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Colgate University

Colgate University's course descriptions average 66.9 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Colgate University reads 0.7 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

Colgate University: 66.9 (likely range 65.1 to 68.7) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

3%Far left92–100

35%Left75–91

41%Center-left59–74

11%Center42–58

3%Center-right26–41

4%Right9–25

3%Far right0–8

184 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.

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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

ALST 312 · Gender, Race and Punishment: Toward an Inclusive History of the American Carceral State100

Ethnic & African American Studies

An interdisciplinary course exploring the complex history of the mass incarceration of African American girls and women within the U.S. penal system. Students investigate the complexities of the U.S. carceral state while unearthing the…

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WGSS 279 · Black Feminist Thinkers100

Women's & Gender Studies

An interdisciplinary journey into historical and emergent intellectual contributions engendered from navigating, refusing, and subverting systemic gendered oppression. As an homage to the distinct and layered legacy of Black feminist…

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WGSS 312 · Gender, Race and Punishment: Toward an Inclusive History of the American Carceral State100

Women's & Gender Studies

An interdisciplinary course that explores the complex history of the mass incarceration of African American girls and women within the U.S. penal system. Students will investigate the complexities of the U.S. carceral state while unearthing…

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Furthest-right subjects

ALST 245 · Dirty South0

Ethnic & African American Studies

The Dirty South offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the rich history, cultural and aesthetic traditions, as well as the environmental and architectural landscapes that make up Black southern life in the United States. The course…

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HIST 272 · War and Holocaust in Europe0

History

Focusing on one of the darkest chapters in European history, this course examines the causes, conduct, and consequences of the Second World War and maps the terrible course of the Holocaust. Chronologically, the course begins with Hitler's…

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HIST 276 · Racial States: The Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany0

History

The trajectories of the Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany departed from each other in fundamental ways: the Jim Crow South harnessed racism to subjugate African Americans, Nazi Germany relied on racism for persecution and extermination. And…

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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 65.1 to 68.7; 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.

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

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Women's & Gender Studies	70%	10	view
Ethnic & African American Studies	44.3%	61	view
Sociology	26.3%	38	view
History	22.2%	99	view
Anthropology	21.2%	33	view
English & Comparative Literature	9.4%	85	view
Religious Studies	9.3%	54	view
Psychology	4.5%	44	view
Philosophy	2.8%	36	view
Political Science	2.3%	86	view
Economics	1.8%	56	view
Art & Art History	0%	58	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
Colgate University	mean_bias_score	66.9	65.1 – 68.7	660	93
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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