A Law School Rankings Revolution? Hardly.

Chronicle of Higher Education, A Rankings Revolution? Hardly.:

In a recent Chronicle essay, President Leon Botstein of Bard College asks: “Can We Finally Topple the Tyranny of Rankings?” In posing this question, Botstein echoes Colin Diver, the former college president and law-school dean who recently asked, “Could this be the beginning of the end for college rankings?” in The New York Times. Like many others commenting on law schools’ withdrawal from submitting data for the U.S. News & World Report rankings, Botstein and Diver are hopeful that this may be an opportunity to ditch rankings once and for all. They are not alone. Wishing “death to college rankings,” as two Financial Times journalists recently put it, has become a widely shared sentiment in academe and beyond. ...

The law schools that have decided to withdraw all seem to agree about one thing: The current U.S. News rankings methodology does not reflect their values and creates perverse incentives that are not in the best interests of law schools, students, or the legal profession.  ... In short, the message of the Great Rankings Resistance of 2022 is: We, America’s top-ranked law schools, have no issues with being ranked. We have issues with how we are being ranked. ...

The law schools’ “rebellion against rankings,” to use Botstein’s phrase, isn’t really a rebellion against rankings. It’s a minor sortie, a handful of superwealthy schools simply not wanting to play ball — for now — with U.S. News. I would not be surprised if this turns out to even strengthen the rankers’ grip on higher ed. After all, there’s no shortage of well-resourced organizations out there prepared and possibly eager to challenge the dominant position of U.S. News. They might happily provide more methodological give-and-take to the institutions they rank. What could possibly go wrong? Decades of research into the effects of rankings and other kinds of metrics on higher ed would say: A lot.

U.S. News coverage:

