Think for yourself. Don't blindly accept what anyone - professors, friends, family, media -ยก tell you. Do research and dig into the truth behind everything. Because things aren't always as clear cut as they might seem, especially when it comes to polls and rankings.
Take, for example, Ball State University's performance on the Sustainable Endowment Institute's Environmental Report Card. At first glance, it seems cut and dry that the university didn't make the list. So, perhaps our efforts to be green weren't enough and other schools are being more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Let's increase our programs and be better for next year, and then we'll make it.
But wait, there's another, overriding reason why Ball State didn't make the list - we weren't eligible for the report card. No matter how sustainable the university was, no matter how many projects were undertaken, no matter what building matters were used, we weren't going to make the list.
Ball State received $170 million in endowments. The report card only looked at schools with $230 million to $35 billion in endowments. The report card didn't apply to us. All it says about Ball State is that the school isn't one of the 200 schools with the most endowments.
Polls and rankings don't always accurately represent how well, or poorly, a university or anything else is performing. People have to look at the individual facts to accurately understand the situation. Ball State is working on sustainability. It was Indiana's first university to use a hybrid bus. It is trying to build all new buildings to meet LEED certifications. Researchers are mapping out the university's carbon footprint so excessive energy use can be identified and reduced.
Ball State is gaining national recogition and earning more awards and rankings than in the past. All of this can be great and might represent university improvements. But don't be disappointed if we miss a ranking like this report card. Do your own research and decide for yourself how good Ball State is.
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