Give credit where credit is due: I have complained in the past about the failure of the U.S. News rankings of law schools to take into account the credentials of part-time students. This year’s U.S. News rankings, which became available a short time ago, correct that oversight, and include the LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs of part-time, as well as full-time students in their calculations. This data more accurately portrays the quality of a law school’s student body and thwarts efforts of some law schools to artificially boost their rankings by diverting their lower-scoring applicants into part-time programs.

For the first time, U.S. News has also published rankings of part-time programs. Wayne Law fared reasonably well in these rankings, finishing 36th out of 87 accredited part-time programs and first in the state of Michigan. But we should pause before putting too much stock in these (and other) rankings. The part-time rankings this year are based solely on a peer assessment survey, and it appears that law schools with part-time programs fell in place pretty much in accord with their overall rankings. One can hope that in future years, the part-time rankings will be a little more sophisticated, taking into account at least the credentials of the part-time students at each law school.

One disappointment for Wayne Law was our absence from the U.S. News rankings of diverse law schools. We are certainly one of America’s most ethnically diverse law schools. Few law schools have more first generation Americans in their student bodies, and I doubt that many other law schools can boast more native speakers of foreign languages. Our tuition and financial aid structure, together with the public service and practice opportunities presented by a city such as Detroit, continue to make us a law school of opportunity. This is evidenced by the increasing number of students who have begun to arrive at Wayne from other states, and who see Detroit as a magnet for those who appreciate the challenge of our nation’s metropolitan communities. Representation of racial minority groups runs from 10-18% of Wayne Law’s students and is about 35% university-wide. About 10% of the students at WSU are from foreign countries. One need only walk through our campus at any time of day to observe this phenomenon; indeed, I would be hard-pressed to think of any campus that looks so much like a cross-section not only of America, but the world.

The racial and ethnic mix at Wayne State was apparent at a performance by Wayne undergraduates that my wife and I were fortunate to attend a few weeks ago. Together with another couple, we saw Ragtime, the musical based on E.L. Doctorow’s historical novel set a century ago. The music in the show was unremarkable (couldn’t they have reworked some Scott Joplin classics, by now in the public domain, rather than writing warmed-over imitations?), but the staging was magnificent, giving depth to a moving story of racial and ethnic conflict and, on precious occasion, harmony. The racial and ethnic mix of performers required to properly stage the show made it altogether appropriate to Wayne State; few other American universities could have pulled it off convincingly. While there were several good performances, most convincing was that of Taurean Hogan, who portrayed Coalhouse Walker. Watch for this young man; he is a good bet to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Epatha Merkerson and Ernie Hudson, Wayne alumni who have had distinguished careers on the stage and screen.

Back at the Law School, in my first year Torts course, I have made it a practice to collect index cards from my students on the first day of class, on which I ask them to place information about themselves, such as colleges attended, undergraduate majors, jobs held, special skills, and foreign languages with which they are familiar. Wayne might be the only law school in America where Arabic speakers outnumber those fluent in French. A sprinkling of Chaldean speakers and even one student fluent in Aramaic graced my class, as well as students conversant in Spanish, Albanian, Thai, etc. But perhaps the most intriguing card was completed by a student from Arizona, who wrote, “I am the first person from my town to attend law school.” It is a privilege to have students like this at our law school, and humbling to have them in my class.