The math professor who "blew the whistle" on fake data reporting to USNews.com reveals some rather embarrassing facts here:

The public was told for years, for example, that Columbia had a higher proportion of small undergraduate classes (those with fewer than 20 students) than any other leading university. Last week, the truth that Columbia faculty and students have long known was confirmed: our undergraduate class sizes are by no means remarkably small. In fact, Columbia’s proportion of small classes is the second-worst in the Ivy League, not the best as Columbia had claimed.

Likewise, our administration had claimed that the overwhelming majority of faculty on our main campus was full-time, but now we learn that this, too, was false. In reality, the numbers of part-time faculty and full-time faculty are almost the same….

[T]he core components of the university, including its undergraduate colleges, are starved for resources and space. There are more than 9 students on the meal plan for every seat in our packed dining halls, according to a report in the Columbia Daily Spectator last spring. Consequently, our students frequently can’t sit down at meal times and have to eat standing up. That’s unworthy of a top-ranked university; in fact, it’s unworthy of any university at all….

Provost Mary Boyce’s announcement earlier this month attributing the U.S. News reporting inaccuracies to “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies,” rang hollow to many students and faculty. Something more than methodology is at fault when one of the key figures, reported to be 83%, actually turns out to be 57%.

He also rightly chastises USNews.com for its failure to audit self-reported data.  I would be surprised if Columbia was the only university reporting inaccurate data.  (Years ago, when Macleans in Canada asked me to design a law school ranking, I made a point of insisting they exclude all self-reported data!)