In 2025, Yale University did not witness a single professor contribute financially to a Republican candidate, highlighting ongoing discussions about ideological diversity within Ivy League institutions.

Although 2025 was not a major election year, the Yale Daily News conducted an analysis of Federal Election Commission records. Their research covered over 7,000 donations made by nearly 1,100 Yale staff members.

The findings revealed that a staggering 97.6 percent of contributions from those identifying as professors were directed toward Democratic candidates, while the remaining 2.4 percent were given to independents.

The few elections held in 2025 occurred in traditionally liberal areas such as New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, where Democratic candidates were prominent. Even independent contenders, like Andrew Cuomo in New York City, had Democratic ties.

Seventeen Yale employees did donate to Republicans, but none of these donors listed their occupation as professor in the campaign finance filings.

Despite this trend among current faculty, Yale boasts a number of notable conservative alumni, including former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton.

Vice President JD Vance met his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, at Yale Law School. 

A study from the conservative-leaning Buckley Institute found that 27 of the 43 undergraduate departments at Yale have no Republican professors and that 83 percent of faculty are Democrats.   

Yale University did not have a single professor donate to a Republican candidate in 2025 as ideological diversity on Ivy League campuses remains under scrutiny

While 2025 was an off-year for elections, the Yale Daily News studied Federal Election Commission filings for the year, looking into over 7,000 contributions from nearly 1,100 school employees

Jonathan Turley, a legal analyst, wrote that the figures prove that conservatives are unwelcome on elite campuses.

‘Even if the study missed a couple of donations, the radical imbalance is a reflection of the lack of diversity at the school,’ he wrote.

He called Yale ‘a perfect echo chamber where moderate, libertarian, and conservative students (if they can make it into the school) are left to self-censor and avoid backlash for their views.’

History professor Mark Peterson told Fox News that these numbers reflect a liberal student body supporting liberal causes.  

‘Would it be surprising if labor unions overwhelmingly favored the party that supports them against their union-busting opponents? If environmentalists support the party that promotes environmental protection against a party that attacks it?’ 

Peterson went on to blame conservatives for ‘attacking’ universities dating back decades.

‘For my entire lifetime, GOP politicians have been openly attacking intellectuals and higher education, and trying to defund it and limit its freedom of inquiry,’ he claimed. 

The school refused to admit any intellectual diversity problems in a statement back in December.  

Yale University President Maurie McInnis

Vice President JD Vance met his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, at Yale Law School 

‘Yale hires and retains faculty based on academic excellence, scholarly distinction, and teaching achievement, independent of political views. The university also considers faculty members’ ability to mentor the next generation of scholars and leaders,’ the school wrote. 

‘The university’s emphasis on faculty mentorship and educational rigor has helped produce scholars and leaders who have made positive contributions across the country and in all sectors of society.’ 

The Connecticut school played its own part in the anti-Israel movement on Ivy League campuses in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on a music festival in Israel that killed 1,200 people.

The Yale Daily News itself faced backlash for censoring pro-Israel columnist Sahar Tartak by removing references to Hamas terrorists beheading men and raping women. 

Yale did appear to benefit from the greater accusations of antisemitism at Harvard in the wake of the attack.

The university applications went up by 10 percent in 2024 as Harvard’s fell five percent.