University officials were asked to participate in a peer-assessment section of the survey, to find the schools that are making progress toward their ultimate goal — to be an esteemed institution of higher learning.

Here are the rankings, according to the competition:

1. University of Maryland — Baltimore County
2. Tied: Arizona State University, Drexel University (PA), Northeastern University (MA)
3. Tied: George Mason University (VA), Indiana University — Purdue University (IN)
4. University of Central Florida
5. University of Delaware

The full list of 68 schools that received a nod from their peers is here.

Have you heard your faculty talking about these up-and-coming schools? Share your thoughts in the comments box below. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Arizona State University (ASU) participated in a trial pilot program that provided textbooks to students via the Kindle DX, which renders electronic books into visual text. The Kindle DX has a text-to-speech function, but there is no audio option for its menus and controls. As a result, it’s inaccessible to people who are blind.

The only classes that participated in the pilot program at ASU were classes taken by Honors College students. No blind students tried to enroll in any pilot course.

ASU student Darrell Shandrow, who is blind, claimed the pilot program violated federal laws against disability discrimination. Even though he wasn’t in the Honors College, he said he had the right to sue because the school’s use of inaccessible technology made him feel unwelcome and offended him. He also claimed he had suffered an economic injury, since the school used his tuition payments to support inaccessible technology.

The court rejected Shandrow’s claims on the basis that he lacked standing to sue. He did not identify any school policy that would impact him in any way, the court reasoned. And he didn’t have standing just because he paid tuition that helped fund the Kindle DX pilot program, the court said.

Cite: National Federation of the Blind v. Arizona Board of Regents.

Did the court get it right? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

The 697 colleges were ranked on the basis of: health and sustainability of campus life, preparation offered by the school for dealing with environmental challenges, and commitment to environmental concerns.

Click here to see the 15 schools that earned perfect scores.

Here’s what gave some of the schools high marks:

• University of California-Berkeley – Campus dining offers organic salad bars, and the school uses the first food vendor to earn organic certification.
• Middlebury College – Each year, the school uses sustainably produced wood chips instead of 1 million gallons of fuel oil.
• Bates College – Dining services recycles or reuses more than 80% of its waste, and the school uses electricity from 100% renewable sources.
• Harvard University – Fuels some of its vehicles at its own biodiesel filling station.
• Arizona State University – The school has a separate college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in sustainability issues.

Although this is only the second year The Prince Review is giving green ratings, it’s worth mentioning 30% more schools were included this year.

What’s your school doing to go green? Let us know in the comments section below.

Barrett, the honors college at Arizona State University, is opening a new, free-standing campus for the fall 2009 semester – the first of its kind at a public university.

The new eight-acre campus will have seven buildings and house 1,700 students. (Total enrollment is about 2,700.)  Nearly 95% of the dorms rooms already have been reserved.

In addition to dorms, the campus will have its own dining center, classrooms, offices, computer lab, fitness center, outside activity courts and an amphitheater.

Applications are up at Barrett 38% over last year. In 2008, 1,450 freshmen applied for admission. This year, the number has jumped to 2,000.

An even more eye-opening statistic: The school has more National Merit Scholars than Princeton, Yale or Stanford.

While Barrett is seeing a growing number of applicants from out of state, about 72% of the incoming freshmen are from Arizona.

Does your school have an honors college or program? Is enrollment on the rise? Let us know in the comments section below.