jQuery tablesorter sort by column id instead of column number

I have an HTML table that I'm sorting with jQuery tablesorter. I have an external link that sorts the table by name using JavaScript. Within that JavaScript function though, I have to say sort by column 0 instead of just saying sort by the name column.

How can I modify what I have below so I don't have to remember that name is column 0 in JavaScript?

$('document').ready(function(){
    $('table#classes_table').tablesorter();

    $("#sort-link").click(function() {
      //How can I say something like sort by "Name" instead o开发者_StackOverflow社区f having to remember name is column 0
      var sorting = [[0,0]
      $("table").trigger("sorton",[sorting]);
      return false;
    });
});

<a href="#" id="sort-link">Sort by name</a><br><br>
<table class="tablesorter" id="classes_table">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>Name</th>
        <th>School</th>
        <th>Students</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>Class1</td>
        <td>School5  </td>
        <td>32</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Class2</td>
        <td>School1</td>
        <td>7</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

You could use a hack...

var columnIndex = $('table > thead > tr > th:contains("Name")').index();