2025 College Rankings

While Washington University in St. Louis has bowed to many of the trends that have undermined higher education nationwide, its leadership has lately signaled the desire for a course correction.

With Vanderbilt’s Daniel Diermeier, WashU chancellor Andrew Martin developed an admirable and widely publicized set of principles to guide university reform. If WashU seriously applies those principles in the years ahead, it could become a case study in reform.

Until recently, including under Martin’s leadership, the university’s record on administrative activism had been decidedly mixed. The university filed an amicus brief in the Students for Fair Admissions Supreme Court case in support of affirmative action. The move was an unnecessary public intervention that revealed the school’s preference for diversity over merit in admissions. WashU also maintains a sizable Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy, with more than six employees per 1,000 undergraduates. Notably, however, no faculty job postings currently require a diversity statement.

WashU has a lackluster record on free speech. Only 27 percent of students told the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) that it is “extremely” or “very” clear that the administration values it. The university maintains a bias-response system, designed to police speech that some may find offensive. FIRE gives WashU a “yellow” speech code rating, indicating that its policies could easily be abused to suppress expression. However, the school has at least endorsed the Chicago Principles, which affirm the importance of protecting free expression on campus.

Faculty members at WashU are ideologically imbalanced. Students, when asked to place their professors on an ideological scale—where 1 is “very liberal” and 7 is “very conservative,” rated them at 2.7, on average. In the 2023–24 election cycle, nearly 98 percent of faculty campaign donations went to liberal or Democratic causes. That said, more than 1 percent of faculty belong to Heterodox Academy, a relatively large share, by our metrics, suggesting at least some institutional support for free inquiry on campus.

Students at WashU are not diverse in their views. For every conservative student, there are about 3.7 liberals—though the number of conservative and liberal student organizations is evenly matched. Students tend to be fairly tolerant of opposing perspectives. Unfortunately, 38 percent tell FIRE that it is “sometimes” or “always” acceptable to shout down an unpopular campus speaker. That said, there has not been a single de-platforming attempt at WashU in the past five years. Even with this relative tolerance, self-censorship remains a serious issue: 57 percent of students report doing so at least once a month.

The curriculum at WashU leaves much to be desired. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives the school 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. While students must complete DEI-focused courses to graduate, they are not required to take classes in history or government. A recently announced program in Ordered Liberty may enhance opportunities for students to learn from experts in classical liberal ideas and institutions.

WashU tends to serve its graduates well economically. On average, it takes just 1.9 years to pay back the cost of a degree—slightly better than our benchmark of 2.3 years. Median annual earnings ten years after enrollment underperform expectations by over $850, based on data from SAT scores and Pell Grant recipients.