The vast majority of American students selected to the most prestigious post-graduate scholarship programs in the world pursue left-leaning, progressive courses of study, a recent report found.
In the past five years, only one of 157 American Rhodes Scholars expressed an interest in conservative issues. And for the Truman Scholarship, just six of 182 U.S. recipients did so, according to a report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) published on May 6.
Even the seven scholars who did express interest in conservative issues “aren’t especially conservative” based on the “the nature of their interest,” according to the report, authored by AEI Senior Fellow Frederick Hess.
The report “Do the Rhodes and Truman Scholarships Have Any Room for the Right?” is based on published biographies of recipients from both programs in recent years.
The Rhodes Trust, based at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and privately funded, dates back to 1902. Over time, it expanded into an international program that invited top college graduates from around the world to apply for an Oxford scholarship. Past recipients include former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, and retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Thirty-two candidates from the United States will be selected for the fall of 2025, according to the organization’s website.
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, a U.S. organization funded by tax dollars, began its awards in 1977. According to its website, 60 of 709 applicants were selected this year. The scholarship covers the costs of their chosen graduate school and provides them with internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government.
Past recipients include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, former Arizona Governor and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of Education John King, Fair Fight Founder Stacey Abrams, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), and Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), and former Reps. Tom Malinowski and Ted Deutch.
Both scholarship programs note that candidates should reflect a variety of backgrounds, interests, values, and views, but instead, participants display “a stark ideological tile,” the AEI report said. Among recipients, interest in prominent progressive issues outnumbered that in conservative ones by a ratio of 20 to 1, with 98 scholars choosing “immigrant rights,” “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), and “racial justice,” compared to just four that chose “religious freedom” or “pro-life advocacy.”
The report cited a Harvard University publication that spotlighted 10 Rhodes Scholars selected from that institution for 2024: One will explore how U.S. involvement in the Philippines relates to “settler colonialism on the North American continent,” and another student, who cited his interest in Marxist and Islamic thought, will explore the topic “how progressive political messaging can intersect with local and religious epistemologies.”
“Not one winner espoused even fleeting interest in an issue typically regarded as right-leaning,” the report said.
In addition, the report noted, 58 American Rhodes scholars from the past five years and 56 Truman scholars from the past three years were among the 2,000 signatories from elite graduate scholarship programs who issued a letter to President Joe Biden accusing Israel of genocide and asking the administration to deny the Israeli government support.
“This group represents a third of the nation’s Truman and Rhodes scholars from that period. No such statement in defense of Israel was issued,” the report said. “Given this context, it’s worth looking at how effectively these prestigious programs are cultivating future leaders with a diverse range of interests, views, and values.”
The Rhodes Alliance report, which is also based on publicized biographies, photos, news releases, and social media posts from the recipients themselves, accuses the Rhodes Trust of discriminating on the basis of gender and race. It said the number of white men selected for scholarships has drastically declined in the past decade, and more than 60 percent of the participants in the classes of 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2024 were women. For the 2024 class of 32 recipients, the breakdown is 20 women and 12 men. Nineteen of the scholarship recipients are racial minorities, and “five or six” are categorized as white men.
Rhodes Alliance also analyzed recipient biographies to summarize recipients’ courses of study or future aspirations. Keywords noted in the report include “identity politics,” “gender,” “forced migration,” “social justice,” “censorship,” “reparations,” “progressive,” “foreign policy,” and “defense.”
Rhodes Alliance President Dan Lubrich said the Rhodes Scholarship program, though still regarded as globally elite, has strayed far from the vision of its founder, Cecil Rhodes, as DEI and partisan political views have become “an unofficial selection criteria.”
“As objectivity, merit, and excellence are being abandoned,” the scholarship is being diminished step by step,“ Mr. Lubrich told The Epoch Times on Friday. ”Similar problems are occurring in academia—DEI, censorship, woke partisanship, administrative bloat. These problems can only be tackled via fundamental reform and a return to the way in which education was run—administratively—decades ago, when it was orders of magnitude cheaper and better.”
The Rhodes Trust website maintains selections are made “without regard to gender, gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, ‘colour,’ religion, social background, caste, or disability.”
“We are looking for young people of outstanding intellect, character, leadership, and commitment to service,” it says.
Rhodes Trust’s 2021 Rhodes Scholar Magazine spotlights the organization’s Legacy, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan that strives to “widen and diversify the distribution of Rhodes scholarships” and “achieve parity in the scholar experience.”
“We cannot reconcile or heal if we do not acknowledge and see. In that spirit, we acknowledge that racism and other forms of exclusion have played a significant role in the history of the Rhodes Trust,” the magazine spotlight reads. “While we have moved beyond our past in important ways, much more is required. Our mission and complicated legacy play a proactive role in this work.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the Rhodes Trust.
