2025 College Rankings

Haverford College, like its sister schools Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore, is dominated by an activist administration. Of the schools we studied, it has the fourth-largest ratio of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) employees to students, employing more than 11 DEI staff members per 1,000 undergraduates. Eighty percent of faculty job postings require a DEI statement. The school has also aligned itself with a range of activist causes that divert focus from its core educational mission.

In recent years, Haverford has come under public scrutiny for its handling of anti-Semitic incidents. In spring 2024, a group of Jewish students sued the college for what they described as a “double standard” in its treatment of anti-Semitism. The lawsuit was dismissed in January 2025. The school has adopted institutional neutrality, but whether that policy will be meaningfully implemented remains to be seen.

On free speech, Haverford’s administration has fallen short. Just 16 percent of students say that it is “extremely” or “very” likely that the administration would defend a speaker’s right to express controversial views, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Overall, students do not believe that the administration values free expression. FIRE gives Haverford a “red” speech code rating, indicating that its policies explicitly restrict speech.

The faculty is similarly lopsided. Haverford ranks in the bottom 5 percent of the schools that we studied for ideological diversity among faculty. On a scale where 1 is “very liberal” and 7 is “very conservative,” students rate their professors at an average of 2.2. Ninety-four percent of faculty campaign contributions go to liberal or Democratic causes, and no professors belong to organizations that promote intellectual diversity or free inquiry.

Students, too, are overwhelmingly liberal—and often intolerant of opposing views. For every conservative student, there are 6.5 liberals, and liberal voices dominate campus discourse. Thirty-nine percent of students say that it is sometimes or always acceptable to shout down speakers with whom they disagree. Unsurprisingly, self-censorship is widespread: nearly half of students report censoring themselves at least once a month, whether in class, with professors, or among peers.

Haverford’s curriculum is poor. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives the college a D in its What Will They Learn? ratings, which assign letter grades based on how many of seven core subjects are required in the core curriculum or general education program. The curriculum offers little to distinguish Haverford from other middling liberal arts colleges.

Haverford underdelivers when it comes to postgraduate outcomes. It takes students an average of 2.7 years to pay back the cost of their education, longer than the overall average of 2.3 years. Median earnings ten years after initial enrollment are over $7,000 short of expectations. The college also underperforms in six-year graduation rates and barely breaks even in retention, raising serious questions about its value for prospective students.