Newsweek and College Prowler rank sororities?
 

Just saw online that Newsweek, along with College Prowler has come out with a list of the "best sororities". It is a list of the "top 15" sororities. No sour grapes here, as my sorority and my daughter's sorority are both ranked in the top 15 (according to this silly ranking!!), but I can't think of a worse time for such a ranking to come out! Just as thousands of girls are going through recruitment! If a pnm doesn't see a particular sorority on the list they might not consider it to be a good organization. What an unnecessary ranking!

Their selection criteria:

This has already been discussed, but I don't mind ranking groups, but using these criteria is just dumb.

T.J. Sullivan's blog has a good take on the list of fraternities.

http://tjsullivan.com/rank-national-fraternities/

He also had some pretty good suggestions for worthy criteria to rank groups on:

I vote for T.J.'s!!!:D

I am now even more annoyed with this list, because my own mother brought it up, and this is how she said it, "Your sister is really happy because Zeta was just ranked the number one sorority by Newsweek." I tried to tell her that this ranking business was a lot of phooey, and what it was based on, but I think she thought I just had sour grapes. She said, "but this is Newsweek!" Argh.

Isn't Newsweek kind of on the same level as Star Magazine now?

As I looked at it I was happy they stated their methodology, but then as I looked at the rankings, the methodology didn't make sense as compared to the results. And with no story to flesh out the numbers?

Their methodology was clearly based on using information which was available to the general public. I'm sure NPC groups (and NIC) would be pretty tight lipped with some news magazine doing some silly rankings.

FTW:

"Average sanitation rating of 2nd floor bathrooms at housed chapters."

They ranked the top 15 of the 26 NPC sororities? That's all?

In other words, "sororities" and "top sororities" is synonymous with NPC.

Oh okay. Sounds like Newsweek is attention whoring during recruitment time. Seems like a waste of time and publication.

I don't want to link the crap list, but FTA:

These rankings and lists need to include "NPC" in their titles. They need to state "top NPC sororities" instead of people having to read the methodology to find (what is usually assumed which is) that NPC sororities are the only (inter)national sororities considered.

Then again, "sororities" and "top sororities" are synonymous with NPC for the mainstream/population majority. Newsweek is only appealing to this population majority.

How on Earth would you compare NPHC to NPC groups? It's apples and oranges. Surely this is a silly thing to get upset about.

Hardly anyone knows what NPC and NPHC mean. This was in Newsweek magazine. Consider the source.

Kevin missed the point. I do not give a damn about these rankings. I do not want a ranking of NPHC, MCGLO, LGLOs, etc. I want for people to stop making "sorority" ("fraternity") synonymous with NPC (NIC). The 26 NPC sororities are not THE sororities. Therefore, when I read "sorority," everywhere that I read it, I do not only want to see NPC sororities.

The general public is going to equate NPC with "sorority." If you say "black sorority," you're talking NPHC.

Are you intentionally overstating the obvious and repeating my point?

Oh well, at least you got the point.

Not only are the criteria for these rankings ridiculous, but the rankings don't seem to add up based on that criteria, and some of the information isn't accurate.

I vote for TJ's method! But as I said in the other thread regarding these rankings - they should be more informational and used simply as a comparison between each group, rather than stating, "This sorority is the best!"

Worse. They admitted this week that they employ ZERO fact checkers. It has the credibility of something posted on Livejournal.

Just about! DH and I are not going to renew our subscription. We've discovered the Christian Science Monitor Weekly. It is an excellent source for news and commentary.

This is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen and a new low for Newsweek. They're trying to quantify something that isn't quantifiable (is that even a word?)

Actually, I'd be surprised if the general public has a clue that there's such a thing as NPC, NIC, NPHC, etc., or that there's a distinction between NPC, NIC, NPHC, Latino, multicultural and other Greeks beyond "traditionally white," "traditionally black" and the like. I'd wager the general public just sees them all as "fraternities" and "sororities."

Newsweek went downhill fast after the Washington Post Co. sold it. We cancelled our subscription a few years back when they revamped the format -- couldn't stand the new format.

Not that the format will matter much longer, since they've announced the Newsweek will be moving (by an undetermined date) to electronic only and will no longer have a print edition.

Tina Brown, who used to edit Vanity Fair and now edits the web site The Daily Beast, is just now recently over Newsweek. I have a lot of respect for her I hope she see that this sort of journalism is extinguished there.

Among the general public that actually knows about Greekdom, "fraternities" and "sororities" means the predominantly white (inter)national GLOs. People do not have to know the names of councils and conferences to know the images conjured.

/Based on my collegiate and post-collegiate discussions with people over the years, the GC posts over the years that treat NPC and NIC as THE sororities and fraternities, and media depictions of Greekdom

The whole article reeks of journalistic incompetence at its worst for just the reasons you cite.

Agree. I was referring to the general public that doesn't really know anything about Greekdom. But I think that the end result is the same.

Didn't we have this discussion less than a month ago?

Yes, as Kevin mentioned in the first response to the OP.