You‘ve worked hard through high school, earning stellar grades in challenging courses while still finding time to lead clubs and volunteer in your community. All that effort has led up to this point – applying to the Ivy League, those eight esteemed universities synonymous with academic excellence and bright futures.
But which Ivy is right for you? Each has slightly different campus cultures, academic strengths, extracurricular options to explore. As a progressive student, you likely want assurances that your future alma mater welcomes free debate around complex issues while actively supporting diversity, sustainability, and social justice on campus.
This guide evaluates all eight Ivy League institutions across those metrics to determine which are the most demonstrably liberal. You‘ll find an in-depth assessment of each school‘s political donations, activist culture, course offerings, diversity initiatives, environmental record, controversies around inclusion, and overall embrace of progressive values.
By the end, you should understand both where the Ivies fall on the spectrum of liberalism as well as which standout as the best fits for a forward-thinking student seeking a progressive academic community.
What Makes an Ivy League School Liberal?
Several defining traits characterize a liberal ethos at elite institutions like the Ivies. Key indicators include:
Political Donations
The causes and candidates an Ivy League school supports through donations and fundraising offers critical insight into administrative priorities and values. Schools donating more money to Democratic politicians and social justice non-profits demonstrate greater progressive principles.
For example, Brown University directs over 90% of its political contributions to liberals and left-leaning groups. Comparatively more modest ratios at Dartmouth (55% Democrat) and Cornell (75%) still represent majorities embodying some liberal bias.
Campus Culture
An Ivy League university upholding academic freedom, intellectual diversity, and progressive activism sets the stage for a liberal environment. Schools encouraging activism around issues like racial justice, income inequality, and climate change show greater progressive bona fides.
For example, Columbia not only permits but provides institutional support for social justice programming on campus and in the surrounding Harlem community.
Activism and Protests
A politically engaged student body — one that regularly organizes protests, campaigns, call-ins and demonstrations — conveys a strong liberal undercurrent. Issues like sexual assault prevention, fossil fuel divestment, transgender rights, and Black inclusion frequently mobilize progressive students.
For instance, Brown students coordinate annual protests against the university‘s investments in companies that support genocide regimes. Princeton students occupied an administrative building for 32 hours in 2015 demanding better resources for marginalized groups on campus.
Diversity and Inclusion Efforts
An Ivy League school prioritizing equitable representation and support for marginalized racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic groups invariably embraces more liberal values. Robust diversity initiatives — such as hiring more faculty of color, offering gender neutral housing and bathrooms, establishing resource centers for first generation students — convey deep commitment to progressive inclusion.
For example, Cornell University actively engages with its Office of Inclusion and Workforce Diversity to pilot new approaches for hiring and retaining more diverse faculty members.
Sustainability Record
Environmental stewardship represents perhaps the most visible way Ivy League schools underscore liberal values. Investing in renewable energy sources, comprehensive recycling and composting programs, LEED-certified green buildings, and carbon neutrality goals all demonstrate progressive principles.
For instance, Yale University has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels after investing heavily in wind power and energy efficiency initiatives on campus.
Social Justice Coursework
The academic curricula centered on ethics, identity, oppression, and activism also indicate liberal leanings. Robust offerings in departments like ethnic studies, gender studies, critical theory, and inequality research convey institutional support for social justice scholarship.
For example, Brown University hosts a entire Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America funding research and teaching on systemic inequality.
Measuring the Ivy League across those facets reveals a spectrum spanning from the most progressive campuses to the most conservative comparative environments.
The Most Liberal Ivy League Schools
Two Ivy League institutions rise above the rest as the most actively progressive campuses embracing social justice issues while supporting liberal scholarship.
#1 Brown University
Brown earns the top spot as the most liberal Ivy League school based on its brazen embrace of radical scholarship and unfettered debate around equity issues.
Over 90% of Brown faculty political donations support Democratic politicians and causes, speaking to an exceptionally left-leaning campus. The university also makes direct financial contributions to organizations focused on reproductive rights, economic inequality, and criminal justice reform.
Meanwhile, Brown‘s flexible open curriculum enables more creative academic exploration of social justice issues. Offerings include 400+ courses focused on ethnicity, gender, sexuality, inequality, and critical identity studies across 29+ departments. That includes entire centers dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of race, inequality, the public humanities, and social justice research informing policy solutions to injustice.
Brown hosts outspoken liberal graduation speakers like Bernie Sanders while actively supporting on-campus social justice efforts. This includes the annual Social Justice Institute which elevates student campaigns against investment in genocide-linked companies.
The university also pursues ambitious sustainability goals, including decreasing campus-wide emissions 30% by 2020 through LEED Gold building standards and cleaner energy. Meanwhile, Brown promotes an exceptionally progressive organizational culture, as conveyed by former president Christina Paxson:
“Brown has a culture of social justice, activism, and community engagement… We encourage debate and difference, while building an inclusive environment where every person can thrive.”
With such vocal institutional support for equity-focused scholarship and programming, Brown solidifies its reputation as the most liberal Ivy.
