While colleges are typically perceived as dominated by left-wing faculty, a common stereotype holds that Democrats are particularly common in the humanities fields while more ideological diversity is present in the hard sciences.

But a recent review shows that Oklahoma’s two major universities hire few Republicans in any field, including those within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains.

A new review of the partisan registration of college faculty, conducted by The College Fix, found that Democratic professors outnumber their Republican counterparts by a ratio of about four to one nationwide in math and engineering departments.

The margin was not quite as extreme at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, but Democrats still outnumbered registered Republicans on the STEM faculty at both schools by a margin of at least two to one.

At Oklahoma State University, The College Fix identified 21 STEM faculty as registered Democrats, compared to only six Republicans, meaning the margin at that school favored Democrats by more than three to one. The remaining faculty members were either registered as independents or registration information could not be obtained.

At the University of Oklahoma, The College Fix found there were 33 Democrats hired as STEM faculty compared to 12 Republicans.

In a separate 2024 analysis, The College Fix found that Republican professors within humanities departments are also few and far between at Oklahoma State University.

Of 222 OSU professors, officials with the Fix were able to identify the political affiliations of 128. Only nine were registered Republicans.

Among nine OSU humanities departments researched, the Fix could not identify a single Republican professor within four: economics, geography, political science, and sociology.

A review of registration data for the University of Oklahoma’s humanities department reached similar results.

The Fix identified the affiliations of 134 of 209 OU professors across 13 humanities departments. Only nine were registered Republicans. Six of 13 humanities departments at OU had no Republican professors on staff, including the anthropology, English, psychology, philosophy, religion, and African American Studies departments.

[To read more stories about higher education in Oklahoma, visit AimHigherOK.com.]