Yale’s and Harvard’s law school officials on Wednesday (November 16) announced that they no longer will be participating in US News and World Report’s annual rankings of the top law school in the world.
CBS News quoted that an official from Yale said that the methodology for the list is “profoundly flawed.” In a blog post, Dean Heather K Gerken made the announcement. She said, “We have reached a point where the rankings process is undermining the core commitments of the legal profession,” noting that the school “has taken the top spot every year” since the rankings began. “As a result, we will no longer participate.”
Also read | US Supreme Court not in favour of race-based admissions in top universities
She said that the list discourages low-income students or public service aspiring students to pursue courses as the list excludes loan-forgiveness programmes in student debts. The Public Service Programmes Loan Forgiveness was introduced in 2007 for forgiving loans for American students who wish to work in public service jobs.
The officials further continued to argue that the list discourages universities from admitting low-income background students. For example, one such measure is “reputation” or how the college deals with rival colleges. The critics argued that this has little to do with the college’s ability to educate its students. Another instance critics found was that it reinforces income inequality, hence reducing diversity among students.
Harvard’s Dean John Manning in a mail sent to CBS News said that it will also be dropping its name from the list, ” because it has become impossible to reconcile our principles and commitments with the methodology and incentives the US News rankings reflect.”
Neither Yale nor Harvard will be harmed by withdrawing their names from the list, given their strong global positions, and successful, renowned alumni. Yale’s alumni include former US President Bill Clinton and four of the Supreme Court judges. Both also have a budget to help students from low-income backgrounds. Harvard’s plan stands at $50 billion while Yakle’s stands at $41 billion.
The US News and World Report were earlier criticised after the University of Colombia submitted inaccurate data to bolster its ranking. Further, it said that it will not be providing any information for the list. Despite this decision, the university was able to secure rank 2, with Ivy League School’s rank tumbling to 18.
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
