Legal Commentary

My name is Michael Waterstone, and I teach and am one of our associate deans at Loyola Law School Los Angeles.  Thanks to Dan and the rest of the crew for having me back.  

I certainly do not consider myself a US News rankings "deep thinker."  But in this post, before the new US News rankings come out this week, I wanted to get on my high horse about something.   This is a point my Dean, Victor Gold, has helped me realize.  The rankings do not currently include diversity as a factor in how they evaluate law schools (although they have done a stand-alone diversity ranking).  On the merits, this seems crazy to me ? there is pretty broad consensus that diversity is an important part of the educational experience. 

I have heard two responses: first, that it is difficult to calculate diversity because of the different background populations in the geographic region where schools reside; and second, this would disadvantage schools in less diverse parts of the country.   As to the first point, although I am no statistician, I don't buy it.  US News has as standalone diversity ranking, indicating it can be calculated.  And US News is able to include bar passage rates as part of its survey and there are different passage rates in different states.

As to the second point, even assuming it is true that including diversity would disadvantage schools in certain regions, I guess my response is ? who cares?  I?m not naïve ? I realize the rankings exist to sell magazines, not to be accurate in any meaningful measure.  But the rankings are not ?neutral? ? they use all kinds of factors that advantage some schools over others ? primarily money.  So if diversity is meaningful to the educational experience (and thus something that prospective students should look for), how can it not be justified as a factor by which US News ranks schools?

I am a member of the California State Bar Council on Access and Fairness, and we have been engaged in a public dialogue with Bob Morse at US News on this issue.  I hope we are able to make some progress.