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University of Iowa

University of Iowa'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 University of Iowa reads 0.9 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

University of Iowa: 66.6 (likely range 65.0 to 68.2) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

0%Far left92–100

15%Left75–91

81%Center-left59–74

4%Center42–58

0%Center-right26–41

0%Right9–25

0%Far right0–8

48 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

ANTH 3017 · Decolonizing Anthropology in Native North America82

Anthropology

Anthropology is coming to terms with its rather strange combination of colonialist origins and anti-colonial/anti-racist themes, and these contradictions have generated well-earned criticism from Indigenous peoples; how Indigenous critiques…

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GWSS 2300 · Race, Class, Gender, and Labor: Worker Struggles for Legal Rights in the United States76

Women's & Gender Studies

Students familiar with the gig economy and the "Fight for $15" examine historical tensions between working class, middle class, poor, and the 1%—at the intersections of race and gender—and how these diverse groups wielded their influence on…

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AFAM 2800 · African American Women, Health, Hair, and Sexuality75

Ethnic & African American Studies

From the exotic to the erotic, African American women's bodies have been constructed to fulfill a variety of personal and cultural fantasies as well as social functions that are "killing us softly"; how cultural icons and myths of Black…

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Furthest right

None. University of Iowa has 48 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 65.0 to 68.2; 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 Iowa by department (share of courses described from the left)

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Ethnic & African American Studies	21.3%	75	view
Women's & Gender Studies	18.8%	48	view
Anthropology	8.8%	80	view
Sociology	4.1%	74	view
History	3.6%	139	view
Religious Studies	2.9%	68	view
Political Science	2%	100	view
Philosophy	1.5%	68	view
English & Comparative Literature	1.4%	138	view
Psychology	1.1%	89	view
Art & Art History	0%	187	view
Economics	0%	60	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 Iowa	mean_bias_score	66.6	65.0 – 68.2	1,126	48
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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