"sexy rexy" assuages all the king hall hysteria over a 10 slot rankings drop

[brian lauter]

Remember last week, when The Shark posted the leaked 2009 U.S. News Law School Rankings?  Unlike these, they were not fake, and they were hard to ignore (even for Brian Leiter).

If you are at Boalt you are probably pretty happy with the new rankings.  If you are at University of Miami School of Law  you are probably not.  If you are at USF you are too cool to care.  If you are at the University of Baltimore you are just happy to be included.

Maybe you are inspired.  You want to create some rankings of your own.  You could rank based on library square footage and number of minority students.  You could rank based on mean LSAT scores and peer assessment ratings.  Or you could cross reference the 2009 U.S. News Law School Rankings with the Top 44 Law Schools by Peer Evaluation in your search for Law School Rankings Truth.

I don’t get too worked up about rankings, and I agree that law schools and law students often seem to suffer from a complete lack of perspective regarding the U.S. News rankings, but I was still worried when I saw U.C. Davis had dropped 10 spots to 44.  Apparently, so were quite a few of my classmates, many of whom attended a student meeting last night to discuss the fall. 

After reading the responses of students and law school deans compiled on Above the Law, I was also worried that the response would be more embarrassing than the ranking.  Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a relatively even-tempered email from Dean Perschbacher blaming “weak placement figures and bar passage during 2006” for the drop and assuring us that the 2007 numbers, which are “already in the bank,” are better.   

Since employment is the ultimate goal of law school, the placement numbers are, to me, the most important metric in the U.S. News formula.  Career Services at Davis is pretty useless, so if rankings hysteria ushers in a new era of employment emphasis here, I am all for it.   If pouring resources into Career Services doesn’t have the “happy side effect” Sexy Rexy is looking for, maybe messing with the employment numbers will do the trick.

So, while Davis probably won’t be issuing any press releases regarding its U.S. News rankings this year, maybe the 10 spot drop and any student uproar that follows will make the job search a little easier for future King Hall-ers.

Full email after the jump.

Dear Members of the King Hall Community,

             I see that many of you have heard our latest and deeply disappointing overall ranking in the new U.S. News &World Report listing.  It is indeed distressing to find us at number 44, down from 34 last year.  I know you are concerned and troubled, and that you understand better than many of us in the faculty and administration impact this can have on applicants to UC Davis.  This is just as troubling to those of us in the dean’s office who have committed much of our working lives and career to this School, and want more than anything to see it prosper in every way possible.

             Despite U.S. News’s claim of relative transparency in their own particular ranking scheme, it is still quite difficult to determine exactly what factors caused this change for the worse.  It appears, however, that since our academic and lawyer/judge assessments remained high, we suffered from the relatively weak placement figures and bar passage during 2006, the year U.S. News used as its basis for these particular factors.  With a bar pass rate of 75.9%, an employment rate at graduation of 78.8% and an employment rate of 87.1% nine months after graduation, we did not do as well as we usually do that year on the bar or placement of our graduates.  That should give all of you some hope for an immediate turn around, as all those figures rebounded for the class of 2007, figures that already are “in the bank.”

             As important as the U.S. News ranking is to you, as dean, I have great skepticism about these rankings, which have an impact exponentially greater than they deserve.  I do not see King Hall as defined by this one magazine’s assessment, and it has been my practice not to place undue emphasis on it in good years as well as poor ones. Nevertheless, I do see the information behind their “overall score” number as valuable in assessing what we do well and where we need to improve.  If, as it appears, student employment and bar passage have hurt us in this year’s ranking, then we need to improve in those areas.

             Fortunately, we are doing just that.  Led by Assistant Dean Kulwin, we have been increasing our efforts at bar preparation for our current students and recent graduates for the last three years. There are some positive signs in the latest results for the Class of 2007.  We will commit even more resources in the next year to improve programming, hire a dedicated academic support coordinator, and look further to see if we can support our graduates as they take bar review courses.

            The second big area of concern is student placement.  We have been working diligently over the last year with the student committee reviewing career services to assess and improve our placement efforts.  I know many of you have criticism of the Career Services Office.  It can and will improve.   We will add resources to that office and look for improvement in placement success that will benefit all our students and that should have the happy side effect of improving our ranking.   I know everyone in that office wants to see all our students employed and gaining positions they truly want.  We will need your help as well.

             Finally, although there is nothing we can do about this year’s ranking, there is a lot we can all do for King Hall, the School we all care about.  Help us and help yourselves out.  We have an outstanding faculty, fine if overworked staff, and great new hires here at King Hall.  The peer reputation ratings reflect this.

