NEW REPORT: Ideological Uniformity in Yale Honorary Degrees

The Buckley Institute is pleased to release its new report on ideological uniformity among recipients of honorary degrees. Like other parts of the commencement experience, such as Class Day speakers, honorary degree recipients exhibit little intellectual diversity.

“Having effectively excluded diverse voices from the faculty lounge, Yale seems unwilling to honor the accomplishments of those who stray from the campus orthodoxy,” said Buckley Institute Founder and Executive Director Lauren Noble ’11. “One side of the political aisle doesn’t have a monopoly on making positive contributions to the world. Yale will struggle to win back the public’s trust until it recognizes that.”

The Buckley Institute analyzed the political registrations and donations of the 99 honorary degree recipients since 2016. Of those, 86 were identifiable, either through registration or political donation records.

Of the 86 identifiable honorary degree recipients, 76 (88.4%) were Democrats or donated predominantly or exclusively to Democrats. Nine (10.5%) were unaffiliated and only one (1.2%) was a Republican.

In five of the past 11 years, all identifiable honorary degree recipients were Democrats.

NOTE: Yale initially announced only seven out of eight honorary degree recipients for 2026. For more information on the final recipient who was announced after this report was completed, see here.