Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published on the College Fix on April 24, 2025. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission.
For at least the 11th year in a row, the federally funded Truman Scholarships overwhelmingly went to left-leaning students, a College Fix analysis found.
Among this year’s winners, announced late last week, are an “abortion doula” and an “abolition feminist,” the Fix found. Multiple winners use “they/them” or other nonstandard pronouns.
The $30,000 scholarship is awarded to around 50 students annually, selected from a pool of more than 800 applicants. Awardees promise to spend three of their first seven years after finishing graduate school in public service.
Approximately 43 of the 54 students have worked for Democratic politicians, advocated for progressive causes, or identified as left-leaning, continuing the long-time trend exposed in previous College Fix articles.
In contrast, only three scholars have worked for Republican politicians, advocated for conservative causes, or could otherwise be identified as right-leaning. Some, such as service academy winners, did not have clear political ideologies.
The Fix determined this information based on provided biographies, LinkedIn profiles, and the other social media accounts of winners.
Democratic or left-leaning politicians for whom scholarship winners have worked or interned for include Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Sen. Adam Schiff, former Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, as well as former President Joe Biden.
Awardees have also been involved with various left-leaning organizations, including College Democrats, Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity, Palestine Solidarity Committee, and Planned Parenthood Generation Action.
In contrast, three of this year’s recipients have worked for conservative politicians or organizations. One recipient previously interned at the Heritage Foundation, another interned for Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, and the third student is involved in the Utah Republican Party.
The ideologies of the remaining eight students could not be definitively determined based on public information. Issues considered politically neutral by the Fix include veterans’ affairs, aviation policy, national security, and public health.
One reward recipient, Rutgers University student Omar Abuattieh, advocated for voting third-party because of frustration over the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, he is listed on the Holmdel Republican Party County Committee. Abuattieh did not respond to a College Fix email requesting clarification on his political views.
Truman Scholarship winner Harshman Sihra is an “abortion doula.”
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The director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute told the Fix “the data suggests a pretty pervasive leftward bias in the Truman selection process and said he has heard “a lot of anecdotes consistent with that.”
Frederick Hess authored his own report on ideological bias in the Truman Scholarship program last year.
Following the report, a former Truman board member told him “Republicans would make up less than 10% of the Scholars in a given year . . . In a class of 60, I would estimate 3-5 of them have overt Republican ties or signals.” These results comport with the Fix’s findings.
Hess said conservative students feel disadvantaged in the application process: “Right-leaning students and the handful of conservative faculty have concluded that the deck is stacked and are loath to waste their time.”
“The program announcements and information sessions send clear signals as to what kind of work is welcome, and it has a clear ideological bias,” Hess said.
The education expert also said universities shape the ideological pipeline for the Truman Scholarship, as they “nominate and mentor the bulk of the student applicants.”
“Truman and these institutions could choose to cast a wider net. Thus far, they have not,” he said.
Hess argued there needs to be reforms, such as working “to invite and encourage students from other campuses, disciplines, and intellectual traditions.”
Neither Terry Babcock-Lumish, executive secretary of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, nor Tara Yglesias, deputy executive secretary, responded to questions from the Fix about whether there have been efforts to reduce the ideological disparities, if the selection process purposely disfavors conservative students, or if there is a perception among conservative applicants that they are at a disadvantage.
The Fix sent an email on Monday and left voicemails on Monday and Tuesday requesting comment. The Truman Foundation posted the results in the middle of the day last Friday, Good Friday, and then staff were apparently out of the office the following Monday.
Babcock-Lumish has previously disagreed with claims of political bias in the Truman program.
“The Truman Foundation’s selection process is based solely on applicants’ demonstrated commitment to public service, leadership potential, and academic excellence,” the former Clinton White House staffer and consultant to the Gates Foundation told the Fix last year.
The College Fix also contacted the office of Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg, the chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, via phone and email on Tuesday about the selection process and congressional oversight. The Fix has not yet received a response.
Truman Scholarships have been disproportionately awarded to liberal students since at least 2015, as reported in previous College Fix analyses.
Last year, the Fix found only five scholarship winners publicly identified as conservative, while 43 recipients had clear ties to progressive causes.
In 2018 and 2021, zero openly right-wing students received a Truman Scholarship.
Current board members of the Truman Scholarship Foundation include Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, and San Diego Democratic Mayor Todd Gloria.
Image: Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation on Wikipedia
” Awardees promise to spend three of their first seven years after finishing graduate school in public service.”
What if “public service”, which leans left, doesn’t hire them?