If you're Virginia Commonwealth University, trailing George Mason University drives you to distraction during the best of times.

So VCU hardly needed to receive this latest stick in the eye: U.S. News & World Report ranked Mason as the top "Up-And-Coming" school in the nation.

And what about VCU, whose aggressive expansion has made it the state's largest university?

It didn't crack the list.

In the gated, ivy-walled community of academia, building a fancy house alone doesn't get it done. Bricks and mortar and off-the-charts growth have not purchased VCU prestige.

Three other Virginia schools made the Up-And-Coming list. Christopher Newport University was ranked seventh and the University of Richmond ninth among liberal arts schools. James Madison was ranked among the top Southern master's universities.

VCU hates losing to Mason, Madison or UR in basketball. But the U.S. News & World Report ranking is more central to the school's mission than an Eric Maynor jump shot.

Robert J. Morse, director of data research for the Washington-based U.S. News & World Report, said 262 schools were considered in VCU's and GMU's national university category. The magazine surveyed 786 people -- college presidents, provosts and admissions deans.

VCU was deemed unworthy by a jury of its peers.

This is hardly balm for the hurt feelings on Franklin Street after a spring and summer of scandal, upheaval and resignation.

On May 22, The New York Times ran an embarrassing front-page piece calling into question VCU's relationship with Philip Morris USA -- hardly the sort of national publicity any school wants.

News of an improperly awarded degree garnered by former Police Chief Rodney Monroe after completing only six credit hours at VCU broke around the end of May.

It's unclear what role, if any, recent controversies played in VCU's nonranking. The survey results were essentially completed by June 1, Morse said.

As for VCU not making the cut, "I don't have a theory," he said. But speaking in general, "there is a difference between innovation and just growth.

"Are they really doing innovative changing at the school or is it just rapidly growing? Maybe the respondents realized that George Mason is both rapidly growing and evolving."

And there, in a nutshell, lies the source of much of the unrest at VCU.

The school has increased its enrollment by 9,000 students during the past decade. But it has struggled to keep pace -- from a standpoint of resources and faculty -- to fulfill its academic mission.

Critics of school President Eugene P. Trani, who is stepping down in July, have long complained that he has placed development and enrollment growth above academics. They might call the U.S. News & World Report ranking the chickens coming home to roost.

As the Trani era ends, his successor's main task will be to restore confidence in academic integrity and to enhance -- or repair -- VCU's national stature.

VCU's promise must not be compromised by its unbridled growth. The school must scale down its ambitions to meet its academic mission. If it is to become a true up-and-comer, quality -- not quantity -- must be job one.
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or mwilliams@timesdispatch.com.