In a significant reshuffling of the 2025 U.S. News law school rankings, Harvard and Columbia Law Schools have experienced a notable decline, while Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin have ascended to the esteemed "T14" list.
This shift occurs amidst ongoing controversies surrounding anti-Semitism on college campuses, an issue that has drawn considerable attention and criticism.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, Harvard has dropped to the sixth position, marking its lowest ranking to date, while Columbia has slipped to the tenth spot. In contrast, Vanderbilt and UT Austin have made impressive gains, climbing five and two places, respectively, to share the fourteenth position. This achievement marks Vanderbilt's inaugural entry into the "T14," a designation reserved for the top 14 law schools in the nation, as noted by legal commentator David Lat.
The decline of Harvard and Columbia coincides with heightened scrutiny over their handling of anti-Semitic incidents and their perceived failure to safeguard Jewish students. The Trump administration has taken a firm stance on this issue, pledging to withdraw funding from institutions that do not adequately address anti-Semitism. Consequently, Columbia has already seen a revocation of over $430 million in federal funds, while Harvard's contracts and grants, totaling nearly $9 billion, are under review.
Both Ivy League institutions received unfavorable evaluations in the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) 2025 campus anti-Semitism report card, with Harvard receiving a "C" and Columbia a "D." The ADL's assessment encompassed 135 universities, focusing on their administrative policies, responses to anti-Semitic incidents, and protections for Jewish students.
In stark contrast, Vanderbilt emerged as one of only 11 schools nationwide to earn an "A" from the ADL, positioning it as a leader in combating anti-Semitism. UT Austin also performed commendably, receiving a "B" and outperforming many of its peers in 2024.
Cornell University, another Ivy League institution facing backlash for its response to campus anti-Semitism, has fallen out of the "T14" entirely, landing at the eighteenth position. This marks the lowest ranking for Cornell's law school in decades, underscoring the broader implications of how universities address anti-Semitic issues on campus.
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