ABSTRACT
The twentieth century has been a time of wide-ranging transformations in higher education in the United States. The legal system backed the in loco parentis role of colleges and universities as courts ruled in favor of institutions, supporting the argument that regulations and rules that concerned the moral, mental, and physical welfare of students were under the purview of the institutions. As institutions focus on student services and amenities, students focus on social life. Colleges and universities for their part support this attention to non-academic activities, not only through previously mentioned emphasis on personal development and allocation of resources, but by making the party pathway the most visible and easily accessible path through college. The US News and World Report rankings, which rely extensively on these types of metrics as well as institutional reputation, helped to create a national market, solidify the stratification of institutions on a national level, and produce a pecking order of selective colleges and universities.
