U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of colleges came out earlier this month, and once again — for the 18th consecutive year to be exact — UNC was counted among the top five public universities in the country. We came in fifth this year, behind the University of California, LA, University of California, Berkeley, University of Virginia and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While that’s certainly something to be proud of, I can’t help but feel we were slighted. UNC deserves not just to be higher, but to be at the top of the list. I don’t believe the good people at U.S. News intentionally snubbed UNC, but clearly there are some things about the schools ranked ahead of us that they failed to take into account. Here are a few:
1) UCLA’s admissions page on its website states that students are “charged with impacting the world from the moment (they) step on campus.” But does the university teach its students to have a positive impact on the world? UCLA graduate Nicolas Cage’s decision to star in films like "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice," "G-Force" and "The Wicker Man" suggests not.
2) There are several safe spaces at UC Berkeley, and campus police claim the school is a “secure environment.” But recent history indicates that Berkeley isn’t as safe as administrators would like you to think. There were multiple riots on campus last year, and, even worse, a video on YouTube shows that in 2010 Nicolas Cage was spotted in Berkeley. How safe can the students of UC Berkeley really be if the man with poor enough judgement to think "Ghost Rider" was a good idea can wander around their town freely?
3) For the past 30 years, UVa. has hosted the Virginia Film Festival, where Virginian filmmakers have the opportunity to showcase their work, and special guests from the movie industry lead conversations about the films. Past guests have included famed directors and actors like Spike Lee, Sandra Bullock and Oliver Stone. And Nicolas Cage. UVa. gave Nicolas Cage the opportunity to shape the young minds of its student body. Let that sink in.
4) On the surface, UM Ann Arbor looks like a fine college. It has a beautiful campus, a good football team, and counts Nobel Prize and Turing Award winners among its graduates. But a little digging reveals that a Nicolas Cage film festival — Nicolas Uncaged — takes place a mere 45 minutes away in Detroit, far too close for comfort.
With all these factors considered and given their proper weight, the only reasonable ranking would have UNC in first place. To paraphrase ol’ Nic Cage himself, sorry U.S. News, but there’s only two media outlets I trust. One of them’s the DTH. The other’s not you.
