According to Times Higher Education, Chicago is ranked 11th in the US and 8th in the World (different rankings...) while Columbia is ranked 2nd in the US and 14

According to Times Higher Education, Chicago is ranked 11th in the US and 8th in the World (different rankings...) while Columbia is ranked 2nd in the US and 14th in the World. Rankings across every discipline will be different and vary based on the source but that's a decent estimate. The article notes one source has Chicago at #3 and Columbia at #5, with NYU at #30. No Federal Judge is going to accept the Pearson's argument that Columbia is an obviously far inferior school. This argument would mean that the only acceptable sources of faculty would be Princeton, Harvard, Chicago and Yale (tied for 3rd with Chicago). Maybe they would accept Oxford and Cambridge as additional acceptable sources? The overall complaint gives the sense that the Pearson's are exacting and highly litigious. Exacting on a $100MM donation is understandable, filing suit this fast is rather absurd. But both sides have lots of money for both academic research and lawyers so it will be entertaining at least.