Read this story in the Texas Observer.

One of the Washington Post’s education reporters, Daniel de Vise, went to Austin to research a story on the use of the Collegiate Learning Assessment. Contrary to traditional journalistic practices, he shared the draft of his story with University of Texas officials, who got all hot and bothered when they read it. They sent de Vise his draft back, heavily marked up with edits that were meant to substantively alter the story and portray UT in a much better light.

Many years ago, there was a Canon camera ad with Andre Agassi with the slogan “Image is everything.” That’s ever-so-true when it comes to colleges and universities. It would be disastrous if people started to doubt that their carefully cultivated images are at variance with reality.