Saturday, January 14, 2023
Fordham Is 24th Law School To Boycott U.S. News Rankings
Updated U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott Scorecard
Fordham Law News, U.S. News & World Report Participation: A Message from Dean Matthew Diller:
Dear Members of the Fordham Law Community,
I am writing to you about Fordham Law’s participation in the U.S. News & World Report ranking. Fordham Law will no longer provide data about our law school to U.S. News for use in its ranking other than information that is already generally available to the public, which we would provide to anyone. Let me explain my thinking.
Each year, I am proud of the work of our faculty and administrators in teaching and supporting our students and in awe of the accomplishments of our alumni and the support they provide to our law school. Yet each year I know that whether our achievements will be reflected in our U.S. News ranking is a roll of the dice. Bizarre components of the algorithm and the tight clustering of schools means that schools can shoot up or drop down in the ranking based on imperceptible differences in data points. The algorithm has included components of dubious relevance to educational quality while omitting important criteria. U.S. News has recently announced adjustments to its algorithm, but its methodology remains deeply flawed.
More fundamentally, the project of creating a unitary ranking of the nation’s 200 law schools that functions like sports standings sows more misunderstanding than clarity for prospective law students. This is not a problem that can be fixed by tinkering with the formula. U.S. News’ ranking does not answer questions which are key to enabling a prospective student to determine which law schools are the best matches given their career goals and where they want to live and work. It also does not address whether a law school has programs and faculty expertise in a prospective student’s areas of interest or whether a law school has an alumni network that is supportive of students and provides connections and relationships over the course of a career. The U.S. News ranking will not reveal whether the culture and atmosphere at a school is a good fit given a prospective student’s values.
Moreover, U.S. News’ ranking does not capture much of what we prize most about Fordham Law—the strength and warmth of our community, the excellence of our faculty, our commitment to service, the richness of our many academic programs, the professional values and outlook that we nurture, the leadership of our alumni in the legal profession, and the ways a Fordham Law degree provides value over the arc of our graduates’ careers.
Providing information to U.S. News that is not otherwise publicly available contributes to the fallacy that U.S. News’ ranking is valuable because it is grounded on more information than is available to prospective students directly. The reality is that Fordham Law already publicly provides a plethora of information about the education we provide, including the profile of entering classes, the employment outcomes for students, the strength of our superb faculty and the breadth of our academic offerings and co-curricular activities. Our website also contains information about our alumni community and the Fordham Law network in the legal profession. Moreover, online resources are readily available that enable prospective students to compare schools, including Law School Transparency and the LSAC Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools.
While U.S. News’ ranking is deeply flawed, much of the pernicious effect of the rankings stems from the attention that the ranking too often has received within legal academia and in the legal profession. Rankings and ratings are part of our culture and will not disappear. The U.S. News ranking will not go away. Rather than treating the U.S. News rankings as the scorecard for law schools, we need to take it as one curious data point about law schools among many—a data point that reflects U.S. News’ problematic values and judgments which are baked into its algorithm. In short, we all need to collectively lower the stakes around the U.S. News ranking. If we can achieve this goal, prospective students will make better choices and law schools will better serve the profession.
Law.com, Fordham Law Becomes 24th School to Withdraw from U.S. News Rankings
U.S. News Rank | |
Boycott (25) | |
Yale | 1 |
Stanford | 2 |
Columbia | 4 |
Harvard | 4 |
Penn | 6 |
NYU | 7 |
Virginia | 8 |
UC-Berkeley | 9 |
Michigan | 10 |
Duke | 11 |
Northwestern | 13 |
Georgetown | 14 |
UCLA | 15 |
Fordham | 37 |
UC-Davis | 37 |
UC-Irvine | 37 |
U Wash | 49 |
UC-San Francisco | 51 |
St. John’s | 84 |
New Hampshire | 105 |
Idaho | 142 |
Cal-Western | 147-192 |
Campbell | 147-192 |
Roger Williams | 147-192 |
Southwestern | 147-192 |
No Boycott (5) | |
Chicago | 3 |
Cornell | 12 |
Wash U | 16 |
Georgia | 29 |
George Mason | 30 |
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)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2023/01/fordham-is-24th-law-school-to-boycott-us-news-rankings.html