A report released by the conservative organization Young America's Foundation (YAF) highlights a range of unconventional courses being offered at prestigious U.S. universities. The "Comedy & Tragedy Report" for the 2026-27 academic year, obtained by Fox News Digital, details offerings that include studies on pop culture figures, political ideologies, and identity politics.
At Columbia University, students can enroll in "Religion and Nasty Women," which explores women's empowerment through various religious traditions, and "Marxism and Cultural Theory," examining Marxism's relation to global capitalism and social justice discourses without a deep dive into Karl Marx's writings. Princeton University offers "Thinking with Bad Bunny: the Cultural Politics of Race, Language, and Empire," analyzing the Puerto Rican artist's music, activism, and gender non-conforming performances. Yale University features a similar course, "Bad Bunny: Musical Aesthetics and Politics," connecting his work to Puerto Rico's history and colonial past.
Other notable courses include the University of Pennsylvania's "Decolonizing French Food," which investigates how colonialism has shaped French culinary traditions, and Stanford University's "Gender in the Wild," exploring gender's influence on perceptions of wilderness and heroism through feminist and Indigenous perspectives.
Swarthmore College's curriculum includes "Queering God: Feminist and Queer Theology," which examines feminist and queer interpretations of divinity, and "The Fat Renaissance," studying historical depictions of body size and their connection to modern attitudes about body regulation.
YAF President Gov. Scott Walker stated that these courses demonstrate higher education being "hijacked by progressive ideology," transforming institutions into "indoctrination" centers. The organization argues these offerings reflect a lack of ideological diversity on campuses and advocates for restoring "intellectual freedom and academic excellence."
The report, compiled from course catalogs of Ivy League, Big Ten, SEC, and PAC-12 schools, as well as top liberal arts colleges, aims to showcase what YAF describes as ideological agendas taking root on campus. YAF has published this report annually since 1995. The cost of these courses at institutions like Princeton and Penn is estimated to be over $5,600 per three-credit course, based on U.S. Department of Education tuition data.