Hey, have you heard how great we are? No, not ‘we’ as in Pipe Dream (how egomaniacal do you think we are, anyway?) ‘ ‘we’ as in Binghamton University. Apparently we’re the premier public university in the Northeast. No joke! We’re serious. Just check out that banner hanging over the main entrance to campus.

Luckily, our administration, in its infinite wisdom and kindness, is there to make sure everyone knows when we get ranked well by one of those college guides. You know the ones: none of them seem to come up with their rankings in exactly the same way, but hey, they’re sold in actual bookstores, so there must be some truth to it all, right? Of course!

Except, naturally, when we’re ranked poorly.

For instance, we recently ranked rather poorly in the categories of town-gown relations and race and class interactions by Princeton Review (see Page 1). But aside from reading it in student-run media, odds are you didn’t hear about that anywhere on campus.

Now, we’re not saying the University should be putting up banners telling us why silly reviewers think we suck. No, no, no ‘ that would just be ridiculous. But it probably wouldn’t hurt administrators to consider the criticisms, and possibly even ponder whether there is a way to improve in any of our so-called problem areas ‘ rather than just lambaste the labels as inaccurate. (Which, as the story points out, is exactly what multiple University officials did.)

Apparently, University officials we spoke to feel that our relations with Triple Cities locals are just fine, regardless of what the Princeton Review has to say. And if we have a poor level of diversity, it’s only because that is the natural order of things.

Seriously, that’s what we were told. We’re not making this stuff up, kids.

We do realize that it’s much more beneficial for the University to be able to pick and choose its reviews, highlighting the positive ones. Yeah, it’s tacky and a little vomit-inducing to drive under a banner stating our superiority as a public school, but all businesses (and let’s not lie, that’s what this place is) naturally promote themselves when possible.

But there’s another side to this place: the side that’s supposed to supply us, the customers, with the best possible educational experience. And that experience could definitely be improved upon, if the University actually listened to its critics and considered changes that benefit current students, rather than just attract new ones.

We’re not going to bother offering suggestions today ‘ we do it all the time, and that’s not the point we’re making right now.

Where would academia be if every time professors’ work were criticized, they turned around and said, ‘Nope, we’re wonderful, and you’re wrong, so we won’t consider any new ideas or change a thing?’ Odds are we’d all still believe the Earth was flat and the sun revolved around it.

Constructive criticism is one of the most useful tools for improvement out there. Granted, it’s not the most pleasing to those on the receiving end, but it is inarguably important and necessary.

We’re proud of you too, BU. We’re glad to bask in the glow of our positive reviews, and are more than willing to let you fuel your PR machine with them. But please, for our sake, don’t ignore the criticism that comes with bad rankings. Remaining stagnant only ensures that the reviews will get worse from here ‘ we promise.