If you're in the small top 'n' I think the prestige goes the other way. Will anyone care if MIT is +1 or -1 some year? I assume those top schools can just run themselves the way they want and still get highly ranked.

And if US news were serious they could simply have kicked columbia out for a year, but it would have hurt them to do so. They'd probably do it for a small college ranked 100 or below though.

I'd be embarrassed for Columbia that they gamed the numbers. Outside that small n though, I presume gaming the numbers is commonplace.