'Shut up,' they explained (writer gets fired after criticizing black studies dissertations)

American Thinker ^ | 05/09/2012 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

The trade paper of the academic industry just fired a writer who dared express skepticism about the academic worth of a number of doctoral dissertations in the field of black studies. Liz McMillan, editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote a "Note to readers" explaining why Naomi Schaefer Riley's blog posting on Brainstorm last week ("The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations" merited her dismissal and an abject apology from the editorial honcho.

Reactions are mostly predictable, from both leftists and conservatives.

Riley is, of course, being widely termed a racist. She summarized  her critics in a second post, her last before she was fired from the CoHE blog titled "Brainstorm":

The comments regarding my post seem to boil down to the following:

I am picking on people because they are black (and I am a racist).
I am picking on people even though I don't have a Ph.D.
I am picking on people who are too young and inexperienced to defend themselves.
I am picking on people even though I haven't read their entire dissertations.

Let me take the first two criticisms first. My qualifications to post on this blog consist of the fact that I have been a journalist writing about higher education for close to 15 years now. My work has been published in every major newspaper in the country and I have written two books on the subject as well. The editors at those papers and those publishers and at The Chronicle have all been aware that I hold no advanced degree. Black studies is now an academic discipline at most universities, which means I get to comment on that too.

[Fightin Whitey]

Yeah. And I don’t mean to slur the university system either.

I was a kid from the sticks and it really did open my eyes to what was out there to be learned, even if I didn’t really get around to learning it then (I’m still at it now, for that matter).

But I have family members and lots of friends who work in a university systems. Now especially so much of the time and money (which is in short supply) seem misdirected, in facilities, paperwork, bureaucracy, mountains of regulations, etc. etc., like everything else involving the government.

I bet I could spend five years reading and discussing books with Jim Noble (and not even touch the medical stuff, which fascinates me) and learn something significant every day. Whether it would benefit him at all is another question—lol.

[PapaBear3625]

Grievance studies leads to two carrer paths. Job with the fed gov or Job that requires the phrase, “you want fries with that?”

Graduates of such majors also infest corporate HR depts, become Affirmative Action compliance officers, etc, etc.

[ladyjane]

Looks like you’re right!!

[JustSayNoToNannies]

Took editor Liz McMillen only four days to be browbeaten out of her initial pro-speech stance:

Editor’s Note:

When we created the Brainstorm blog five years ago, we hoped it would be a forum for debate — where views about higher education, academic culture, and ideas could be aired and discussed and often challenged. It is a blog for opinion, sometimes strong opinions, not news reporting by the staff. The writers on the blog—13 in all, from institutions around the country—fall on different points of the ideological and political spectrum. They are not staff members of The Chronicle nor do they represent the views of the staff or of the newspaper.

Many of you have asked The Chronicle to take down Naomi Schaefer Riley’s recent posting, “The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations.” I urge readers instead to view this posting as an opportunity—to debate Riley’s views, challenge her, set things straight as you see fit. Take a moment to read The Chronicle’s front-page story about the future of black studies, written by Chronicle reporter Stacey Patton and weigh in.

Please join the debate.

Liz McMillen

http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/editors-note/46423