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Rice University

Rice University's course descriptions average 66.6 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Rice University reads 1.0 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

Rice University: 66.6 (likely range 65.3 to 67.9) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

0%Far left92–100

19%Left75–91

69%Center-left59–74

12%Center42–58

0%Center-right26–41

0%Right9–25

0%Far right0–8

120 plotted courses (the ones with a political framing). 100 = far left, 50 = the average American, 0 = far right.

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Framing Subject

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

Furthest left

RELI 589 · MUTANTS AND MYSTICS: RACE, SEXUALITY, AND THE FUTURE OF THE HUMANITIES88

Religious Studies

This is a course about the deep historical and conceptual connections between the histories of science fiction, the paranormal, and social transformation around race, gender, sexuality, and the human. We will see that such events tend to…

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HART 204 · INTRODUCTION TO BLACK ART IN AMERICA: 1900S TO TODAY85

Art & Art History

This class examines the history of Black art in America since the early 1900s. What is Black Art? Who are the artists, curators, scholars, and theorists who have asked and answered this question over the decades? Is a Black aesthetic…

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RELI 393 · MUTANTS AND MYSTICS: RACE, SEXUALITY, AND THE FUTURE OF THE HUMANITIES85

Religious Studies

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Furthest right

None. Rice University has 119 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 65.3 to 67.9; 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.

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

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Ethnic & African American Studies	37.1%	35	view
Anthropology	13.1%	259	view
Sociology	12.2%	131	view
Women's & Gender Studies	10.2%	49	view
History	6.9%	204	view
Art & Art History	6.1%	245	view
Political Science	5.0%	159	view
English & Comparative Literature	4.6%	153	view
Philosophy	2.6%	77	view
Religious Studies	2.2%	183	view
Economics	0.9%	112	view
Psychology	0%	127	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
Rice University	mean_bias_score	66.6	65.3 – 67.9	1,734	120
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.

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