ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Though a dozen law schools including the University of Michigan Law School have left the U.S. News & World Reports rankings of colleges and universities, Cornell Law and University of Chicago have recently announced their decisions to remain a part of the ranking system. 

Currently ranked third best law school by the ratings system, The University of Chicago has decided to finally comment.  In an open letter to students and faculty, UChicago Dean Thomas J. Miles sent a message via email confirming the school’s decision to “continue to furnish information to U.S. News.” 

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Miles continued by acknowledging much of the information they provide is already public. 

“The ranking is not our guide, and I prefer to shine a light on the substantive attributes that make our Law School the home of the most intellectually ambitious faculty and the most powerful legal education,” he said, “Fundamentally, a ranking of schools is an opinion. A ranking is the product of innumerable and contestable design choices. As our University is dedicated to the free expression of ideas and to questioning viewpoints, our aim is not to suppress opinions. Rather, we should encourage prospective students to apply critical thinking and reach their own conclusions about what value the rankings add.”

Despite the rankings incompleteness in capturing the college, Miles highlighted what he thinks does capture the law school’s essence. 

“My own belief is that the essential features of the University of Chicago Law School are not, and perhaps cannot be, captured in any ranking,” Miles said, “What makes the Law School distinctive is its unabashed enthusiasm for the life of the mind—the conviction that ideas matter, that they are worth discussing, and that a single viewpoint or style of thought should not be imposed.”

Cornell Law, ranked #12 according to U.S. News has also reaffirmed its commitment to remain included in the rankings. The Dean of Cornell Law School, Jens David Ohlin, published his and the school’s thoughts on the ranking. 

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“My own view is that the rankings distort academic decision-making, fail to adequately capture institutional quality, and create perverse incentives that are not in the best interests of students or the legal profession,” he said, “However, withdrawal from the rankings process will not have the desired impact that many assume that it will have. For one, U.S. News has said that it will continue to rank all law schools regardless of their level of participation. In addition, all law schools are already required to report most of the relevant data used in the rankings to the American Bar Association, and this information is publicly available by ABA rule.”

Twelve law schools so far, the first was Yale Law, have publicly announced they will no longer participate in the rankings in the future.  UC Davis Law, ranked #37 is the latest to announce its departure from the rankings system on Nov. 28.