March 18, 2005

The Search for Prestige, Rather Than Quality

To the Editor:

Clara M. Lovett's "The Perils of Pursuing Prestige" (The Chronicle Review, January 21), and its thesis that the race to the top of the academic-prestige pyramid comes at a cost to broader educational initiatives and to the public interest, is refreshing, not only because of the substance of the message, but because of the leadership platform from which it is communicated.

Can it be that when we in academia pursue prestige as a measure of quality, we do so without