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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's course descriptions average 64.9 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign reads 2.6 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 64.9 (likely range 63.4 to 66.5) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

3%Far left92–100

31%Left75–91

42%Center-left59–74

12%Center42–58

2%Center-right26–41

6%Right9–25

4%Far right0–8

142 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

AAS 400 · Critical Ethnic Studies100

Ethnic & African American Studies

Examines the formation of the field of Critical Ethnic Studies and elaborates its key concepts, such as settler colonialism, indigeneity, heteropatriarchy, decolonization, and liberation. Same as LLS 460. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.

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HIST 462 · Soviet Union Since 1917100

History

Political, social, and economic development of the USSR since the 1917 revolutions that brought the Bolsheviks to power; social change and social engineering; political struggles among Stalin and his rivals; the "Stalin revolution" from…

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SOC 366 · Postsocialism Eastern Europe100

Sociology

Examines the sociological realities of state socialism and postsocialism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Prerequisite: One of the following: SOC 100, SOC 101, SOC 163, HIST 142, PS 100, or any REES course.

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Furthest-right subjects

AFRO 378 · Race and Revolutions0

Ethnic & African American Studies

Focus on the relationship between race and slavery during the revolutions in American and Haiti, respectively. We will seek to understand how the themes of slavery, revolution and race affected blacks, whites and indigenous Americans. We…

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AFRO 460 · Slavery in the United States0

Ethnic & African American Studies

Examination of slavery in the U.S. using primary sources (slave narratives, songs and tales, plantation records, laws and newspapers) from the 18th century through emancipation. Same as HIST 482. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.…

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ENGL 330 · Slavery and Identity0

English & Comparative Literature

Explores slavery in the Americas through its representation in literature over time. Using a variety of disciplinary approaches, we will look at the enslaved, the enslavers, and the middle merchants who facilitated the slave trade, and will…

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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 63.4 to 66.5; 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.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by department (share of courses described from the left)

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Women's & Gender Studies	37.5%	24	view
Ethnic & African American Studies	14.5%	131	view
Sociology	9.8%	61	view
Anthropology	4.7%	128	view
History	4.3%	162	view
English & Comparative Literature	1.6%	191	view
Psychology	0.8%	120	view
Political Science	0.8%	132	view
Art & Art History	0%	171	view
Economics	0%	85	view
Philosophy	0%	60	view
Religious Studies	0%	52	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
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	mean_bias_score	64.9	63.4 – 66.5	1,317	52
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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