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Indiana University-Bloomington

Indiana University-Bloomington's course descriptions average 64.4 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Indiana University-Bloomington reads 3.1 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

Indiana University-Bloomington: 64.4 (likely range 62.5 to 66.3) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

5%Far left92–100

31%Left75–91

37%Center-left59–74

14%Center42–58

3%Center-right26–41

3%Right9–25

6%Far right0–8

180 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

AAAD-A 156 · Black Liberation Struggles against Jim Crow and Apartheid100

Ethnic & African American Studies

A comparative perspective on American race relations, specifically the similarities and differences of the struggles against Jim Crow in America and against apartheid in South Africa. In both places, the late twentieth century witnessed a…

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AAAD-A 420 · Transforming Divided Communities and Societies100

Ethnic & African American Studies

Histories, theories, policies, and citizen, state, corporate, nonprofit sector models of transforming past and present societies divided by race, ethnicity, gender, class, caste, tribe, and religion through restorative and distributive…

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GNDR-G 350 · Queer Theory100

Women's & Gender Studies

Examines queer theory, particularly in relation to other intellectual/political movements (post-structuralism, critical race studies, feminism, gay and lesbian studies) which it both borrowed from and challenged. Focus on the ways in which…

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Furthest-right subjects

ANTH-E 408 · Talk, Tales, and Television: Africa, Europe, the United States0

Anthropology

Colonialism, the slave trade, apartheid, African music, "Roots," Hollywood: these subjects link together Americans, Europeans, and Africans, and they are portrayed through talk, television, film, radio, and performance at specific sites.…

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HIST-A 384 · Antebellum America0

History

This course examines major issues in the United States between 1815 and 1860. Topics include the market revolution, the expansion of slavery, the "second party system," "Jacksonian democracy," evangelical Christianity, reform movements, and…

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HIST-B 270 · Inside Nazi Germany0

History

Explores the Nazis' origins, vision, and appeal, and the path to war and destruction. Examines how far the Nazis were able to revolutionize German society, the nature of Nazi violence, the challenges they posed to the international…

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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 62.5 to 66.3; 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.

Indiana University-Bloomington by department (share of courses described from the left)

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Women's & Gender Studies	9.8%	51	view
Ethnic & African American Studies	6.6%	166	view
Anthropology	4.4%	275	view
Sociology	3.8%	79	view
Philosophy	2.8%	71	view
History	2.3%	217	view
Religious Studies	1.1%	179	view
Psychology	0.6%	175	view
English & Comparative Literature	0.4%	280	view
Art & Art History	0.3%	311	view
Economics	0%	106	view
Political Science	0%	134	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
Indiana University-Bloomington	mean_bias_score	64.4	62.5 – 66.3	2,044	43
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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