The Princeton Review, which publishes an annual guide to the nation’s colleges and universities, offers a decidedly mixed view of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in its, “The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition.” The positives, though, heavily outweigh the negative.
The publication names the state’s flagship institution of higher learning as one of the 50 “best values” among the nation’s public universities. It also ranks the school as one of the top 135 in the Southeast. Those certainly are positive recommendations.
But the Review’s ranking of the Knoxville campus as one of “the least beautiful” in the nation: the 11th ugliest. Unfortunately, the latter has prompted far more public comment than the acknowledgment the university is one of the most affordable and accessible of its type.
Tens of thousands of men and women who have matriculated in Knoxville likely have a more charitable view of the place they once called home than the one produced by the relative handful of students whose opinions are the basis of the current review. Besides, there’s probably some truth to the rating.
Even the most loyal Volunteer has to agree that the mix of buildings in various architectural styles and parking lots on the cramped Knoxville campus leaves a lot to be desired. University officials, in fact, admit as much.
The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees recently approved a new master plan for the campus in the heart of Knoxville. When completed, it will provide expanded green space, more courtyards and student and environment-friendly walkways and bike lanes. The plan is welcome, and its implementation as funds become available should bring positive change to the look and the feel of the campus.
It should be noted, as well, that the campus is not bereft of attractive sites. Ayres Hall on The Hill, which has been renovated recently, is certainly pleasing to the eye.
UT is the only public school in Tennessee to be ranked among the nation’s best values, but other schools were highly ranked in other categories. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s College of Business graduate program is included in the list of best business schools in the Southeast. Sewanee: The University of the South, the University of Tennessee at Martin, Carson-Newman College, East Tennessee State University and Maryville College also received acclaim.
Guides like the Princeton Review provide information and some advice, but they are not definitive. It is far better to remember state schools that rank highly because of their positive values than to focus on a negative — an ugly campus — that has nothing to do with the vital work of educating Tennessee students.