Ideological Compulsion at the UNC School of Journalism. As predicted, the school has rolled out an egregious DEI plan.

There are times when “I told you so” is unpleasant to say. This is one of those occasions.

In May, the Martin Center reported on the appointment of a new dean, Raul Reis, at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism. Based on Reis’s previous work and his professed dedication to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), the Martin Center warned that this new hire might seek to remake the school in the image of DEI. That prediction, unfortunately, appears to have come true.

On July 1, Reis began his duties as dean—and he’s been busy. Under his leadership, the journalism school released a “Plan of Action on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).”

The plan is far-reaching and aspires to entrench DEI at every level of the school, from student and faculty behavior to the curriculum and community. The overarching goal is to “widen and deepen” the school’s commitment to DEI. Unsurprisingly, it shares many similarities with the plan Reis oversaw during his tenure at Emerson University.

Like Emerson’s, the UNC School of Journalism’s DEI plan is organized into four sections: 1) Students, 2) Faculty and Staff, 3) Belonging and community, and 4) Curriculum. In the curriculum section, the school lists its strategies to “build a more inclusive, equitable and diverse curriculum by developing and making available resources that empower faculty to change their classes” and “help faculty build more inclusive, welcoming, and equitable classrooms.” Some of these strategies include:

“Explor[ing] the possibility of a diversity requirement in the undergraduate curriculum—defin[ing] learning goals for the requirement, open[ing] a process for faculty to revise their classes and submit them to meet this requirement”; “Launch[ing] [a] basic course on cultural competency in the media professions”. The report states that reviewing “foundational courses to embed a DEI perspective” is an “ongoing” strategy.

How UNC maintained its accreditation is a monument to the corruptness of the entire educational establishment. It was found to have offered dozens of fake courses to its basketball players. To be clear: THESE COURSES NEVER EXISTED!!! This isn’t like a professor giving As to students who never attended. This is fraud perpetrated against the U.S. Department of Education, scholarship funds, banks, etc., and perpetrated not just by coaches and maybe a professor or two but by deans, department chairs, etc. over 18 years. TWO HUNDRED different courses were completely fake.

According to Inside Higher Education, “After a three-and-half-year investigation, and despite the institution even agreeing that it had engaged in academic fraud, the NCAA said it couldn’t definitively conclude that the “paper courses” in the department of African and Afro-American studies had been designed and offered as an effort to benefit athletes alone. Thus, according to the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, which adjudicates allegations of wrongdoing, the courses did not violate the group’s rules.” So you see, the fraud was alloweable since it may have incidentally helped other students.

Now, the NCAA is acting reprehensible in dodging its responsibilities here, but suppose this is perfectly legal in college sports... is there no other body that the school is accountable to? The academic accreditors? The legislature? The Department of Education? Employers who accepted these graduates? Where are the hundreds of firings?

Just consider that one of the nation’s top public schools let hundreds of students graduate from an African American Studies program without taking a single real course... and there are no employers who feel taken advantage of; no graduate schools to complain of unqualified applicants.

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