      How can you, as students, help?  You can support the Class Gift program.  Financial support for the School is a component of the U.S. News rankings.  Be a spokesperson for the law school; positive word-of-mouth (reputation among lawyers and judges) is important in your job search and career satisfaction and an element of the rankings.  Work with us in looking for pre- and post-graduation positions.  Stay in touch with the Career Services Office; keep them informed of jobs you attain, within law and without law, so that you can be accurately counted in our placement statistics.   Even part-time work can help our numbers.  Study hard for the bar exam.  Nothing is better for employment success in law than success on the bar examination, as the Class of 2007’s experience demonstrates.  If you need help, financial or otherwise, let us know.

             Although we sometimes try to suggest that we know lots more than you, collectively that is not true.  We welcome all your suggestions for improvement in the School and improvement in collecting accurate statistics, particularly placement statistics, for the assessment regime that U.S. News operates.  I am designating Dean Kulwin as the appropriate person for you to address emails or even good old paper messages with suggestions.  Or you can contact your LSA President.  Sarah Asplin has never been shy about letting me know what is on her and your mind.

             Together we can survive this, keep this one event in its appropriate place, and work to make King Hall as good as it can possibly be.  The rankings will follow, I am confident.

Rex

Comments

[davis 0l]

im a davis 0l right now. the drop in rankings is a little disappointing, but it will not be affecting my decision to attend. davis has dipped in to the 40s twice before since the early 90s, so its not earth-shattering or anything.

just wondering though... the deans official stance is out. but whats the consensus/feeling amongst the students/faculty @ king hall? do they have any additional insight as to what caused the big drop (keyword being big)? do they care? are they confident that this is not the beginning of a downward trend?

It has been a topic of conversation among students, and the reactions seem to range from apathy to all-consuming anger. A Facebook group was created to discuss/vent. There was a big student meeting (I did not attend) during which, from what I hear, various excuses and accusations were bandied about.

I don't think people feel there is a downward trend. There has been lots of criticism of Career Services since I got here and I think this brought that to a head. There is some anger that the issues weren't corrected sooner.

Some people are also angry that Persch's email wasn't sent out sooner and they believe that administration doesn't care as much about rankings as students do. We are getting a new Dean next year, so I think the drop (and the aforementioned perception of administrative rankings apathy) is making students more interested in the selection process, which is a good thing.

[same davis0l]

i vaguely heard about that, though im having trouble finding info on it online. is he stepping down this summer or next summer? any particular reasons? do they already have a dean chosen or are they still searching?

as far as im concerned, the rankings are a catch-22. if you dont play the game, you get burned. (see: hastings in the early/mid 90s.) since its the only game in town, if youre not participating, youre making a statement, but everyone else who views these rankings as the bible doesnt care that youre making a statement. they see that your school has dropped in the rankings & its just a vicious feedback cycle.

if you do play the game, well, youre just as complicit as everyone else who swears by the rankings, despite whatever your own personal beliefs are about the rankings.

its an all-round unfortunate situation. its too bad the deans of all the majors schools cant bandy together & agree to not put that much creedence in to the rankings - or at least promote and support efforts of other rankings w/ transparent methodology & meaningful indicators

Yeah, I agree with your rankings analysis. Unfortunately, the catch-22 you describe is probably here to stay. It might be up to students and prospective students to maintain perspective in its face.

I think that Perschbacher is leaving because Davis has a 10 year "term limit" for deans, although I am not positive that this is correct. They have been conducting a dean search, with student interviews, etc., and have narrowed it down to 2 candidates. I think the Chancellor decides and nobody I've talked to knows exactly when he will do that.

Update:

April 3, 2008

FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS

SCHOOL OF LAW

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to tell you that Professor Kevin Johnson has accepted my invitation to serve as Dean of the School of Law, effective July 1, 2008. Professor Johnson is a highly respected member of the School of Law faculty who emerged as the candidate of choice after a national search generated a strong pool of individuals. I very much appreciate the work of the Recruitment Advisory Committee as well as the many thoughtful letters from the Law School community that were submitted at the end of the interview process.

The Office of the President has asked that we not make a formal announcement until the Regents have had an opportunity to act on his appointment at their May meeting—hence this e-mail rather than a press release or other form of communication.

You may share this information internally as needed. We will make a formal announcement of Kevin’s appointment as soon as we are authorized to do so. In the meantime, please join me and Interim Provost Horwitz in welcoming him to his new role. Join us as well in thanking Dean Rex Perschbacher for 10 years of successful leadership of the School.

Sincerely,
Larry N. Vanderhoef
Chancellor

[slot makine]

Greaaat post as always. Definetely going to read your other posts. Thank you very much...