Will The Boycott Actually Strengthen The U.S. News Rankings?

Chronicle of Higher Education, How Criticism Actually Strengthens Rankings:

Why do college rankings endure? In a paper published last month, two German sociologists, Julian Hamann and Leopold Ringel, put forth a provocative hypothesis: that criticism ultimately strengthens rankers, who respond by modifying their work rather than abandoning it, which ends up reinforcing their legitimacy [The Discursive Resilience of University Rankings]. It’s like having the same argument with your spouse over who should do the dishes. In the end, it just reaffirms each of your places in the relationship.

Hamann and Ringel’s idea is especially relevant now. Over the past three months, dozens of law and medical schools have announced they will no longer cooperate with U.S. News & World Report on its rankings. The collective exodus gave law- and medical-school deans an opportunity to air their grievances with ranked lists in a high-profile way. ...

It’s been academe’s biggest protest of rankings in years. Yet could the ultimate critique — leaving the rankings — end up cementing rankers’ place in higher education? The Chronicle spoke with Hamann, a junior professor at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Ringel, a postdoctoral researcher at Bielefeld University, about how they interpret the current discontent with rankings, higher ed’s role in the rankings process, and how change could really happen. ...

Boycotting the ranking, that’s what law and medical schools in the U.S. did to U.S. News. Would you say that was an effective way of weakening the rankings?

JH: I would say it’s not an effective way of weakening rankings. I find it striking that most law-school deans criticize the rankings for their methodological shortcomings. They have concerns about whether the methodology can capture this complex experience of the exceptional learning environment and so on. Yes, they boycotted the rankings, but by issuing this methodological critique, they also gave clues on how to improve the ranking. ...

JH: Another reason why it is likely that they will rejoin the ranking is that rankings and elite institutions need each other. Rankings need the Harvards and Yales and Stanfords, just as any football league needs the top teams, because this is what draws the attention and the interest from the public, but also the elite institutions need rankings because someone has to certify their elite status. This is another reason why I find it likely that this sort of productive relation between elite institutions and rankings will survive.

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)