"There's no such thing as bad publicity."—P.T. Barnum; author, publisher, philanthropist, politician, and perhaps best known as the founder of Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Shimer College—a small liberal arts college in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood that was established in 1853 and boasts a unique academic program—has been under an unwanted national spotlight since last September.
Shimer was tagged "the worst college in America" in a Washington Monthly story last fall, based on a data formula that adjusted graduation rates for percentage of minority and low-income students and factored in the net price charged to low-income students.
The "worst" tag was back in the spotlight in December, when The Guardian ran a story disputing the original story.
Susan Henking is the president of Shimer, a post she's held since 2012. She admitted that her first reaction was "How could someone possibly think this?"
Henking truly believes in Shimer, where the academic program is based on a core curriculum of 16 required courses in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. All courses take the form of small seminars with no more than 12 students, and are based on original sources from a list of some 200 core texts broadly based on the original Great Books, she said. Discussions are prominent classroom instructions, and intensive writing is required, including two comprehensive exams and a senior thesis.
Henking invited the Washington Monthly writer to visit Shimer, but no decision has been made.
"If this [college] is what worst means, I'd rather be worst," Henking said. "This place is amazing; the students are amazing. They are incredibly smart, successful thinkers who love to read and live in the digital age. It's a diverse place in every way you can think about it, and the most intellectually rewarding place."
Henking, in her late 50s, lives in the South Loop with her partner, Betty Bayer. The two have been together since 1992.
Henking, originally from the Philadelphia area, lived in Chicago in the 1970s and is happy to be back.
She admitted the "worst" tag has certainly drawn attention to the school, including new admissions, financial donors and overall education.
Shimer even has adopted a witty hashtag: #BestWorstCollege.
Henking admitted that when the "worst" tag was handed down, she "whiffle-waffled" on how/what to do, or say. She just wanted to make sure all school personnel spoke in unison. "We weren't going to fight about this; we weren't going to say the data was wrong—because it's not. [Instead], we were going to say what we usually say, which is what we believe in: the strength of a Shimer education," she said.
The data may be tricky in part because Shimer has just about 100 students, so comparing it to larger schools is difficult and almost impossible.
Countless alumni have supported Shimer online.
And the free publicity Shimer has received through its "worst college" tag is, quite simply, priceless. Case in point: Neil Gaiman tweeted about Shimer—to his 2.1 million followers. "I never could pay for that [publicity]," Henking said.
Henking said the LGBT community is "very visible" within Shimer. "The community of gender identity transitioning people is quite active and pretty visible [at the school]," she said. "There are a number of people transitioning [at Shimer], lots of people changing their names to gender-neutral names.
"I have never been in a place that is more welcoming; it's amazingly welcoming on the LGBT front."
