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Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University's course descriptions average 66.5 on the 100-to-0 ruler: clearly left of center. Across all 100 schools, the average is 67.5, so Vanderbilt University reads 1.1 points further right.

ShowCompared withDepartments

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

Vanderbilt University: 66.5 (likely range 64.7 to 68.3) All 100 schools: 67.5 each other school in the comparison

Where its courses fall

0%Far left92–100

17%Left75–91

76%Center-left59–74

6%Center42–58

0%Center-right26–41

0%Right9–25

0%Far right0–8

63 plotted courses (the ones with a political framing). 100 = far left, 50 = the average American, 0 = far right.

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Framing Subject

Underlined: words the model quoted from the description when we asked it, after scoring, to explain its score.

Furthest left

GSS3405 · Mass Incarceration and Abolition Feminism91

Women's & Gender Studies

Feminists as theorists and activists in prison abolition. Decentering the male as the embodiment of mass incarceration. Sexual assault to prison pipeline. Effects of carceral gendering on black women's lives. Economic, psychological, and…

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GSS3309 · Gender, Justice, and the Urban Environment88

Women's & Gender Studies

Transforming urban environments. Systems of power and privilege; inequalities such as gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity, geographic location, and other dynamics that influence climate crisis response. Structures of oppression in the city…

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GSS2222W · Another World is Possible: Feminist Futures83

Women's & Gender Studies

Political activism, community-building, and artistic expression forging visions of the future. Structures that uphold systems of oppression. Perceptions and critical assumptions of the future as natural, predetermined, or immovable.…

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Furthest right

None. Vanderbilt University has 63 left-framed courses and not one right-framed course.

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 64.7 to 68.3; 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.

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

Department	Left-framed share	Courses
Women's & Gender Studies	34.8%	69	view
Ethnic & African American Studies	12.5%	72	view
Sociology	10.6%	85	view
History	4.2%	263	view
Anthropology	4.1%	123	view
Religious Studies	2.6%	78	view
Psychology	1%	100	view
Political Science	0.8%	133	view
Art & Art History	0.6%	173	view
Economics	0%	59	view
English & Comparative Literature	0%	166	view
Philosophy	0%	74	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
Vanderbilt University	mean_bias_score	66.5	64.7 – 68.3	1,395	63
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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