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Duke

Duke's course descriptions average 66.1 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Duke reads 1.4 points further right.

Liberal (100)center (50)Conservative (0)
Duke: 66.1 (likely range 64.8 to 67.5) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

7%Far left92–100
33%Left75–91
38%Center-left59–74
14%Center42–58
2%Center-right26–41
4%Right9–25
4%Far right0–8
253 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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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

AAAS246 · Sociology of Racism in America100

Ethnic & African American Studies

Examines social history of major racial groups in the US and relationships to contemporary standing. Discusses central concepts sociologists use to analyze racial matters. Central theme: 'racism' is not mere 'prejudice,' 'ignorance,' or…

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AAAS314 · Representing Slavery100

Ethnic & African American Studies

Examines representations of the Atlantic slave trade in scholarship, literature, film, popular culture, and local site visits. We will examine portrayals of people who were enslaved, people who enslaved, as well as the nature of capture,…

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CULANTH202 · Languages of the World100

Anthropology

Introduction to Marx's core concepts, such as alienation, commodity, and revolution. Includes examination of Marx's own major historical & political analyses, his economic texts, and his philosophical writings. Students also gain…

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Furthest-right subjects

AAAS217S · The Atlantic Slave Trade0

Ethnic & African American Studies

The development of the slave trade from the fifteenth century to its abolition in the nineteenth century; organization and mechanics, impact on Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

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AAAS347S · White People: In Anthropological Perspective0

Ethnic & African American Studies

Against the cross-cultural backdrop of other systems of hereditary privilege and of the political and economic changes that threaten them, we will examine the history, the ideologies, and the psychology of white supremacy in the United…

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AAAS402S · South Africa and the World0

Ethnic & African American Studies

Throughout the 20th century, South Africa had the largest economy and military on the African continent. Its strategic geographic position and mineral wealth in gold and uranium made it an important ally for the largest economies in the…

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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 64.8 to 67.5; 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.
Duke by department (share of courses described from the left)
DepartmentLeft-framed shareCourses
Ethnic & African American Studies28.2%181view
Women's & Gender Studies26.5%49view
History11.6%129view
Sociology10.6%47view
Anthropology9.8%102view
Economics4.0%101view
Political Science2.9%103view
Philosophy2.3%44view
English & Comparative Literature1.7%120view
Psychology1.0%98view
Art & Art History0%164view
Religious Studies0%34view

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
Dukemean_bias_score66.164.8 – 67.51,172105
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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