U-Va. law school won't cooperate with U.S. News rankings as revolt grows -

The University of Virginia’s law school on Friday suspended cooperation with the U.S. News and World Report rankings, a development that means nine of the top 10 schools on the influential list are now in open revolt against the prestige-sorting exercise.

In all, at least 16 law schools that U.S. News ranks among the top 50 have joined the rebellion that began when Yale University’s top-ranked law school declared on Nov. 16 that it will not participate. It is one of the most serious challenges to the independent and controversial ranking system in years, although the revolt so far has not touched the U.S. News undergraduate rankings.

U-Va.’s law school, ranked eighth, joined the movement in a statement from its law dean.

Law school revolt against U.S. News rankings gains steam

“As they currently stand, the U.S. News rankings fail to capture much of what we value at UVA — facilitating access to legal education and the legal profession for students from every background; fostering the free exchange of ideas within a community of joy, humanity, and trust; providing top-notch teaching by accomplished faculty; supporting public service; and launching our graduates into the stellar career paths of their choosing,” the dean, Risa Goluboff, wrote in an open letter to prospective students.

Goluboff said the school will not submit answers this year to questions that U.S. News poses to gather data for its rankings. The answers are typically due in January.

Elsewhere in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, many prominent law schools are either continuing to cooperate with the rankings or declining to stake out a position.

U.S. News, which wields significant clout throughout higher education, has previously said that it plans to continue ranking fully accredited law schools regardless of whether they submit data. A significant amount of information about law schools, including admissions and test score data, is available publicly through the American Bar Association.

Asked about the U-Va. announcement, a spokeswoman for the ranking publication wrote in an email on Friday afternoon: “We don’t have any further comments at this time.”

Among law schools that U.S. News calls the top 10, only the one at the University of Chicago, ranked third, has said it plans to continue to cooperate. U-Chicago’s law dean, Thomas J. Miles, said in a statement Nov. 23 he wants to prevent the use of inaccurate information. “Most of the data we supply to U.S. News are already public, and the rest is information we have no reason to withhold,” Miles wrote.

Miles also characterized the ranking as an opinion, and said the law school does not wish to suppress such expression. “Rather, we should encourage prospective students to apply critical thinking and reach their own conclusions about what value the rankings add,” Miles wrote at the time.

There is significant momentum behind the rebellion. On Monday, New York University’s law school, ranked seventh, said it would halt participation as well.

While the reasons vary from school to school, many of those in revolt say the formula for the rankings does not give enough weight to efforts to provide need-based aid to students and steer them into careers of public service or nonprofit legal work.

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The uprising against law school rankings makes critics of U.S. News wonder whether colleges and universities will take similar steps against its undergraduate rankings. There is no sign yet that they will.

“That’s the big question: Why are you no longer actively participating at the law school level while you’re still providing data on the undergraduate level?” said Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee. Kelchen is data editor for the Washington Monthly’s college rankings, which provides an alternative view of the market that is more focused on public service.

Law school leaders across the country are tracking the debate. Many outside of the top tier of the market rely on publications such as U.S. News to help draw attention to their schools. They are reluctant to lose that publicity tool.

In Washington, Georgetown University’s law school, which U.S. News ranks 14th, has joined the revolt. But others have not. George Washington University’s law school, ranked 25th, said this week it will continue to participate. So will Catholic University’s, ranked 94th.

A Howard University spokesman, asked whether its law school, ranked 98th, has a position on the rankings debate, declined to comment. An American University spokesman also declined to comment on what its law school, ranked 73rd, will do.

In Baltimore, the University of Maryland’s law school, ranked 47th, has not decided whether to cooperate with the next version of the rankings. The school’s dean, Renée Hutchins, said the U.S. News methodology rewards “elite status” and large endowments, and does not give enough weight to student and faculty diversity and public service. “I have serious concerns about the legitimacy of the rankings,” she said.

In Virginia, there are a handful of law schools besides U-Va.’s in the U.S. News top 100. George Mason University’s law school, ranked 30th, has said it has no plans to pull out.

William & Mary’s law school, also ranked 30th, and the University of Richmond’s, ranked 52nd, appeared to be taking a cautious approach.

“We’re monitoring these developments, with an understanding that the rankings will occur with or without a university’s participation,” William & Mary spokesman Brian Whitson wrote in an email.

“The law school will decide by the January deadline,” University of Richmond spokeswoman Cynthia Price wrote in an email. Washington and Lee University, which has the 35th-ranked law school, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

correction

A previous version of this article mistakenly reported at least 17 law schools that U.S. News and World Report ranks among the top 50 have decided not to cooperate with next set of rankings. The actual total is 16. This version has been corrected.

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