NEW: The Buckley Institute Releases its Report on the Political Diversity of the Yale Corporation
The Buckley Institute is excited to release our new report on the political imbalance on the Yale Corporation.
Yale’s charter calls for a governing body comprised of 19 members, known as the Corporation. Three of those members are ex officio: the President of Yale and the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut.* Of the remaining 16 trustees, six are alumni fellows with one elected each year to a six-year term by a vote of Yale alumni (Yale alumni previously could petition to be candidates for an Alumni Fellow spot but since Yale abolished the petition candidate process in May 2021, all candidates are chosen by the Yale Alumni Association). The remaining 10 trustees are chosen by the Yale Corporation itself.
Political Bias on the Corporation
To better understand the governing ethos of Yale University, the Buckley Institute looked at the political and ideological leaning of the trustees of the Yale Corporation. The Buckley Institute’s research found that 13 of the 15 current trustees are registered Democrats. Of the two trustees who are registered as unaffiliated, one recently was a registered Democrat and has donated exclusively to Democratic candidates for office. The other has donated twice as much to Democratic candidates for office as Republicans.
Notably, the partisan imbalance of the Yale’s governing body, 86.7% Democrat and 13.3% unaffiliated, exceeds that of Yale’s faculty. Among Yale educators, Democrats comprise a slightly lower 82.3%, independents make up a slightly higher 15.4%, and Republicans have at least had some representation at 2.3%.
One-Sided Political Giving
Overall, the Yale Corporation’s political donations reaffirmed the ideological tilt of their registrations. In total, Yale Corporation trustees donated over five million dollars to Democratic candidates for office, almost 50 times the just over one hundred thousand dollars given to Republican candidates for office.
While Democrats generally outraise Republicans nationwide, the numbers are nowhere near as stark as those of the Yale Corporation. In 2024, Democratic candidates for president, the U.S. Senate, and the House of Representatives raised $4.446 billion versus $1.828 billion for Republicans, a 2.4 to 1 ratio.
Purely based on donations, the partisan bias of Yale Corporation political giving is slightly over 20 times as great as that of the American public overall. That likely reflects both donation capacity and ideological intensity.
In a similar vein, 14 of the trustees have donated to Democratic candidates and causes while only 4 have donated to Republican candidates and causes.
The partisan divide extends beyond registration and donations to political appointments as well. In total, trustees have received 9 appointments by Democratic officeholders (all from Presidents Clinton and Obama) while one trustee was appointed to two positions under a Republican governor.
*The ex officio governor and lieutenant governor seats were excluded from the counts because Yale has no control over who fills that position. However, both are Democrats.
Read the full report here.
