All schools · Public

University of California-Santa Barbara

University of California-Santa Barbara'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 University of California-Santa Barbara reads 0.3 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

University of California-Santa Barbara: 67.2 (likely range 66.0 to 68.4) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

2%Far left92–100

14%Left75–91

81%Center-left59–74

3%Center42–58

0%Center-right26–41

0%Right9–25

0%Far right0–8

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

See it for yourself

Framing Subject

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

Furthest left

BL ST 117 · Slavery and Modernity94

Ethnic & African American Studies

An interdisciplinary examination of Black slavery as both a historical event and an enduring condition. The course highlights the foundational role of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade in the making of European modernity, the…

See it for yourself →

C LIT 192A · VIOLENCE AS DE-COLONIZING CATHARSIS:FROM FRANTZ FANON TO THE TRICONTINENTAL MANIFESTO94

English & Comparative Literature

Using primary and secondary texts, the course explores the evolution of postcolonialphilosopher Frantz Fanons ideas from his seminal Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and 1961The Wretched of the Earth (for which Sartre wrote the Preface)…

See it for yourself →

ENGL 165NJ · Native Justice: Settler Colonialism, Legality, and Decolonization94

English & Comparative Literature

What is justice for Native American and Indigenous communities? How do concepts and practices such as radical abolition and reparations relate to decolonization? How do Indigenous writers and activists encounter logics and material…

See it for yourself →

Furthest right

None. University of California-Santa Barbara has 159 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 66.0 to 68.4; 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.

University of California-Santa Barbara by department (share of courses described from the left)

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Women's & Gender Studies	20.8%	53	view
Ethnic & African American Studies	17.0%	324	view
Sociology	11.3%	141	view
English & Comparative Literature	8.2%	403	view
Anthropology	5.5%	164	view
History	4.2%	402	view
Political Science	3.9%	127	view
Art & Art History	2.3%	257	view
Religious Studies	2.0%	354	view
Economics	0%	180	view
Philosophy	0%	94	view
Psychology	0%	148	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
University of California-Santa Barbara	mean_bias_score	67.2	66.0 – 68.4	2,647	160
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 University of California-Santa Barbara · Make a school card