Photo credit University of Michigan Law School
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - The University of Michigan says its law school is no longer participating in the popular U.S. News & World Report rankings, which historically has been a well-publicized list that colleges have advertised as a marketing tool.
In a letter to the law school, Dean Mark West said issues over the website's ranking methods and how transparent it is in how it finalizes each school's score create an "inequitable presentation of data and at worst, an unregulated opportunity for manipulation."
"As a public institution, serving the public interest has always been central to our mission. Over time, I increasingly have come to believe that the U.S. News law school rankings no longer serve the public interest," West wrote in a letter.
The University of Michigan's withdrawal follows similar departures by Yale and Harvard, who attributed the decision to skewed methodologies that either place an unfair weight on the wrong metrics or aren't transparent enough.
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West expressed a similar concern, writing in his letter that U.S. News had introduced new changes to its ranking system that "reflect a lack of understanding about how law schools operate." But even while the ranking methods that are used grow increasingly flawed, West wrote, the rankings continue to have key influence over the perception of law programs.
Among the biggest issues that West had with the website is the weight it puts on academic opinion polls of different law schools, which is a survey of selected administrators and faculty members and how they feel about other law schools.
"The collected information might be interesting, but it is not based on a rigorous survey instrument, and even if it were, it should not guide decision making for prospective students," West wrote.