Lacking Critical Scrutiny and Oversight

That's the problem with academic programs in Black Studies, Jane Shaw observes in today's Pope Center Clarion Call. The scandal that has erupted at the University of North Carolina, where it appears that students were getting credit for work they didn't do, and the furor over the firing of Naomi Schaefer Riley for having said that dissertations by doctoral candidates at Northwestern were hardly works of scholarly research has finally caused people to examine these programs. Until now, they have had little or no critical scrutiny and oversight. Perhaps that will change, but administrators who do so may fear that they'll be attacked just as NSR was.