#2 Cornell University
Cornell takes second place as the runner-up most demonstrably progressive Ivy League institution. This reputation holds true across metrics ranging from political spending to academic offerings to campus activism.
Over 75% of Cornell faculty donations support Democratic candidates and causes according to Federal Election Commission records. The university also makes direct donations to organizations focused on immigration rights, criminal justice reform, and voter access issues.
Meanwhile, Cornell hosts exceptional labor relations programming focused on income inequality, labor rights, and worker advocacy. Offerings include 150+ courses related to employment, fairness, policy reform, and human rights issues across multiple departments.
The university also upholds strong commitments around diversity and inclusion. For example, Cornell actively retained 75% of assistant professors from underrepresented groups departing between 2008-2017 through targeted professional development investments.
Student activists keep the university accountable on issues of prejudice and representation as well. In 2015, Cornell students occupied the president‘s office demanding improved campus climates for marginalized populations like students of color and low income groups. The university continues addressing those concerns through its Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate.
Environmental stewardship rounds out Cornell‘s liberal reputation. The university reduced campus emissions 20% below 2008 levels through building upgrades, fuel switching, and renewables. Cornell also pursues ambitious goals around recycling, composting, green building, and fair trade goods to protect the planet and promote sustainability.
Other Progressive Ivy League Schools
While Brown and Cornell take the lead as the most visible liberal institutions, many other Ivies demonstrate strong progressive values as well.
Columbia University
Columbia University conveys its left-leaning campus culture across dimensions ranging from its urban location to legacy of civil rights scholarship to administration rhetoric declaring "Everybody cares" on banners across campus. Over 80% of faculty donations support Democratic politicians according to FEC records.
The university also upholds exceptional curricular offerings focused on interrogating systems of identity, oppression, and injustice. Currently Columbia hosts 22 different interdisciplinary departments and programs related to ethnic, gender, sexual identity. Offerings encompass more than 450 courses tackling topics like mass incarceration, gender inequality, and critical race theory.
Meanwhile, the school‘s Office of University Life actively empowers social justice programming on campus and in the surrounding Harlem community. This underscores Columbia‘s embrace of activism and grassroots engagement with progressive change.
University of Pennsylvania
UPenn‘s civic engagement focus translates into a strong commitment to activism, grassroots empowerment, and progressive debate. The university directs resources into sustainability while enabling groups like PennDemocrats to engage students in collective action around issues like voter registration, reproductive rights, and immigration reform.
At the center of Penn‘s 21st century strategic vision lies an ambition to generate "innovative knowledge for the betterment of society." This mission permeates the academic experience through extensive community-based partnerships addressing challenges from income inequality to food access right in West Philadelphia neighborhoods.
However, as an Ivy League school integrated into the urban landscape without a contiguous campus, Penn occasionally struggles to cultivate the same visible on-campus activist culture thriving among its peer institutions. But its substantial university-wide engagement with local communities reflects a progressive ethos at the administrative level.
Yale University
Yale University has an extensive history of left-leaning protest movements paired with substantial resources empowering humanities and identity studies programs. About three-quarters of Yale faculty donations go to Democratic candidates or causes according to FEC records.
Yale offers exceptional ethnic studies, gender studies, and social science curricula interrogating inequality, identity, and marginalization. Currently 45+ research centers and programs elevate scholarship exposing issues around systemic oppression.
The university also upholds ambitious sustainability commitments, having reduced total campus carbon emissions 17% below 2005 levels already. Ongoing initiatives like the Yale Sustainable Food Program also promote economic and environmental justice through urban gardening, farmers markets, and nutrition education accessible to neighbors from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
Ultimately Yale conveys its liberal values through a "commitment to improving the world today and for future generations through outstanding research and scholarship, education, preservation, and practice." This ethos empowers students to advance social justice solutions on campus and beyond.
The Complex Diversity of Ivy League Liberalism
While Brown and Cornell edge out peers as the most progressively minded Ivy League schools overall, even institutions like Harvard and Princeton still demonstrate strong liberal DNA. All eight Ivies boast exceptional openness toward intellectual diversity and controversial ideas relative to universities nationwide.
So while an Ivy like Dartmouth might show comparatively conservative tendencies given alumni demographics and rural New Hampshire location, campus discourse still embraces multidimensional debate from all ideological standpoints. No Ivy totally eschews controversial speakers or scholarship in the name of political correctness or ideological comfort.
Ultimately every Ivy League school endorses academic freedom and exploration of complex social issues as core institutional principles. So students at any Ivy enjoy opportunities to access cutting-edge research, engage leading thinkers, and contribute to solutions tackling real-world inequality.
Finding the right fit depends on your interests, needs, and aspirations as a change maker. Consider visiting campuses, taking virtual tours, and speaking directly with current students to ask about activism, discourse, and overall campus culture. identifying the community matching your growth as a scholar and progressive leader.
With an open-minded but critical lens, you‘ll discover the Ivy League university where you feel most at home asking hard questions, speaking truth to power, and advancing justice.