The State of Political Diversity in the Yale Admissions Office and the Presidential Council on Yale College Admissions
The admissions process for an elite university like Yale can seem like a black box. With so much uncertainty, it is not uncommon for potential applicants and their parents to wonder whether ideology is taken into account when Yale evaluates admissions essays. After all, the ideological imbalance among the Yale faculty is so dramatic, perhaps the monolithic campus environment is a result of sorting within student admissions as well.
As part of our efforts to shed light on the ideological makeup at Yale, the Buckley Institute is proud to release our new report, The State of Political Diversity in the Yale Admissions Office. Together with our look at the recently launched Presidential Council on Yale College Admissions, the report provides a good picture of the political leanings of those handling the thousands of applications that come through Yale each year.
Political Diversity for the Future Applicant Pipeline
Across the 26 employees in the Yale College Undergraduate Admissions Office who are most likely to impact admissions decisions (excluding administrative staff), 69% are registered Democrats while 31% are unaffiliated. There are zero registered Republicans. Among the office’s senior leadership—the dean and the five directors who report to him—83%, or five out of six, are registered Democrats while only 17% are registered as unaffiliated. Again, there were no registered Republicans.
A New Yale Committee
The admissions office is not the only institutional body impacting the undergraduate acceptance process, however. To review the admissions process after the overturning of affirmative action, President Maurie McInnis created the Presidential Council on Yale College Admissions. The stated purpose of the committee is “to review relevant policies and procedures and make recommendations to assure continued compliance with all laws, integrity of applications, and academic excellence in the years ahead.”
The college admissions council is composed of eight committee members and one staffer who is a Yale administrator. Of the eight committee members, four are current university deans and one is a past dean, with the remaining three being Yale alumni. Two of the alumni are former trustees of the Yale Corporation. Of the five current and past Yale administrators on the council, all five are either registered Democrats or have made significant contributions to Democratic candidates for office. Of the three alumni appointees on the committee, two out of the three are Republican while the third is a registered Democrat.
Not including the staff member who is also a registered Democrat, the committee is 75% Democrat.
Faculty, students, staff, and alumni are invited to share their concerns about intellectual diversity in the Yale’s admissions process or any other suggestions they might have with the council.