Boycott

• Yale Law School Will No Longer Participate In 'Profoundly Flawed' U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 16, 2022)
• Harvard Joins Yale In No Longer Participating In The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Nov. 16, 2022)
• UC-Berkeley Is The Third Top 10 Law School To Refuse To Participate In The U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 17, 2022)
• With Stanford, Columbia And Georgetown, 6 Of The T14 Refuse To Participate In The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Nov. 19, 2022)
• The U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Like The Hotel California: You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Leave (Nov. 19, 2022)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings, ABA Optional LSAT, And Harvard Affirmative Action Supreme Court's Case (Nov. 21, 2022)
• Why Law Schools Outside The T14 (Like UCLA, Wash U, George Mason, Boston University, Pepperdine) May Refuse To Join The U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Nov. 21, 2022)
• Michigan Is Seventh T14 Law School To Refuse To Participate In The U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 21, 2022)
• Antitrust Implications Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Nov. 21, 2022)
• With Duke And Northwestern, Nine Of T14 Refuse To Participate In U.S. News Law School Rankings (Nov. 22, 2022)
• Colin Diver: Are The U.S. News Rankings Finally Going To Die? (Nov. 22, 2022)
• UCLA Is Tenth Top 15 Law School To Refuse To Participate In U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 22, 2022)
• Dan Solove: Slaying The U.S. News Law School Rankings Dragon (Nov. 23, 2022)
• Bill Henderson: The Dollars And Math Behind Yale Law School's Withdrawal From U.S. News — 'Are Limits on Federal Student Loans The Best Way To End The Rankings Madness?' (Nov. 23, 2022)
• UC-Irvine Is First Non-Elite Law School To Join U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Nov. 24, 2022)
• Chicago And (Maybe) Cornell Are First Elite Law Schools To Refuse To Join U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Nov. 24, 2022)
• Is This The Beginning Of The End Of The U.S. News Rankings Dominance? (Nov. 25, 2022)
• Penn Evaluates Whether To Join Boycott Of U.S. News Rankings By Ten Of Top 15 Law Schools (Nov. 26, 2022)
• Law School Admissions Without LSATs, Race, And Rankings (Nov. 26, 2022)
• Here’s Why Top Law Schools May Be Pulling Out Of The U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 28, 2022)
• Yale Law School’s Revolt Of The Elites (Nov. 28, 2022)
• UC-Davis Is 12th Law School (5th In California) To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Nov. 29, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 1) (Nov. 30, 2022)
• Wash U Joins Chicago And Cornell In Refusing To Boycott U.S. News Law School Rankings (Dec. 1, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 2) (Dec. 2, 2022)
• With Penn And University Of Washington, 14 Law Schools Are Not Participating In U.S. News Rankings; Georgia Is 4th School To Resist Boycott (Dec. 3, 2022)
• George Mason Is 5th Law School To Reject Boycott Of U.S. News Rankings  (Dec. 5, 2022)
• The Impact Of The U.S. News Rankings Boycott On Individual Law Schools (Dec. 5, 2022)
• NYU Is 15th Law School (And 12th Of Top 15) To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 5, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 3) (Dec. 6, 2022)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Is A Big Nothing Burger (Dec. 8, 2022)
• A Law School Rankings Revolution? Hardly. (Dec. 9, 2022)
• The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Is A Chance To Rethink Legal Education (Dec. 10, 2022)
• Virginia Is 16th Law School (And 13th Of Top 15) To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 10, 2022)
• Simkovic On The U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Dec. 12, 2022)
• Deans Of Lower Ranked Law Schools Join Boycott And Criticize U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 13, 2022)
• Dean Of Georgia Law School (1 Of 5 Schools Publicly Not Joining Boycott Of U.S. News Rankings) Has Questions For The 17 Boycotting Schools (Dec. 15, 2022)
• New Hampshire Is 18th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 16, 2022)
• CLEA Statement On U.S. News Rankings For Clinical Programs (Dec. 17, 2022)
• More Commentary On The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott (Part 4) (Dec. 20, 2022)
• With Southwestern, 10% Of ABA-Accredited Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 20, 2022)
• Cal-Western Is 20th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 24, 2022)
• Morrison: AALS Should Provide A Law School Guide To Supplant The U.S. News Rankings (Dec. 27, 2022)
• Muller: What Is The Endgame For Law Schools Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings? (Dec. 28, 2022)
• With UC-SF, St. John's, And Idaho: 23 Schools Are Now Boycotting The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 7, 2023)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Scorecard (Jan. 9, 2023)
• Fordham Is 24th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 14, 2023)
• Roger Williams Is 25th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 18, 2023)
• Law School Rankings Revolt Spreads To Medical Schools: #1 Harvard Will Not Send Data To U.S. News (Jan. 18, 2023)
• With Maryland, USF, And South Texas, 28 Schools Are Now Boycotting The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 19, 2023)
• U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Scorecard (Updated) (Jan 23, 2023)
• Will The U.S. News Law School Rankings Arms Race Resume In Three Years? (Jan. 23, 2023)
• The Clash And The U.S. News Law School Rankings: Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (Jan. 25, 2023)
• With Gonzaga, Quinnipiac, Rutgers, And Seattle, 36 Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 26, 2023)
• With Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Tulane, And Creighton, 40 Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Jan. 28, 2023)
• WSJ: Rebellion Over U.S. News Rankings Seems Likely To Fail (Jan. 30, 2023)
• Two Perspectives On The Growing U.S. News Rankings Boycott (Feb. 2, 2023)
• In Defense Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Feb. 4, 2023)
• Will The Boycott Actually Strengthen The U.S. News Rankings? (Feb. 9, 2023)
• With Connecticut And Pittsburgh, 42 Law Schools Are Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings (Feb. 10, 2022)

U.S. News Response to Boycott

• In Response To Boycott, U.S. News Dramatically Changes Law School Rankings Methodology. Who Are The Winners And Losers? Will Harvard Be #1? (Jan. 2, 2023)
• U.S. News Drops Student Loans And Employment-At-Graduation (In Addition To Expenditures-Per-Student) From Forthcoming Law School Rankings (Jan. 3, 2023)
• Muller: Did Schools Boycotting The U.S. News Rankings Kill Law Faculty's Golden Goose? (Jan. 4, 2023)
• More Coverage Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings Methodology Changes (Jan. 4, 2023)
• Muller: Winners And Losers In The Elimination Of At-Graduation Employment In The U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 11, 2023)
• U.S. News Provides Additional Information On Forthcoming Law School Rankings (Jan. 13, 2023)
• Summary Of Changes To The Forthcoming U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 14, 2023)
• Muller Models And Projects Forthcoming U.S. News Law School Rankings (Jan. 18, 2023)