Ranking evaluates institutions using 12 different measures
CONCORD, NH –In an article published by Christopher L. Mathis in the Winter 2022 issue of Rutgers Law Review--“An Access and Equity Ranking of Public Law Schools”--UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law was tied for 11th out of 85 law schools, recognizing its excellence in offering access and equity to its students and prospective students.
“We are so proud of this recognition,” said Megan Carpenter, Dean of UNH Franklin Pierce. “We recognize that this climate of inclusion is vital to our continued success in attaining the highest quality research, scholarship, teaching, engagement, and all other strategic goals of our school. We look forward to continuing our efforts to make the best possible legal education accessible for all students.”
In the article, Mathis notes that, while there are many ranking systems that provide useful information for prospective law students, “these rankings fail to measure what many law schools claim to be one of their longstanding goals — diversity, access, and equity.” The author, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, devised a rankings measure based on “measurable outcomes related to diversity, access, and equity.” It uses 12 measures that are significant to finding the right fit for underrepresented minority students. Those metrics include factors in four categories: student representation and outcomes; faculty representation; faculty-to-student ratio; and financial costs.
In ranking UNH Franklin Pierce No. 11th, Mathis gave the law school a grade of “H” (Honors), making UNH Franklin Pierce one of 18 schools to earn the highest score on a scale that ranges from Honors to Pass to Low Pass to Fail. Mathis asserts in his article that schools in markets with smaller populations and a smaller proportion of minority residents — New Hampshire, Maine (T 24-25), and Hawaii (8), for example — have done more than institutions in more populous settings to fulfill their mission of access and equity.
“[T]o some extent, it was surprising to find law schools with considerably fewer racial minorities in the state outperform other law schools in traditionally diverse locales,” Mathis writes. “This ranking further implies that the U.S. News and other rankings discussed…may not measure all the factors that are salient to prospective law students.”
In its mission to prioritize inclusivity, UNH Franklin Pierce has formed partnerships with the Council of Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO); the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities; the Police Practices Consortium; the New Hampshire 1L Law Students Summer Associate Diversity Program; and has joined the petition calling for the creation of a new section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Professionals.
To learn more about UNH Franklin Pierce’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, please visit http://law.unh.edu/inclusive.
Contact:
Lauren K. Terry
lauren.terry@law.unh.edu
857-225-2836
