... And why we don't.

BLACK ENTERPRISE RECENTLY PUBLISHED RANKINGS for the "Top 50 Colleges for African Americans," in which Georgetown University moved from 9th to 11th. Although Georgetown shifted down two spots from its position in 2003, the university is still among the top 20 schools. Unfortunately, this assessment of Georgetown, based on BE's four main variables, is extremely incorrect. While African American undergraduates may hold a high graduation rate and reflect a significant percentage of the total student body, the academic and social environments are unjust and absurd.

For instance, there are only a handful of African American professors at Georgetown, of which hardly any are tenured. In fact, it took one African American professor almost 17 years to acquire a tenured position in 2004, despite her many achievements. In addition, the creation of an African Studies program faced repeated obstacles and it has only recently been established as a minor program, with little intention of expanding it in the future. Furthermore, African American students at Georgetown received hate e-mail toward the end of last year from fellow undergraduate students who, among other comments, directed African Americans to return to Africa.

I hope that the magazine's future university rankings project fewer biases and errors, especially as I enjoy reading BE.

Eden Ghidei

Washington, D.C.