July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sixty-one small American colleges have mounted the biggest protest yet against U.S. News & World Report magazine's annual rankings of higher education. The survey's 25 premier schools aren't joining the rebellion.

The presidents of Holy Cross, Lafayette, Trinity and 58 other liberal arts schools have pledged in the past 10 weeks to withhold cooperation from Washington-based U.S. News on the most controversial element of its 24-year-old survey, a questionnaire asking colleges to assess competing schools.

Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore and 23 other schools at the top of the magazine's list have rebuffed requests to participate from organizers of the revolt. While officials of the best- regarded schools say they're concerned about the survey's fairness, some of them promote their rating to donors, faculty and students.

``This is a test of the character of higher education and the leadership,'' said Lloyd Thacker, 53, the executive director of the nonprofit Education Conservancy in Portland, Oregon, an opponent of rankings. ``I don't think we're done with this by any way, shape or form.''

U.S. News, with a circulation of 2 million, publishes its next college rankings in August. Schools that haven't decided whether to cooperate for 2009 don't have to make a choice until early next year, when questionnaires will be circulated again.

June Meeting

The number of schools in the three-month-old protest increased in June when the Annapolis Group, an association of liberal arts schools, debated the ratings at its annual meeting. A majority of the 80 presidents in attendance indicated they would boycott the peer review.

While no top-25 liberal arts institution has publicly endorsed the revolt, No. 1 Williams says it will stop promoting its ranking. Fourth-rated Wellesley College has already sat out the peer review for more than a decade, and last month Barnard College opted out.

The campaign won't derail the rankings, U.S. News editor Brian Kelly says.

``We serve our readers; we're not working for the colleges,'' said Kelly, 52, in an interview. ``We are still going to rank these schools, whether they cooperate or not.''

Survey director Robert Morse said in a June presentation that the magazine could turn to other educators, such as high school counselors, to assess colleges' reputations.

Princeton on Top

U.S. News, owned by the billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman, rates 1,400 schools in lists of top universities, liberal arts colleges and other categories. In the 2007 rankings published a year ago, Princeton University in New Jersey was rated the best college for undergraduates.

In liberal arts, the top four schools among 215 rated were Williams, in Williamstown, Massachusetts; nearby Amherst; Swarthmore, in Pennsylvania; and Wellesley, also in Massachusetts.

``Nobody says it's absolutely perfect,'' Zuckerman, 70, said in an interview. ``But it's the best system out there by far and it's been recognized as such, and that's the reason why it's established such credibility over the years.''

Three-quarters of each school's score is based on information that is for the most part publicly available, such as class size, graduation and acceptance rates, and alumni giving. The controversial 25 percent comes from a ``reputational survey,'' in which thousands of presidents, deans and provosts are asked to grade other schools' reputations.

`Artificial Precision'

``The biggest problem with U.S. News-type rankings is that they lend the whole exercise a kind of artificial precision which is quite misleading,'' said Michael McPherson, the president of the Spencer Foundation in Chicago, in an e-mail. ``To claim there is a discernible objective difference in educational quality between No. 2 and No. 3, or between No. 25 and No. 30, is ridiculous.''

McPherson is a former president of Macalester College of St. Paul, Minnesota, ranked No. 24 in liberal arts by U.S. News.

Russell Osgood, the president of Grinnell College in Iowa, said low ratings can harm a college's ability to attract faculty and students. While Osgood wrote a letter in June seeking changes in the ranking methods, he still participates in the survey. Grinnell is listed in a tie for 14th in liberal arts.

The Education Conservancy's Thacker, a former college admissions officer and high school counselor, helped write a letter in May denouncing the peer-review surveys. Twelve college presidents who initially signed it said they would stop using the U.S. News results in promotional materials.

Momentum Picks Up

The drive gained momentum at the meeting last month of the Annapolis Group. The school presidents who pledged to back away from the peer-review survey also vowed to develop a Web-based tool that students can use to compare colleges instead. One such platform, designed by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, based in Washington, plans to start in September with about 500 participating schools.

The Ivy League's Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, will host an Education Conservancy conference in September on the development of alternative methods of evaluating colleges.

The 61 college presidents that have now signed the Education Conservancy's open letter opposing the peer review include those of Lafayette in Easton, Pennsylvania; Trinity in Hartford, Connecticut; Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts; and Kenyon in Gambier, Ohio. Lafayette and Trinity, tied for 30th, are the highest-rated schools whose presidents endorsed the letter. Holy Cross and Kenyon are both listed 32nd.

Barnard

Barnard, the women's college affiliated with Columbia University in New York and ranked 26th by U.S. News, has also said it won't cooperate with the peer review. While Judith Schapiro, Barnard's president, hasn't officially joined the protest, the ``gist of the letter is Barnard's position,'' said Joanne Kwong, a spokeswoman for the college.

Norfolk State University, in Virginia, became the latest to sign the list last week, the Education Conservancy said.

Attracting presidents of the institutions with the highest rankings would advance his cause, Thacker said.

``Yeah, I would like a big-name person to step up to the plate,'' Thacker said. ``I'm waiting for that.''

Williams, Amherst and Swarthmore have topped the liberal arts rankings since 1997. Amherst President Anthony Marx says the criteria should be rewritten to favor colleges that enroll a higher percentage of low-income students.

Marx hasn't agreed to sign the protest letter, spokeswoman Stacy Schmeidel said.

Admissions Brochures

After the Annapolis Group meeting, Williams decided it is ``going to do even less in referring to the rankings,'' said Jim Kolesar, a spokesman for the college. Williams will stop mentioning the survey results in its sports information and admissions brochures, he said. The school hasn't decided whether to sign the protest letter.

Swarthmore is ``actively reviewing'' its participation in the U.S. News peer-review survey, according to Nancy Nicely, a spokeswoman for the school. While Wellesley, a women's college, hasn't signed the letter, the institution didn't take part in the peer review during the 14-year presidency of Diana Chapman Walsh, which ended on July 1, spokeswoman Mary Ann Hill said.

Other schools, including Davidson College in North Carolina, may continue cooperating with U.S. News. Davidson is tied for 10th in liberal arts with Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

``A college like Davidson is looking for national exposure,'' said spokesman Bill Giduz. Thomas Ross, the incoming president of Davidson, ``recognizes there are flaws in the system,'' Giduz said, ``but it's kind of the only game in town.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Keenan in Boston at mkeenan6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 23, 2007 17:38 EDT