"Ethnic studies — a relatively new field — could be harmed by the plagiarized passages..."
Harmed? Did anyone really think that most of these classes were anything more than a sop to special interests to begin with?
I went to school with hundreds of people who believed this field-style of studies (womens, black etc..) to be every bit as scientifically correct as Chemistry and Calculus.
In the 1980's a young son of some friends was in a California University enrolled in a a hard science/business major.
The PC Professors forced the university to mandate a few PC courses for each potential graduate. This insured them of jobs and eventually tenure like with Ward Churchill, Faux Cherokee and Professor.
This young man was forced to take one of these courses and he took something like great Hispanic Literature in America.
On the midterm PC professor asked the students to name at least one great Hispanic Writing and to expand on it. The young man said that he hadn't been in LA or San Francisco to read the gang graffite on buildings and signs for years. So he couldn't really answer the question.
All hell broke loose when the PC A$$hole Professor went ballistic and demanded the young man be expelled unless he apologized. A compromise was reached after the dad and his brothers who were grads of this university, and a conservative lawyer gave the deans some options they couldn't refuse. The lad got D and didn't have to come to any more of the brainwashing from the PC Professor. The D became a badge of honor with his A's and a few B's in future job interviews.
Ethnic Studies belongs on the same ash heap with "hate crime" legislation. Both are modern day re-writes of history.