HIGHER ED DIVE — In 2007, a collective of liberal arts colleges known as the Annapolis Group convened in Maryland’s capital and decided to take a jab at one of the more powerful forces in admissions: U.S. News & World Report’s yearly rankings. An exodus never materialized. But 15 years later, observers see cracks in the foundation of U.S. News’ system due to bombshell announcements last month that several high-profile law schools — including those at Yale, Harvard and Columbia universities — would no longer send the publication the data it uses to construct the rankings.