Editorial : Move to ACC may mend SU’s declining national reputation

The university’s move to the Atlantic Coast Conference from the Big East conference will increase Syracuse University’s exposure in the Southeast. The exposure will aid SU’s recruitment efforts in new geographic areas, but underscores a need to complement recruiting with real academic improvements.

Representatives from Boston College said the Northeast school experienced an increase in applications from the Southeast, though that was not a motivation for joining the ACC in 2004. SU’s move to the ACC may mend some of the recent blows to its academic reputation and certainly highlights its need to do just that.

Schools in the ACC cover a greater area of the United States and are primarily located in the South. Television coverage of SU games will also increase as a result of the move to the ACC. These two factors could attract a greater number of applications from the Southeast, experts say. This predicted increase in applicants goes hand in hand with other academic recruitment efforts. SU has focused its recruitment on this portion of the United States because more college-bound students will be graduating in the Southeast than the Northeast in the coming years.

Despite the expansion of its recruitment efforts, SU has received several blows to its reputation in recent years. U.S. News and World Report ranks SU No. 62 in college rankings, a drop from No. 40 in the late ‘90s. It voluntarily pulled out of the prestigious Association of American Universities before getting forced out last spring and has focused less on raising money for academics and faculty relative to almost every other fundraising effort.

SU’s declining national reputation may be healed in part by the move to the ACC. SU has had traditionally little name recognition outside of the Northeast. This is changing thanks to recruitment efforts. But SU’s future exposure in games against schools with enormous fan bases like the Tarheels of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Blue Devils of Duke University will greatly expand the SU brand.

High school upperclassmen with no prior knowledge of SU will put significant weight into SU’s relatively low U.S. News ranking and high acceptance rate. But students who grew up rooting against, or for, SU in games and hearing the name tossed around by friends and relatives will be far more likely to overlook otherwise discouraging figures.

Schools in the ACC have relationships that could greatly benefit SU students, particularly those with international interests. ACC member schools participate in the International Academic Collaborative, which brings together study abroad and research opportunities among the institutions. SU’s already thriving abroad program could become even more renowned as part of these cooperative relationships.

Overall, the move to the ACC, where SU sits below the average U.S. News ranking of No. 49 among member colleges, should motivate SU to revitalize its national reputation. If SU’s administration believes the more competitive schools of the ACC are more in line with SU’s academic profile, then it should work to make that notion a reality.