NEW: Yale Divinity School Ideological Diversity Report Finds No Republican Faculty
The Buckley Institute released a new report on ideological diversity in the Yale Divinity School. This report builds on the 2025 Yale Political Diversity Report by focusing more narrowly on the Yale Divinity School while, at the same time, expanding the scope of our research beyond the faculty lounge.
“The Divinity School is yet another Yale educational effort overwhelmed by progressive ideological uniformity,” said Buckley Institute Founder and Executive Director Lauren Noble ’11. “Surveys show that America’s religious populations lean conservative, yet Yale Divinity School provides an intellectual environment seemingly devoid of conservative perspectives. Though Yale claims to help develop the skills necessary for professional ministry, its faculty seems out of touch with the ideological leaning of the most devoted churchgoers.”
The report looked at the political alignment of not just tenured or tenure-track faculty, but also administrators, professional staff, visiting and adjunct professors, research faculty, lecturers, instructors, and denominational studies directors. As a result, the report gives a comprehensive look at the ideological imbalance at one of the nation’s premier institutions for educating and training religious leaders.
Yale Divinity School’s Ideological Uniformity
The report found that 77.8% (91 out of 117) of Yale Divinity School employees* are registered Democrats or have donated heavily or exclusively to Democratic campaigns or causes. 20.5% of employees are unaffiliated and just 1.7% are Republicans.
The Divinity School teaching staff is even more monolithic. 62 out of 77 (80.5%) educators (professors, visiting and adjunct professors, lecturers, instructors, and denominational studies directors) are registered Democrats or have donated heavily or exclusively to Democratic campaigns or causes. The remaining 19.5% are unaffiliated. None are Republicans.
More Monolithic Than Most Undergraduate Departments
Narrowed to tenure and tenure-track faculty for comparison to departments analyzed in the 2025 diversity report, the Yale Divinity School is 87.2% Democrat and 12.8% unaffiliated. That makes the Divinity School more ideologically uniform than all but 11 of Yale’s 43 undergraduate degree-granting departments. The remaining 32 departments either had at least one Republican or a higher share of unaffiliated faculty.
The Future of America’s Clergy
The dramatic ideological imbalance could be a point of concern for future religious congregations led by Yale Divinity School graduates. According to Divinity School data, 33% of those who graduate from the Divinity School continue on to ministry and chaplaincy, including 51.9% of those who receive a Master of Divinity degree.
In contrast to the liberal ideological monoculture among Yale Divinity School educators, a 2024 Pew report found that a majority of both Protestants and Catholics identify as Republican. A separate 2024 Pew report found that Republicans are more religious than their Democrat counterparts and are nearly twice as likely to attend religious services monthly or more.
The Yale Divinity School’s progressive lean seems out of touch with the congregations these Divinity School graduates go on to lead.
* Emeritus faculty were not included.