Dean’s Message: Berkeley Law will not participate in the US News rankings

After cautious consideration, Berkeley Law has determined now no longer to maintain to take part withinside the US News rating of regulation faculties. Although ratings are inevitable and unavoidably have a few arbitrary features, there are components of the United States News ratings which are profoundly inconsistent with our values and public mission.

Berkeley Law is a public college, with a deep dedication to growing get admission to to justice, education legal professionals who will paintings to enhance society in quite a few ways, and to empowering the subsequent era of leaders and thinkers, a lot of whom will come from groups who traditionally had been now no longer a part of the prison career. We also are dedicated to excellence: in our packages, scholarship, economic support, research, and simply amongst our college students. We take delight in generating legal professionals who’re distinctly skilled, distinctly sought after, and committed to public provider and seasoned bono. This is who we’re.

Rankings have the that means that we supply them as a community. I do now no longer need to faux they do now no longer. And ratings will exist without or with our participation. The query becomes, then, can we suppose that there may be a advantage to participation withinside the US News manner that outweighs the costs? The answer, we feel, isn’t anyt any.

We need to be precise approximately the idea for this assertion. It isn’t approximately railing towards ratings or complaining that they “harm” us in a few way. However, there are precise troubles that we’ve struggled with for years, and raised with management at US News to no avail. These are:

Their ranking penalizes schools that help students launch careers in public service law.

Berkeley Law has a application in which we offer college students a fellowship for a yr after commencement to paintings in a public hobby organization. These positions encompass a income corresponding to an entry-degree role in public provider or public hobby, in addition to a stipend at some point of have a look at for the bar examination. We have finished this for decades and ninety four percentage of individuals who get hold of such fellowships continue to be doing public hobby regulation after the fellowship ends. But US News does now no longer rely those college students as completely employed. This creates a perverse incentive for faculties to cast off those positions, no matter their fulfillment and no matter the education they offer for destiny public provider legal professionals.

Moreover, steady with our public mission, we’ve one of the maximum favorable mortgage reimbursement help packages withinside the us of a. We have lately revised it to make it even greater beneficial to our graduates pursuing public hobby and public provider careers. US News can pay no interest to this, measuring pupil debt however ignoring how faculties are supporting college students who want help to pay off it.

The USNWR ranking formula disregards and discounts graduates who are pursuing advanced degrees.

We are thrilled that each yr a few pursue Ph.D. and MBA degrees. More than thrilled; we’re a regulation college that trains scholars, and seeks to feature new voices to prison academia and different college spaces. Yet those graduates rely as “unemployed” withinside the US News technique. While we preserve a school committee committed to supporting graduates and college students pursue prison academia, we’re one of the few regulation faculties that does. This limits get admission to to an vital discipline and continues in area conventional obstacles to diversifying academia.

The rankings methodology creates incentives to de-prioritize things we think are critical to our profession and role in society.

One of the maximum pernicious components of the United States News ratings is its degree of in step with pupil fees. There isn’t anyt any proof that this correlates to the first-rate of the training received. This works to the downside of faculties which have decrease lessons and consequently decrease in step with pupil fees.

US News reductions in step with pupil fees in a few regions of the us of a with the aid of using a cost-of-residing adjustment that has not anything to do with academic first-rate. Again, I even have complained to US News approximately this for years to no avail.

USNWR seems at pupil mortgage debt with out suitable context, growing incentives for regulation faculties to confess high-profits applicants (and people from high-profits/high-wealth families) who can “come up with the money for to pay,” and could now no longer tackle plenty pupil mortgage debt. It additionally incentivizes the removal of want-primarily based totally resource. We have preserved a want-primarily based totally resource application due to the fact we trust it’s far the proper element to do, however if we removed it we ought to simply growth median LSAT ratings and GPA with the aid of using channeling all assets into recruitment of these college students. This, we feel, is wrong – but we apprehend why a few faculties do this, and the solution is due to the fact they worry to do in any other case will harm their ratings.

Nothing approximately Berkeley Law is basically modified with the aid of using this decision. We may be the regulation college we’ve constantly been, and we are able to try to enhance – according with our values. Now is a second whilst regulation faculties want to specific to US News that they have got created unwanted incentives for prison training. Accordingly, Berkeley Law will now no longer take part withinside the US News survey this yr.