They do.
They are a ticket to high-paying non-job jobs, like employment consulting, sensitivity consulting, curriculum design, corporate community relations etc.
There are probably 25,000+ jobs in the DC area that pay people $150K+ per year to do almost nothing.
If you are sued by the EEOC over perceived discrimination by a protected class, you can point to your employees or outside consultants who have one of these degrees to highlight how progressive and compliant you are.
It is insurance against rent-seeking.
That would be interesting to find out, but apart from a few people gaining high-paying gov. jobs off their worthless degree, I’m betting a very large majority of grads with those degrees can’t use them. I mean can anyone believe any student who would choose those areas over legitimate studies would be a good worker? If I’m an non-governmental employer, and I see some prospective hiree has a degree in any of those “studies,” they’ll get shown the door quickly. How many high school valedictorians choose the victitude degrees? I’m betting close to zero.
“...a ticket to high-paying non-job jobs...”
And almost every major university has a bureaucracy for minority outreach, inclusiveness, etc.
A typical look at the employment section of a university will show openings for something like “Deputy Assistant to the Dean for Diversity and Student Issues”.
‘Rent seeking.’ You must have gone to George Mason University (Public Choice Center, Econ program).
;)