Cal Poly is a great value … but it’s no Princeton

Your Jan. 10 editorial asserts that Cal Poly is every bit as prestigious as Princeton University. Admittedly, Princeton has never won a Rose Parade trophy. But since 1960, 17 Princeton faculty members have won Nobel Prizes and 27 people with Princeton affiliations have won Pulitzer Prizes. No one associated with Cal Poly has won either of these prizes.

A total of 32 Stanford University faculty members have won Nobel Prizes, and the University of California at Berkeley has had 22 faculty Nobelists. The Universities of Georgia and Alabama have been in the news a great deal recently because of their football prowess, but their faculty have been shut out of the Nobel Prizes.

Which is more important to a university, academic or athletic/extracurricular accomplishment? Sadly, judging by the ridiculous salaries paid to many coaches, athletics appears to be the winner.

As a former Cal Poly faculty member myself, I greatly appreciate the virtues of our local university, including especially the wonderful value for its students. But in terms of prestige, we still have a way to go.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Cal Poly is a great value … but it’s no Princeton."