According to the Boston Globe, UMass Amherst wants to become a "public Ivy" along with institutions like Michigan, Virginia, and Cal-Berkely. If you are Robert Holub, chancellor of the Amherst campus, the news that the new academic year begins with an attempt to make the largest sushi roll - 400 feet long - in the world can't be a good sign.

Some 300 volunteers will go for the record, currently held by Cal-Berkely at 330 feet, today at the school's annual welcome barbecue. Good luck!

While school spirit, exemplified by a group attempt at a world record, or a big crowd at a football game, is important for potential undergraduates, it's just one part of the problem facing what is supposed to be the top state school in a state loaded with elite private universities. A sample:

• The Amherst campus has a comparatively small endowment of $181 million; Michigan's endowment is $6 billion.

• The number of PhDs awarded in Amherst is down 30% in two decades.

• The school's English department is down from 100 to 43 professors.

• Compared to peer schools, UMass Amherst has lower SAT scores, fewer tenured faculty, and lower graduation rates.

The most telling example is the trend of more Massachusetts kids picking other state's colleges, like University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, or the University of Connecticut, than kids from those states are picking UMass Amherst.

Filed in News and tagged Amherst campus, Cal-Berkely, Michigan, Robert Holub, SAT, UMass Amherst, world's largest sushi roll

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