Law School Deans, Law Schools, Rankings, U.S. News

Some Students Want Their Deans Fired After Poor Showing In The U.S. News Rankings (And One Head That's Already Rolled)

Now that the rankings are out, who is getting fired?

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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW — PETITION TO REMOVE DEAN GROSSMAN

Current 3Ls at WCL began their tenure at a law school ranked 45th in the nation by US News and World Report and now attend a school ranked 56th. Part-time 4Ls began in a program ranked 4th in 2009 that now ranks 10th. Aside from the likely unemployment and crippling debt they face, they now will also be graduating with a degree from a “second-tier” school.

The administration has allowed the ranking of this institution to slip more than ten positions in a span of three years. Dean Grossman has refused to take measures necessary to maintain not only our position within the rankings, but also our prestige amongst the nation’s law schools, firms, and other employers. Additionally, the Office of Career and Professional Development has proven itself wholly incapable of aiding the student body in finding meaningful, lasting, JD required or preferred employment.

While some of the criteria used by US News, and the weights assigned to those criterion, is widely known to be arbitrary, these rankings matter significantly to the overall prestige of the school, its desirability in the eyes of prospective students, and the ability of students to find employment. Furthermore, a significant portion of the ranking criterion is legitimate. Specifically, the placement success of the school, which accounts for 20% of its overall rankings score.

Washington College of Law’s employment at graduation rate, according to US News, was an abysmal 36.4%. For comparison Catholic University Columbus School of Law came in at a 37.5% employment at graduation rate, George Washington Law School managed to get 81.7% of their graduates employed, Howard University School of Law had an employment at graduation rate of 48.4%, and Georgetown University Law Center mustered up a 63.7% employment rate for their graduates. These employment statistics reflect actual rates of employment out of the total number of 2011 J.D. graduates for jobs that are full-time, long-term, J.D. and bar passage required or advantageous.

This is just a snapshot of the problems plaguing WCL, and merely one example of the inability of Dean Grossman and OCPD to tackle the problems facing the student body. Additional factors such as the significant drop in the median LSAT and GPAs of the incoming classes from year-to-year, and the administration’s unwillingness to provide a significant number of merit based scholarships to incoming students, makes this call even more pressing.

We demand a pragmatic leader who can guide the law school during these tough economic times and an Office of Career and Professional Development that is capable of finding the students and alumni of Washington College of Law meaningful employment in their chosen field–the law. We demand the termination of Dean Claudio Grossman’s employment and a complete overhaul of OCPD.

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DEPAUL COLLEGE OF LAW — DISGRUNTLED STUDENT RESPONDS TO THE RANKINGS

Dean Mark,

I wanted to reach out to contact you regarding the recent U.S. News and World Report Rankings, and your email to the student population regarding the change. I want to first point out how upsetting I found your statement to be that DePaul “remain[s] in the top tier.” First, USNWR has historically set the tiers for law schools in the following fashion: Tier 1 (Law schools ranked 1-50), Tier 2 (Law schools ranked 50-100), and Tier 3 (Law schools ranked 100 or below). Recently, the USNWR has changed their criteria, including the top 75% of universities in their Tier 1 classification, and listing the remaining 25% of universities in their Tier 2 classification. While I appreciate your attempt at consolation, the majority of employers, and the majority of us actually concerned with the rankings, draw a clear distinction between schools above 100, and those below 100.

Even if I were to find some comfort in the fact that DePaul is 36 spots from not being on the published rankings at all (I don’t), I would like to point out that if the current trend continues, by the time I receive my J.D. from this institution, the DePaul College of Law will be harder to find in the USNWR rankings than was the customary salutation at either the beginning or end of your e-mail to the student body.

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Quite frankly, Dean Mark, I am incensed; more importantly though, I found your e-mail, and your claim of surprise, to be intensely patronizing. There isn’t a single casual observer of the USNWR rankings who wouldn’t have anticipated some shift among placements this year. As we are all aware, a number of law schools had been inflating their employment statistics for some time. It seems obvious to me now that DePaul was among them. You have access to the employment statistics, and every and any measure by which you could possibly count them. I don’t mind a drop in the rankings; what I do mind is being lied to outright.

Assume though, that in the best case scenario, your surprise is truly genuine. That only leads me to further question your competence as Dean, or the competence of any other administrator at the school.

While the obvious response to any e-mail like mine is “Don’t worry about the rankings, you’ll be fine”, such a blanket statement ignores a very basic reality; Students pay attention to rankings. Whether or not employers do is irrelevant. I find it extraordinarily embarrassing that you, and the staff that work on behalf of the University, have proven to be such a colossal failure. I understand you have other obligations. But you ought to understand that ensuring the prestige of this institution is also part of your job. I wish you’d take it a bit more seriously.

I did not choose to come to DePaul because it was my only option. I graduated from DePaul University with a 3.3 GPA, and a 163 on my LSAT. By that measure, I should be at an institution ranked somewhere closer to the mid-30’s to low-40’s on the USNWR rankings. In fact, I turned down offers from other institutions (Law schools with much more staying power in the rankings, apparently), because of the generous scholarship that DePaul offered me. I could stomach going to a school that was ranked in the 80’s on the USNWR, because it made financial sense.

The price on overriding my shame has gone up. Assuming that surpassing the >100 mark is simply a barrier, which doesn’t carry any additional negative connotations, DePaul has gotten at least 22% worse since I’ve started here. I would hope to see a similar increase in my scholarship package, if you intend to have me stay here. I don’t mean to sound entitled…I think you owe every recipient of a scholarship package a similar increase. Or, alternatively, a 22% reduction in tuition across the board. Because of no fault of our own, this institution has lost a significant amount of its prestige. It is only right that you compensate us for your failure.

Of course, I don’t expect the DePaul College of Law to take any meaningful steps towards improving our rankings. It is easier to just accept that we are worse off, raise tuition, and admit more students who historically would have made the wait list or worse. The coffers will be replenished, one way or another. As P.T. Barnum once said, “there’s a sucker born every minute.” DePaul has apparently captured the market. So, in the meantime, I am going to begin the long, slow process of preparing transfer applications.

I deeply regret having to sit down and write you this e-mail. But it seems to me from your brief and unsubstantive address to the student body, that you truly do not care one way or another about the prestige of our university. While I cannot change that, I can certainly change whether or not I attend DePaul. I intend to encourage my classmates to do the same.

While I appreciate that losing students is an uncomfortable proposition for DePaul, the university has made their bed; it is time to lie in it. I hope that myself and others find the staff here to be nothing short of exceptionally helpful in assisting us with the transfer process. We’ve paid an exorbitant amount to be here, the least you can do is allow us to get out.

Regretfully,
J.D. Candidate, 2015

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