Concerned that the influence of US News & World Report’s yearly law school rankings is leading to less diverse law schools, the California Bar Board of Governors has voted to endorse a letter encouraging the publication to add a diversity category to its law school rankings.
The current rankings consider 12 factors: peer assessment; assessment by lawyers and judges; median LSAT scores; media undergrad GPA; acceptance rate; placement success; employment rate for graduates, bar passage rate; faculty resources; expenditures per student; student/faculty ratio; and library resources. The rankings are controversial but highly influential and schools work very hard to game the system from the inside. Including diversity as a category would promote diversity on law school campuses by creating a strong incentive to add diversity programs.