I was secretary to one of those programs for over 20 years. Some courses were okay, some were not. Kids took them to get a good mark without having to do a whole lot of work.
The reason that a lot of the kids take the ethnic studies classes is because they can’t get good enough grades in regular classes to get into grad schools. So, the counselors push them into the ethnic studies classes and keep their fingers crosses that they can at least get a decent grade on the entrance exams. Entrance to grad schools for ethnic studies majors is not really based on grades and test scores anyway. It is now based on their essay, which much show how they overcame some hardship.