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University of Virginia

University of Virginia's course descriptions average 66.0 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so University of Virginia reads 1.5 points further right.

Liberal (100)center (50)Conservative (0)
University of Virginia: 66.0 (likely range 64.3 to 67.8) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

3%Far left92–100
13%Left75–91
74%Center-left59–74
10%Center42–58
0%Center-right26–41
0%Right9–25
0%Far right0–8
78 plotted courses (the ones with a political framing). 100 = far left, 50 = the average American, 0 = far right.

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

Furthest left

WGS 4325 · Feminist Disability Politics94

Women's & Gender Studies

This course investigates what and who feminist disability politics encompass. We will explore disability and ableism through their relations to interlocking structures of domination. We will link disability to anti-blackness, capitalism,…

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AAS 7300 · Revolutionary Struggles of the African Atlantic92

Ethnic & African American Studies

In this course, we will grapple with the concept of struggle as it pertains to Africans’ desire to wrestle themselves from the interlocking white supremacist systems of colonialism, enslavement, apartheid and racialized capitalism. How has…

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WGS 3600 · Pleasure Activism Across Time88

Women's & Gender Studies

The history of white supremacy & the heteropatriarchy includes denying sexual pleasure of marginalized communities. A major benefit of pleasure is empowerment, which threatens power structures & leads to restrictive practices & laws. This…

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Furthest right

None. University of Virginia has 77 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 67.8; 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 Virginia by department (share of courses described from the left)
DepartmentLeft-framed shareCourses
Women's & Gender Studies37.8%45view
Ethnic & African American Studies23.4%47view
Sociology7.2%138view
Anthropology5.4%147view
Psychology4.3%186view
History2.2%404view
Religious Studies2.1%428view
Political Science1.3%231view
Art & Art History0.8%124view
English & Comparative Literature0.3%296view
Economics0%106view
Philosophy0%88view

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
NameMetricValue95% intervalnscored
University of Virginiamean_bias_score66.064.3 – 67.82,24078
All 100 schoolsmean_bias_score67.567.4 – 67.7124,29010,124
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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