What Would Johnny Ring Say?

Let me guess: if I had to enroll now, I couldn't get in? (from today's Inky)

In the last five years, Temple has morphed from a commuter college known as "Diversity University" into an institution far more academically selective - with a 34,000-member student body that is whiter, wealthier and more suburban than ever.

"The old shibboleth 'Temple who?' is anathema to us," said Howard Gittis, chairman of the board of trustees. "To make it a truly great institution... means pushing the administration, pushing the faculty, and, yes, looking for better students."

Yet as Temple works to catapult itself out of the mediocre "third tier" in US News & World Report's rankings, there is deepening concern that it will leave behind the constituency for which it was founded in 1884: the urban working class.

"We're trying to become a different kind of institution, and, frankly, that saddens me," said William Nathan, a mathematics professor for 33 years who has held many administrative posts. "Do I like that we are getting better students? Sure." But, he continued, that carries "far too high a price."

I would say so.