(*THUD!*) UNC law school falls down. Can it get up?

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It’s kind of like those folks who CAN’T understand why fans are fleeing the NFL in droves.  (Could it have anything to do with a certain prof who lives in  a van down by the river?)

Here’s the latest from Business North Carolina:

Imagine the outcry if UNC Chapel Hill’s men’s basketball team was ranked 45th in the national polls. Goodbye Roy Williams! That’s the situation facing the university’s law school, according to the most recent survey by U.S. News & World Report. It’s down from 31st in 2015. This year, law schools at Duke and Wake Forest rank 11th and 32nd, respectively.[…] 

We’re Forty-Fifth! Go Heels! (Um, yay?)

As magazine editors, we know such ratings are invariably subjective. We’ve also learned that those ranking high love ’em, while laggards downplay their significance.

The Carolina Law folks have made strategic moves to reverse the slide, though the school’s quality is as strong as it ever has been, Dean Martin Brinkley said in an emailed statement. He noted UNC School of Law is No. 22 of the 83 public law schools listed in the U.S. News report. It consistently ranks among the top 20 U.S. law schools by peers, lawyers and judges — “which are the audiences who know the truth.” he says.

Brinkley and Scott Vaughn, a Charlotte lawyer who is president of the school’s alumni association, add that many factors hurting UNC’s ranking stem from reduced state support: “Ten years ago, more than 70% of our operating budget came from state dollars. Today it’s less than 40%,” Brinkley says. That’s a contrast with UNC System President Margaret Spellings, who praised state lawmakers this year for “the best budget in 10 years.” [….]
Of course.  Lagging behind?  Spend MORE MONEY !!!  (That works soooooo well for public education, social services …)
Food for thought: If you want more money from the legislature, do you think it is wise to have your pet ogre out there sliming, 24-7-365, the very people who hand out said cash?  (Jus’ sayin’.)