All schools · Ivy League

Harvard University

Harvard University's course descriptions average 67.2 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Harvard University reads 0.3 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

Liberal (100)center (50)Conservative (0)

Harvard University: 67.2 (likely range 65.6 to 68.9) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

7%Far left92–100

32%Left75–91

44%Center-left59–74

7%Center42–58

4%Center-right26–41

4%Right9–25

2%Far right0–8

187 plotted courses (the ones with a political subject). 100 = far left, 50 = the average American, 0 = far right. Subject places what a course studies, not the side it takes.

See it for yourself

Framing Subject

Subject places what a course studies, not the side it takes. A course on slavery or the Holocaust lands far right and a course on Marx or the Soviet Union lands far left, whether the course praises, criticizes or simply describes it.

Underlined: words the model quoted from the description when we asked it, after scoring, to explain its score.

Furthest-left subjects

EMR 173 · Indigeneity Against Settler-Colonialism100

Ethnic & African American Studies

We live in a settler-colonial present. Colonizers, as the Australian anthropologist Patrick Wolfe put it, "come to stay: invasion is a structure not an event." This course interrogates this claim by nvestigating the histories, geographies…

See it for yourself →

HIST 1281 · The End of Communism100

History

Examines how and why communism collapsed in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Places the events of 1989/1991, usually considered sudden and shocking, within the political, economic, social, and cultural context of the surrounding decades…

See it for yourself →

HIST 1908 · Racial Capitalism and the Black Radical Tradition100

History

This course explores a history of radical responses to a world system dependent on war, empire, enslavement, and genocide. Guided by the writings of such scholars as W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James, Eric Williams, Walter Rodney, and Cedric…

See it for yourself →

Furthest-right subjects

HIST 1919 · Austrian History in Literature0

History

This course uses Austrian literature to think through some of the most pressing questions of modern European (and, specifically, Austrian) history. We will read some of the greatest novels and novellas in modern German- speaking literature…

See it for yourself →

HIST 2691 · Democracy: Theory, History, Practice0

History

A theoretically informed and historically grounded enquiry into the relationship between democracy and authoritarianism in colonial and postcolonial South Asia within a global comparative context. Close attention will be paid to ideas and…

See it for yourself →

HIST 1922 · Varieties of Fascism: Histories, Theories, Controversies8

History

This conference course, for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, will examine the significance of fascism both past and present. We will explore its historical emergence, its variations across time and space, and the question of…

See it for yourself →

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 65.6 to 68.9; a comparison whose range overlaps this one is not a reliable difference.

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.

Harvard University by department (share of courses described from the left)

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Women's & Gender Studies	63.6%	11	view
Sociology	32.7%	49	view
Ethnic & African American Studies	22.8%	101	view
Anthropology	17.5%	40	view
History	15.2%	105	view
English & Comparative Literature	11.7%	120	view
Political Science	8.8%	113	view
Art & Art History	7.3%	96	view
Psychology	6.6%	91	view
Religious Studies	6%	50	view
Philosophy	4.3%	46	view
Economics	1.0%	103	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
Harvard University	mean_bias_score	67.2	65.6 – 68.9	925	114
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.

Ask a question about Harvard University · Make a school card