History
May be repeated for credit as topics vary. Topic for Fall 2024: Before the Deluge: Weimar Germany, 1918-1933. Explores Weimar's fragility and resilience. Explores problems of political polarization, from authoritarian thought to…
All schools · Other private
Boston University
Boston University's course descriptions average 68.2 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Boston University reads 0.7 points further left.
Liberal (100)center (50)Conservative (0)
Where its courses fall
0%Far left92–100
11%Left75–91
89%Center-left59–74
0%Center42–58
0%Center-right26–41
0%Right9–25
0%Far right0–8
Underlined: words the model quoted from the description when we asked it, after scoring, to explain its score.
Furthest left
Art & Art History
Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Topic for Spring 2023: This course examines the role of the curator today and considers practices and debates related to decentralizing…
Ethnic & African American Studies
Undergraduate Prerequisites: At least one prior 100- or 200-level sociology course, or CAS WS 101/1 02. - No one of us is one thing, one identity, nor motivated by one singular interest, nor privileged or subjugated by one singular form of…
Furthest right
None. Boston University has 9 left-framed courses and not one right-framed course.
Why this number, in plain words
Political lean of course descriptions. Average Framing score (0 = far right, 50 = center, 100 = far left) of the scored courses in the group.
50 is the survey-anchored center of US adults on each issue (the "moderate" place of the ANES/GSS/PRRI seven-label ruler), not the cohort midpoint; scores above 50 read leftward, below 50 rightward.
Counted: courses with a Framing score (categories L/R/B/C). The likely range (95% interval) is 64.3 to 72.1; a comparison whose range overlaps this one is not a reliable difference.
- Only 9 of Boston University's descriptions carried a scorable lean, so this average and its rank are rough; the interval is the honest range.
- Most course descriptions carry no political lean at all and are not in this average; the "share described from the left" view counts them.
- Readings are of catalog description text, not of teaching, syllabi or individual professors.
Boston University by department (share of courses described from the left)
| Department | Left-framed share | Courses | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's & Gender Studies | 66.7% | 3 | view |
| Ethnic & African American Studies | 25% | 4 | view |
| History | 7.7% | 26 | view |
| English & Comparative Literature | 3.8% | 52 | view |
| Economics | 1.8% | 57 | view |
| Art & Art History | 1.0% | 105 | view |
| Anthropology | 0% | 22 | view |
| Philosophy | 0% | 22 | view |
| Political Science | 0% | 23 | view |
| Psychology | 0% | 49 | view |
| Religious Studies | 0% | 7 | view |
Lean (mean Framing score) is not published per department within a school; only the left-framed share is. Department rows carry no interval.
Details: exact rows, definitions and method
| Name | Metric | Value | 95% interval | n | scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston University | mean_bias_score | 68.2 | 64.3 – 72.1 | 370 | 9 |
| All 100 schools | mean_bias_score | 67.5 | 67.4 – 67.7 | 124,290 | 10,124 |
- Formula
- SUM(bias_score) / COUNT(bias_score)
- Interval
- normal approximation: mean +/- 1.96 * sd / sqrt(n), sample sd (n-1); undefined when n < 2
- Model / prompt / snapshot
- gpt-5.6-sol · r12 (2026-10-16-le49-r12) · 6df50b10
- Metric caveats
- Scored courses only (L/R/B/C); N and I carry no score and are excluded, so n here is smaller than the group's course count. Scores are model readings of catalog description text against a fixed anchored definition, not teaching or syllabi. The interval covers sampling noise in the mean only; it does not represent model reading error. Every value carries a `method` label: exact_rows or histogram_midpoint.