The CEO of U.S. News & World Report has fired back at the critics of the publication’s college rankings. Colleges have criticized the rankings for not being transparent enough and emphasizing the wrong things. CEO Eric J. Gertler reaffirmed the need for a college ranking system and stressed how important such a system was to applicants:

“Choosing the right school is one of the most important decisions students will ever make. Besides being a significant investment of time and money, it is a critical first step to ensuring a student’s future career opportunities, earning potential, and quality of life.” Said Gertler in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal. “But absent U.S. News’s academic rankings, it’s difficult to find accurate, comprehensive information that empowers students to compare institutions and identify the factors that matter most to them.”

He also made the claim that the desire to not participate in the rankings was due to the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on affirmative action as one of the main points of evidence anti-affirmative action activists point to are test scores.

“Some law deans are already exploring ways to sidestep any restrictive ruling by reducing their emphasis on test scores and grades — criteria used in our rankings,” said Gertler.

Read the full piece here.