Xavier routinely outpaces nation’s best institutions

You may find an institution of higher learning with more flash and pop or more star-studded rosters for honorary degrees, but you would be hard-pressed to find a college or university with a more solid academic reputation than New Orleans’ own Xavier University.

Despite reports to the contrary, Xavier alumni and local residents know that when it comes to training Black health professionals and preparing its students for the academic rigors of medical school, nobody comes close.

Notable Xavier University alumni include former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, National Association of Black Journalists president Greg Lee and Xavier’s longtime president, Dr, Norman C. Francis, who announced last month that he will retire in June after 50 years at the helm.

Francis, a Lafayette, La. native, is credited with creating an academic atmosphere that transformed the nation’s only Black Catholic university into an academic dynasty and a school at the top of every young Black aspiring doctor’s wish list.

The numbers don’t lie.

For more than two decades, Xavier has claimed bragging rights for getting more of its graduates accepted into medical schools than any other institution of higher learning in the U.S. bar none. “Today, Xavier is first in the nation in the number of African Americans earning bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, physics, and, physical sciences and we’ve held this position at the top for the past decade,” a member of Xavier’s board of trustees said in a recent story. Xavier is currently ranked fifth in the nation in producing African Americans who earn science and mathematics Ph.Ds and ranked first in life sciences; Xavier is ranked No. 1 as the undergraduate source of African Americans who earn medical degrees, easily outpacing prestigious institutions like Morehouse, Spelman, Howard, Stanford, Harvard and Tulane. Xavier is also ranked third in the U.S. in producing African Americans who earn doctorates in pharmacy.

Despite Xavier’s stellar success, it was ranked by U.S. News & World Report sixth among its list of the top historically Black colleges and universities. Spelman College, Howard University and More­house College were ranked first, second and third respectively.

The publication’s ranking methodology included variables like graduation and retention rates (22.5 percent), assessment of excellence (22.5 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (12.5 percent), financial resources (10 percent), graduation rate performance (7.5 percent) and alumni giving rate (5 percent).

With no intended disrespect to the Howards, Spelmans and Morehouses in the rankings, those familiar with Xavier’s academic feats find it hard to fathom how schools that can’t light a candle to Xavier’s reputation are routinely ranked higher in national polls.

Some have suggested that Xavier’s ranking in the U.S. News & World Report listing might have been impacted by the use of higher education officials, researchers and journalists who are less familiar with Xavier’s Deep South success than they are with HBCUs that hail from larger U.S. cities like Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Regional bias and media, media exposure and influence from powerful alumni may all be factors.

This article originally published in the October 6, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.