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Northwestern University

Northwestern University's course descriptions average 65.6 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Northwestern University reads 1.9 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

Northwestern University: 65.6 (likely range 62.2 to 69.1) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

5%Far left92–100

35%Left75–91

36%Center-left59–74

10%Center42–58

6%Center-right26–41

5%Right9–25

4%Far right0–8

111 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

· Education for Black Liberation100

Ethnic & African American Studies

This class considers what it means to conceptualize, articulate, and actualize a liberatory Black educational project within U.S. public schools structured by anti-Blackness. The course treats historical and contemporary manifestations of…

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· Jews in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia100

History

Jewish encounter with Marxism and communism; social, political, cultural, and artistic aspects of Jewish life; Soviet Jews and the Russian empire: patterns of survival, accommodation, and interaction, 1917-2014.

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· Black Political Thought92

Ethnic & African American Studies

Black protest, Black radical politics and Black-led demonstrations are nothing new. How should we understand the motivations and ideas involved in Black radical politics? This course seeks to introduce students to the historical and…

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Furthest-right subjects

· Introduction to African-American History: Key concepts from 1700-18610

Ethnic & African American Studies

African origins, the slave trade, origins of slavery and racism in the United States, life under slavery in the North and the South. BLK_ST and HISTORY 212-1 are taught together; may not receive credit for both courses.

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· Comparative Slavery0

Ethnic & African American Studies

Traces slavery across historical epochs and geographic contexts, with an emphasis on Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States.

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· Democracy and its Discontents: The US from the Constitution to the Mexican War0

History

Between 1787 and 1848, the United States transformed from a precarious sliver of states to a transcontinental empire. Political participation rose alongside slavery, Indigenous expulsion, and America’s first capitalist “millionaires.” From…

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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 62.2 to 69.1; a comparison whose range overlaps this one is not a reliable difference.

Only 22 of Northwestern University's descriptions carried a scorable lean, so this average and its rank are rough; the interval is the honest range.
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.

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

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Ethnic & African American Studies	11.4%	79	view
Sociology	5.6%	54	view
History	4.1%	123	view
Anthropology	3.1%	65	view
Women's & Gender Studies	3.0%	33	view
Political Science	2.8%	72	view
Art & Art History	0%	40	view
Economics	0%	63	view
English & Comparative Literature	0%	127	view
Philosophy	0%	66	view
Psychology	0%	44	view
Religious Studies	0%	50	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
Northwestern University	mean_bias_score	65.6	62.2 – 69.1	816	22
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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