The chancellor of Syracuse University, Kent Syverud, has been quoted as saying he “cares about college rankings.”

Ry Rivard at Inside Higher Ed has the story:

Syracuse U. curbs work with program to help urban youth attend college

Syracuse University plans to scale back its involvement in a scholarship program for public high school students, a decision that prompted scores of its Syracuse students to protest on Friday.

The cutback represents a move by Chancellor Kent Syverud, who started in January, to dismantle at least part of the previous chancellor’s ambitious and controversial effort to increase the economic and racial diversity of students at Syracuse

Former Chancellor Nancy Cantor famously ignored and repeatedly criticized college rankings and made attention-grabbing efforts to throw open the doors of Syracuse, a private university, to more low-income, minority students. While diversity supporters applauded her, others on the campus feared Syracuse’s rankings were falling as a result of her commitments. Supporters of her vision feared that Syverud — who, even before he took office, said he cared about college rankings — would reduce the number of low-income and minority students at Syracuse.

Now, some are beginning to think that fear is justified as the new administration plans to scale back Syracuse’s partnership with the Posse Foundation, which helps colleges find urban public school students worthy of scholarships. The program isn’t restricted to low-income or minority students, but Posse typically helps bring those students to the attention of colleges.

David L. Jackson, a Posse sophomore at Syracuse from Miami, organized Friday’s protest to coincide with a reunion of African-American and Latino Syracuse alumni. Minorities face a number of challenges at Syracuse, Jackson said, but the Posse cuts broke the camel’s back.

“The same issues that alumni faced when they were at school – they just went dormant. And now they are alive,” Jackson said in a telephone interview.

Cantor is now at Rutgers University. Syverud is the former dean of the law school at Washington University in St. Louis, which has a well-ranked undergraduate program that admits the lowest percentage of low-income students of any college of its kind in America.

Syracuse’s partnership with Posse is in its third year and is helping about 60 students. The university has accepted about 10 students a year each from Posse sites in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miami. Under Syverud, the university is cutting its involvement to only Miami, a reduction of about 20 scholarships a year for students Syracuse might otherwise never find.

In the past, some have suggested Cantor’s policies allowed in students who were not prepared for Syracuse.