(TJV NEWS) Harvard and Columbia Law Schools have seen significant drops in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report rankings, falling to their lowest positions in years, Free Beacon reported. Harvard fell to No. 6—marking its lowest placement ever—while Columbia slipped to No. 10. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin made notable gains, tying at No. 14 and earning coveted spots among the prestigious “T14” law schools for the year.

According to Free Beacon, this shift comes amid rising criticism of Harvard and Columbia’s responses to campus anti-Semitism. Both institutions have been under public and governmental scrutiny for what critics call a failure to adequately protect Jewish students or respond forcefully to anti-Semitic demonstrations. The Trump administration, which has vowed to withhold federal funds from schools that do not take meaningful action against anti-Semitism, has already pulled more than $430 million in federal funding from Columbia and is reviewing close to $9 billion in grants and contracts tied to Harvard.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a scathing 2025 campus anti-Semitism report card that awarded Harvard a “C” and Columbia a “D,” based on how these schools handle anti-Semitic incidents, their administrative policies, and their overall commitment to protecting Jewish students. In contrast, Vanderbilt received an “A” rating and was described by the ADL as “ahead of the pack” in its efforts to counter anti-Semitism. UT Austin earned a “B,” placing it above most peer institutions in 2024.

This year’s rankings also saw Cornell University, another Ivy League school facing similar backlash, fall out of the T14 for the first time in decades. It dropped to No. 18—its lowest law school ranking in recent memory.

Legal analyst David Lat noted that Vanderbilt’s appearance in the T14 marks a historic first and reflects shifting priorities in legal education, where school culture and student safety are now under closer scrutiny.