So the numbers have leaked, and UT went back up a few notches. Good for UT. Good for Dean Sager.
Brian Leiter has asked bloggers not to post the the overall rankings, but instead focus on the more meaningful bits of underlying data. I’ll leave that to Leiter.
As much as I take issue with U.S. News rankings, there’s no denying that they still have weight - even if only to incoming students (who bring better credentials/guts, who become better alum, who give more money, and the frog ate the fly that sat on the log).
But, more importantly to why I mention the overall rankings here: Hopefully now the 33% (more?) of UT Law students who dribble about what a ‘bad’ dean Sager is because of U.S. News ranking drops will start to quip about what a ‘good’ dean he is; because he deserves it.
Do the rankings show Sager deserves a high-five? I don’t think the rankings can assess a dean’s successes in any straightforward way between years. But, there are a number of students out there who took issue with last years U.S. News drop, and pointed to it as indicating Sager’s ineptitude.
So, on your logic, said students, welcome the new old Dean Sager back.
The same students moaning about Sager’s part in the U.S. News drop last year also moan about Sager’s proposed tuition increase. So, with any luck, we’ll keep pecking up that chart for the next few years (the buzz from many is that UT is the most likely to break into the T14 next year). I hope we peck up the U.S. News charts because, if we do, it will likely be due, indirectly, to the forthcoming tuition increases. And, sometimes it’s fun to watch people realize they haven’t thought things through.
UT to T14! UT to $28K!
