Yale and Harvard pulling out US News ranking, thoughts? Forum

[nixy]

Here's a mind bender. Harvard spins off the law school as a separate autonomous entity that accepts zero federal funds. Harvard Law can now do as they please with zero consequences. No lawsuit will ever get off the ground. It would be a waste of filing fees.

It's nice that you enjoy writing fiction, but this is never going to happen.

It’s more likely that a democratic congress and WH would just amend the statute to allow affirmative action.

Yes, but what if ballot initiative banning affirmative action within the state, which is what California and Michigan did. Congress & WH can't do anything about that.

Harvard's still not going to spin off the law school into an independent entity.

[jamestaylorrecordsas]

Here's a mind bender. Harvard spins off the law school as a separate autonomous entity that accepts zero federal funds. Harvard Law can now do as they please with zero consequences. No lawsuit will ever get off the ground. It would be a waste of filing fees.

It's nice that you enjoy writing fiction, but this is never going to happen.

It’s more likely that a democratic congress and WH would just amend the statute to allow affirmative action.

Yes, but what if ballot initiative banning affirmative action within the state, which is what California and Michigan did. Congress & WH can't do anything about that.

Harvard's still not going to spin off the law school into an independent entity.

Who on TLS in 2020 ever said there would be opt outs from US News rankings and LSAT would be de-emphasized? No one.

[nixy]

Here's a mind bender. Harvard spins off the law school as a separate autonomous entity that accepts zero federal funds. Harvard Law can now do as they please with zero consequences. No lawsuit will ever get off the ground. It would be a waste of filing fees.

It's nice that you enjoy writing fiction, but this is never going to happen.

It’s more likely that a democratic congress and WH would just amend the statute to allow affirmative action.

Yes, but what if ballot initiative banning affirmative action within the state, which is what California and Michigan did. Congress & WH can't do anything about that.

Harvard's still not going to spin off the law school into an independent entity.

Who on TLS in 2020 ever said there would be opt outs from US News rankings and LSAT would be de-emphasized? No one.

That one unlikely thing happens doesn’t mean that another unlikely thing will happen.

(For one thing, why spin off the law school as its own entity when Harvard’s currently defending an AA lawsuit against the college? Presumably they want to be able to consider race across the entire institution. For another, how could they even do this without it being considered pretextual? The value of the entity is in the Harvard name. How could they sufficiently separate the law school from the rest of the university and still benefit from it being part of Harvard?)

[jamestaylorrecordsas]

In the interest of full transparency, it has just come to my attention that even if Harvard decides to stop vacuuming up $1bil/yr in federal money, they still couldn't do whatever they please with admissions.


Even if a school does not receive federal funding, another civil rights law, known as Section 1981, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in making and enforcing contracts. This law forbids all private, nonsectarian schools from refusing admission to students because of their race.

[Rule23andMe]

In the interest of full transparency, it has just come to my attention that even if Harvard decides to stop vacuuming up $1bil/yr in federal money, they still couldn't do whatever they please with admissions.


Even if a school does not receive federal funding, another civil rights law, known as Section 1981, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in making and enforcing contracts. This law forbids all private, nonsectarian schools from refusing admission to students because of their race.

Good luck proving -- let alone adequately pleading -- intent. Did an AI write this?

[jamestaylorrecordsas]

"Good luck proving -- let alone adequately pleading -- intent. Did an AI write this?"

If you view the Kalshi betting markets you'll see that the consensus is that they are having good luck proving their case. Not that it's a guarantee of what the outcome will be. But people are betting real money that Harvard will lose the case.

"Did an AI write this?"

Well done

All boxes checked. Mandatory snarky comment.

[Eve2022]

I think we can agree the US news rankings have major flaws, which have been understood for years now, but I think it's funny how, with respect to Harvard, it comes during a year where they have dropped from their usual place.

Thoughts on their reasoning? Seems doubtful other schools will join. I think it's also obvious to note that Yale and Harvard are probably the most able to do away with rankings given their natural "prestige" in the law/employment/academic world.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/us/y ... kings.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/yale-law-sch ... 33460.html

I feel these rankings often don’t reflect the true value of a school or its students. Going to Yale or Harvard doesn't guarantee success, and other schools can provide just as good an education. It is encouraging to see two major institutions take a stand against inherently flawed rankings - hopefully, it will create more dialogue about how we judge schools and encourage other institutions to follow suit. This could lead to healthier competition between universities that focus on the quality of education instead of superficial rankings.