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Friday, December 9, 2022

Sometimes No (US) News is Good News - Part 9 (Change Coming?)

With all the other things going on at UC and the world, it may be hard to recall the law school revolt against the US News and World Report rankings. However, a report in the Washington Post suggests that US News is considering changing its methodology in view of the revolt. Excerpt:

First, Yale University’s top-ranked law school declared it would end cooperation with the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Within hours, Harvard University’s law school, ranked fourth, followed suit. Then, what began as a high-profile protest against the rankings became a mass revolt that now encompasses four University of California law schools, four from the Ivy League and several other big names in legal education. On Friday, the University of Washington law school, ranked 49th, and the University of Pennsylvania’s, ranked sixth, became the latest to join the rebellion.

...Other law schools have echoed those points, claiming that the ranking formula rewards those that recruit affluent students, who tend to take on less debt, and fails to give proper credit to schools that recruit students from modest economic backgrounds and prepare them for careers in academia or public service. 

...Behind the scenes, law deans say, U.S. News is reaching out to them about their concerns. “They have a business to run, and right now, they have a crisis of credibility,” said Austen Parrish, law dean at the University of California at Irvine. He said U.S. News representatives called him to discuss criticism after Parrish announced the school would decline to answer questions for the next version of the ranking...

In a brief statement to The Washington Post, U.S. News said Friday it will continue to rank all fully accredited law schools, regardless of whether schools provide the data it seeks. “The methodology for our rankings has evolved over the last 30 years and will continue to evolve to meet the needs of all students,” U.S. News said. It said details about any changes would be made closer to the release of the next set of law school rankings in the spring...

Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/03/law-schools-protest-us-news-rankings/.

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To hear the text above, click on the link below:

https://ia601402.us.archive.org/25/items/big-ten/law%20change.mp3

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