Shock and anxiety filled the campus of Claremont McKenna College (C.M.C.) in Claremont, CA after a senior official admitted to inflating SAT scores submitted to external agencies such as U.S. News and World Report, in order to rise in the rankings colleges and universities hold dear.

Been there, done that, right Gaels? Well, maybe it’s more like been there, done A LOT more than that.

The New York Times, after reporting on the story, released an article on its “The Choice” blog—a blog specifically regarding college admissions and financial aid—in which it interviewed students following news of the scandal. One senior student told the Times, “We were all very surprised. Everyone is talking about it. It’s obviously big news for the campus, putting us in the national spotlight, and not necessarily in the best way.” And another senior student similarly said, “I’d rather my college be in The New York Times for something other than this.”

Gaels, when I first saw the New York Times articles on the C.M.C. story—on Twitter, the best source for news, especially news of the latest celebrities the Twitter-verse wants to kill off—I thought to myself, “Golly gee, this sure sounds familiar.” But then, more importantly I tweeted wondering where the New York Times article about Iona was buried in the archives.

So, I searched. But, alas, I came up empty. Thankfully hours later the Times came out with another story and lo and behold, the one, the only Iona College was mentioned…in two paragraphs. Granted Iona was mentioned as a tool to compare with C.M.C. and to highlight the obsession colleges and universities have with the college ranking game, but still interestingly New York Times writers Richard Pérez-Peña and Daniel E. Slotnik wrote in their article ‘Gaming the College Rankings,’ “Iona’s case was extreme.”

Well, apparently not extreme enough to earn an entire article. These C.M.C. students complain about being in The New York Times with bad press—hey, at least you have about three articles in the New York Times.

The C.M.C. students also told the Times that although the school’s reputation may take a bit of a hit, they are confident that the school will regain its stature in the collegiate community. Perhaps there will be a story in the future of the progress of the university, but wouldn’t it better if there was a story about that small school in New Rochelle that was classified as an extreme case, but quickly rebounded after a few scandals in recent years?

I sure do—especially if I am one of the students quoted in the article. Or maybe I will be the one writing the article. A girl can dream, can’t she?

On a more serious note (who knew I had any seriousness in these columns?), however, aside from chastising our scandal survivors at C.M.C., I think Iona students and C.M.C. students both harbor similar attitudes when it comes to the scandal: joy. No, I’m kidding. On the contrary, both students recognize that while the falsification of information, although varying in severity, is certainly not flattering for the college they chose to attend, they probably could not imagine themselves anywhere else.

One C.M.C. student notes just that saying to the Times, “It’s sort of disturbing, because a lot of the senior staff at the college have been here a long time…But it doesn’t change my impression over all of the school or make me regret my choice.”

Of course it doesn’t. Gaels, how many of you made your decision to attend Iona because of its illustrious rankings? I sure didn’t. I mean, how many people truly use the rankings when making their decisions?

Sure it makes a bit of a difference, but at the end of the day doesn’t the choice come down to the “overall experience” high school guidance counselors always describe to high school juniors and seniors? Oh, and the money—that’s always a huge factor.

So, New York Times, I forgive you for your lack of an article about Iona—probably not as much as the Integrity Committee forgives you, but nevertheless I still respect you. I just hope that once Iona bounces back from this bump in the road (maybe pothole…) you’ll be the first to break the story.

To contact The Ionian’s Amanda Kelly, e-mail her at [email protected]