A new academic study confirms President Trump’s long-standing claims about widespread leftist bias in American higher education. The report reveals that college syllabi overwhelmingly promote left-leaning narratives while excluding dissenting viewpoints, especially on controversial issues.
The study, released by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and Stephanie Muravchik, analyzed over 27 million syllabi using data from the Open Syllabus Project. Researchers found that top-assigned texts on subjects like race, criminal justice, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict consistently reflected one-sided, progressive ideologies. In many cases, entire course frameworks failed to present opposing arguments.
One example cited is Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, which pushes the view that the U.S. criminal justice system is inherently racist. The book was assigned in thousands of courses across the country—more than Hamlet and almost as often as John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. Alexander’s viewpoint, however, is not counterbalanced by authors like Yale law professor James Forman Jr., whose Locking Up Our Own critiques the same system but challenges the popular “systemic racism” explanation.
The report concludes that American college instruction is “politically one-sided to an extreme” and warns that the loss of public trust in higher education will persist unless balance is restored. Professors were called out for failing to include diverse academic perspectives, contributing to an ideological monoculture.
The study provides hard data supporting President Trump’s warnings about indoctrination in higher education. As campuses continue to embrace political litmus tests—through curriculum design, DEI mandates, and hiring practices—calls for reform will only intensify.
