How much do rankings matter

More than 1,500 votes, submissions, late night voicemails and testimonies from college students were used in Playboy Magazine’s listing of the Top 25 Party Schools in its November issue. CSU came in at number 15.

After a 15-year absence of the listing from the men’s magazine, the party list became an urban legend with each school claiming to be Playboy’s top party school in the country, said Theresa Hennessey, a publicist for Playboy Magazine.

The magazine decided to revive the listing due to popular demand from colleges, Hennessey said.

“It’s an honor that Playboy is considered to be the foremost authority on the good life,” Hennessey said.

Students should not expect the CSU administration to endorse the ranking from Playboy as it did earlier in the semester when U.S. News and World Report and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance praised CSU on a more academic note.

“So what,” said Tom Milligan, director of communication and marketing for CSU about the list. “I don’t think people make their college decision based on Playboy.”

Milligan continued saying the administration takes each ranking with a grain of salt.

U.S. News and World Report listed CSU in the second tier of national universities and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine ranked CSU as number 50 in the top 100 public universities in the country.

Arizona State received top honors from Playboy with California State, with Chico, Rollings and Louisiana State rounding out the top four schools. The University of Colorado was ranked sixth.

Some students on campus found the comments in the November issue sexist and derogatory towards women.

“I think the comments made represent a minority of students, ” said Robin Bair, a junior studying social work. “And it’s what gets out more often.”

Bair felt the comments made toward women were unnecessary.

“There needs to be equal respect towards men and women,” she said. “(The comments) were unnecessary and uncalled for.”

Playboy responded to the concerns students had about the remarks.

“(Playboy) doesn’t condone anything; we are just reporting the facts and what was submitted to us,” Hennessey said.

Brian Gohean, a psychology senior, did not have any complaints about the rankings CSU received but said the comments were subjective.

“The people that Playboy decided to poll didn’t reflect on the school as a whole,” Gohean said.

Hennessey was not sure if the magazine would have another listing for next year but she said if students at CSU wanted to improve their ranking, they should submit more student input with the craziest stories. The magazine itself does not visit college campuses to determine the ranks.

-Edited by Colleen Buhrer and Ben Koerselman

01. Arizona State

02. California State – Chico

03. Rollings

04. Louisiana State

05. West Virginia

06. Colorado

07. Wisconsin

08. Connecticut

09. Kansas

10. San Diego State

11. Georgia

12. Ohio State

13. Iowa State

14. Florida State

15. Colorado State

16. Florida

17. Tulane

18. Washington State

19. East Carolina

20. Michigan State

21. Mississippi

22. California – Santa Barbara

23. Lehigh

24. Vanderbilt

25. James Madison

Honorable mention: Miami of Ohio, Ohio University, Colgate, Penn State, Pitt, Southern Illinois, Slippery Rock, Tennessee, Texas, Dayton