Throughout the past six years, Syracuse University’s College of Law has hovered right around the top 100 in the nation, sometimes sneaking in and sometimes being barely excluded out.

With the latest rankings produced by U.S. News & World Report, Syracuse stands at 95, although the cost of attending SU’s College of Law is $31,642, 21st highest nationally. With such a discrepancy, in addition to the turmoil recently voiced by SU students, why isn’t Syracuse a better law school?

‘My general philosophy is one based on the relentless pursuit of excellence,’ said Robin Paul Malloy, senior associate dean for academic affairs, in a typed letter. ‘I believe that if we are always focused on that goal, everything else will fall into place. Quality comes from the pursuit of excellence and not from chasing a position on someone else’s scorecard.’

Malloy declined an interview, saying he was too busy. College of Law Dean Hannah Arterian did not return phone calls requesting an interview.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings, which came out April 6, use a mathematical formula, with various weights given to peer-assessment scores, assessment scores by lawyers or judges and the previous year’s student GPA, student LSAT score, acceptance rate, student-faculty ratio and employment rate, among other things.

Syracuse earned a 2.4 out of 5.0 in the peer assessment score and a 3.0 out of 5.0 from judges’ and lawyers’ rankings. Only 62.4 percent of the 2003 class was employed at graduation, although 92.2 percent were employed within nine months.

Compared to fellow private Upstate New York school Cornell University’s law school, Syracuse’s College of Law faltered.

Cornell, ranked No. 11 by the report, earned a 4.2 and 4.3, respectively, from the peer ranking and the judges’ and lawyers’ ranking. Also, 98.3 percent of the 2003 class was employed by graduation. At Cornell, 92.5 percent of students passed the New York State Bar, compared to 80 percent at SU.

The magazine has ranked Syracuse about the same over the past six years. During this time, SU never ranked higher than 87th (which it did in 2001) and never dropped lower than the third tier, which is theoretically the 100th-150th best schools, but U.S. News & World Report only ranks them as a group, not individually.

Right now, Syracuse’s main problems appear to be its Bar-passage rate and its job placement.

SU’s Bar passage, currently at 80 percent, has been a problem historically. Now Syracuse offers optional, Saturday-morning classes, which are aimed at preparing students to pass the New York State Bar Exam. As Syracuse’s passage rate increases (it had recently dipped below the state average of a 75 percent passage rate), so too should its standing.

Still, SU has failed to address what some students consider a problematic job-placement program.

‘On jobs, I haven’t really seen them improve,’ said Danny DeVoe, a third-year law student. ‘That’s a big stress on law students right now. We don’t have jobs.’

Syracuse’s main problem is it can’t draw top firms to Syracuse and rarely holds attractive job fairs, even though its students and faculty are some of the finest in the country.

At the 2002 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Regional Competition, which pits international law schools against one another in various competitions, the National Tax Moot Court team won second place, narrowly losing to Harvard University. They also won the award as ‘Best Oralists.’

‘I have to give credence to the professors here,’ DeVoe said. ‘They’re fantastic. The students have the stuff.’

Indeed, U.S. News & World Report’s rankings have come under scrutiny, and even the magazine admits it’s just one way to evaluate a school.

‘To ask whether they’re accurate implies there is only one way to mark schools,’ said Bob Morse, director of data research at the magazine. ‘We make one judgment about what matters, and how to weight them. This is one indicator of law schools. The rankings are a reflection of using the indicators we feel are important.’

Others downplayed the rankings, too.

‘People have had problems for years with U.S. News’ methodology, because things like this happen,’ said Jim Fox, spokesperson for Columbia University, which was ranked No. 4 nationally by the magazine. ‘Are there reasons the student-faculty ratio would fall one year? Sure. Are there reasons the Bar-pass rates drop? Sure. The U.S. News rankings are one bit of information. No one should make a decision based on them alone.’

Of course, reputation has a lot to do with it as well, likely the main factor behind peer and judges’ and lawyers’ rankings. Columbia has one of the finest reputations in the country, having produced former presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It also produced current Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

‘Syracuse is known as being a very good law school,’ Fox said. ‘Graduates have done well, and they have a good faculty.’

Recent turmoil may dampen that standing. Students have voiced frustration with the administration, and the aggravation boiled over recently after the college told the students it was their responsibility to book a commencement speaker with 45 days before graduation.

Although the school booked MSNBC host Dan Abrams as the commencement speaker, students have voiced continued displeasure that the faculty – most notably Arterian – has been inaccessible.

Fox was asked how Columbia maintains such high honors for its law school.

‘We try to focus on our students,’ Fox said, ‘making sure it’s a productive experience for them and that we teach them what they need to know. We try to make sure we have a faculty that teaches them what’s important in the world, not just teaching theory for theory’s sake. And we try to make sure they get good jobs when they graduate.’

Malloy’s letter said SU must start ‘rethinking many of the ways in which we have done things in the past,’ though there were no specifics.

Wrote Malloy: ‘(We) are mindful of what other universities are doing and of the constant need to identify and improve upon our core strengths. We are a good law school with tremendous assets on hand, and in partnership with the university and our alums, we will move forward to be recognized as a great law school.’

Published on April 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm