "with little or no marijuana use."

That's the good news.

The survey, however, also shows Morehouse to be the third worst in both strained class relations and in discrimination against gay students, and ninth in having "dorms like dungeons."

In addition, the College ranks ninth among the "most politically inactive" campuses, 19th in poor college-community relations, and 20th in "long lines and red tapes" among all the colleges surveyed.

The study used a representative sample of students at each of the 309 schools (56,000 students in all). Jeanne Krier, publicist for The Princeton Review, said on average "about 200 students" were randomly selected from each college campus.

The students were then asked more than seventy questions about their respective school's academics, campus life and other issues. These included the safety and location of campus, comfort of dormitories, food quality, ease in dealing with the administration, drug and alcohol use and teacher-student relationship.

The results, which appear in the 1996 version of The Princeton Review Student Access Guide to the Best 309 Colleges, show what students feel strongly about, both positively and negatively, at their schools.

The survey showed Engineering, Business Administration, Biology/Pre-med and Pre-Law to be the most popular majors at Morehouse, claiming over half the students.

Students spend 3.55 hours on average per day on academics, and half of all recent graduates went on to graduate schools, the survey reported.

The students surveyed at Morehouse commented their College "has seen better days." Their complaints ranged from registration hassles and internal politicking, to the use of drugs and a cliquish student body.

Many lamented that while their professors were excellent teachers, they are not readily available outside the classroom.

Most students, however, reported satisfaction with Morehouse. They considered their colleagues to be politically progressive and fairly religious, and thus socially conservative.

"There is a true spirit of pride that flows through here," wrote one student. "The school teaches you to know yourself."

Another student, summing up the prevalent attitude at Morehouse, said, "The hotter the fire, the tougher the steel. If you come to Morehouse, you will either become a man or you will leave, plain and simple."

While most students expressed little surprise at Morehouse's rankings in the survey, some expressed skepticism about certain placements.

"Although the survey says a lot about the current state of Morehouse, I think some of the figures do not reflect the fact," said one student. "The fact is, there is a lot more drug use going on, unlike what the survey says."

But others, like Ali Thomas, believe students, instead of debating the accuracy of the rankings, should use the survey to reevaluate their opinions about certain issues, so that the college "fares better next time."

"[The survey] is particularly telling about how we relate to our community," said the Junior Biophysics major. "Among other things, it really highlights the improvements we need to make in our interaction with those outside the campus."