ATL broke the news earlier this month that Northwestern Law School selected Jerry Springer as commencement speaker for its May 16 graduation.

ATL got a shout-out in the Chicago Tribune, which described the controversy around Springer's selection. Despite some students' dissatisfaction, the decision is final:

Last week, the students who selected Springer announced in an e-mail to classmates that their decision had faculty approval and was final, emphasizing that he also was an Emmy-winning news anchor and political commentator who had drawn large crowds at previous speaking engagements.

On Sunday, Springer, a 1968 graduate of the law school, confirmed that he will deliver the address.

"The students invited me, and I'm honored," Springer said through his publicist, Linda Shafran. Although he has spoken on numerous college campuses, Shafran said, this will be Springer's first commencement address.

We had a poll last week asking, "Do you support Northwestern Law School's selection of Jerry Springer as its graduation speaker?" Here are the results. Springer had your overwhelming support, with over 76% voting in favor of the selection.

There was extensive discussion on our earlier post. We chose a few of your comments to highlight, after the jump.

Controversy surrounds choice of Jerry Springer as commencement speaker at Northwestern University Law School [Chicago Tribune]

Earlier: Jerry Springer to be Commencement Speaker at Northwestern Law School

When it comes to law school graduation speakers, it's hard to please everyone. Earlier this year, controversy erupted at Boston College Law School when U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey was announced as the commencement speaker. Some students, faculty and alumni voiced opposition to AG Mukasey, based on his involvement in the waterboarding / torture controversy (extensive coverage collected here; resolution of the situation described here).

Now we report on commencement controversy news of a rather different (and somewhat less highbrow) sort. It arises out of the decision by Northwestern University School of Law to invite Jerry Springer to serve as this year's commencement speaker. Springer got his law degree there in '68, worked as a campaign aide to Robert F. Kennedy, and served as mayor of Cincinnati. But he's perhaps best known as the ringmaster of scandal and vulgarity on the Jerry Springer Show (and an unsuccessful contestant on Dancing With the Stars).

Some Northwestern students are not happy about Springer's selection. From a tipster:

There is a current uproar in the graduating class at Northwestern Law. The graduation committee thought Jerry Springer would be an appropriate speaker for this year's convocation. Most of the student body is opposed to this, but this administration is sticking by the committee's decision.

Maybe he'll bring Northwestern students with secrets and unresolved conflicts up on stage, then have them confess and brawl. That might be more fun than the usual staid graduation ceremony.

We contacted the school for comment, which issued the following statement, from Dean David E. Van Zandt:

In keeping with the spirit of our community, our commencement speaker annually is selected by a student committee, approved by the administration, and invited by both.

Mr. Springer is an alumnus who has held public office as a city council member and mayor of Cincinnati. He has had a very successful career in the news and entertainment industries.

We look forward to Mr. Springer's participation at commencement.

At least one LLM candidate is trying to prevent Springer's speaking. See the protest letter circulating at Northwestern, and vote in our reader poll, after the jump.

Update: Also after the jump, a defense of Jerry Springer's selection as commencement speaker, which went out over the NU law school listerv.

Relax, folks. We are aware that the 2009 law school rankings of U.S. News & World Report have leaked, in advance of their official Friday publication date. They're all over the blogosphere and the message boards (links collected below).

We've been sitting on this item for a little while -- coordinating with our other posts this morning, taking into account our traffic patterns, etc. There is a method to our madness.

Ideally we'd hold this item even longer (which would allow us to do a more detailed write-up). But it's clear that you're all dying to talk about the rankings RIGHT NOW. And we don't want to get any more emails and comments of the "why aren't you writing about U.S. News" variety.

So here you go. Rankings and discussion, after the jump (i.e., click on the "Continue reading" link below).

We're not sure we "get" this story. We agree, in part, with this comment:

[The Northwestern Law School controversy] sounds very boring to me.

The SBA president offends the Latinos Students association, people ask him to resign, he resigns. End of story.

Where's the "scandal"? Who cares....

Our only observation, which the WSJ Law Blog post hints at, is the sheer irony of all this. The SBA president got in trouble for not inviting minority student group leaders, qua minority student group leaders, to a breakfast with Chief Justice John Roberts (and for some remarks he made after the fact).

Yes, THAT Chief Justice Roberts. The jurist who wrote, in last year's big Texas redistricting case: “It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race."

It is a sordid business, this divvying up of breakfast tickets by race.

But we seem to be in the minority. Several of you have asked us to write something about this dispute. And over at the WSJ Law Blog, there's a comments clusterf**k going on.

So here's an open thread. Enjoy!

P.S. We have to step away for a bit. But if we get inspired, maybe we'll update this post a bit later with some actual substance.

Law School Group Leader Resigns Amid Controversy [Daily Northwestern]
Breakfast of Controversy [WSJ Law Blog]