ANOTHER ACADEMIC DISGRACE – AT 9:13 A.M. ET:   Yesterday we had the story, sent to us by reader Joseph J. Gallick, about a conservative blogger fired by the Chronicle of Higher Education for daring to question black studies.  Nothing like a little academic freedom at the Chronicle. 

Today another story of academic corruption crosses our desk, as reported by Paul Mirengoff at Power Line:

An internal investigation at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has uncovered academic fraud involving the department of African and Afro-American Studies. The fraud extends to more than 50 different classes. It ranges from no-show professors to unauthorized grade changes for students.

According to the findings of the investigation, the department of African and Afro-American Studies offered 616 classes from the Summer of 2007 through the Summer of 2009. This fact alone raises questions for me. How serious could this many courses, offered by one backwater department, be?

In any event, the investigation found that in 9 of the 616 courses, there was no evidence that the faculty member listed as instructor of record, or any other faculty member, supervised the course or graded the work. Students apparently submitted work and received grades, but the grades were submitted to the Office of the Registrar with faculty signatures that appear to be forged.

In 43 additional courses, an instructor provided an assignment and evidently graded the resultant paper. However, the instructor engaged in limited or no classroom or other instructional contact with students.

Most of the suspect classes were “taught” by Julius Nyang’oro, who started the department and chaired it until last year. In fact, he was listed as the instructor of record, or his name was listed on the grade rolls, for each of the 43 courses where an instructor provided assignments and grades but performed essentially no teaching. Again, for one professor to have responsibility for 43 courses in two-year span seems farcical on its face.

COMMENT:  From what I've seen, this is the tip of the iceberg.  It is another example of the systematic cheating of black students by their "leaders" and "teachers." 

We've watched in dismay as much of the civil rights movement has turned into a business, an industry, largely devoted to the advancement and care of an elite.  We in New York watched in shock in the 1960s as the great City College of New York, sometimes called "the poor man's Harvard," was essentially destroyed by black demands for open admissions.  A school known for its standards and tough admissions system became an academic farce.  African-American youngsters were graduating from "City" without knowing how to read or write on even a high-school level. 

Who benefited from that?  Certainly not the black kids.  But many of them, not coming from academic backgrounds, did not understand the way they were being used, as bodies and numbers for the benefit of the "leadership."   They were grateful to that "leadership," and kept those leaders in power.  That's the way the game works.

There are plenty of other cases of academic fraud, such as Middle East Studies departments that are financed by Arab governments, without full disclosure by their universities.  Such as whole departments of history or political science, where every "scholar" must have the same point of view.

Academic fraud and corruption are worthy of major investigations by the mainstream media.  It will never happen.  Too many journalists have big investments in their degrees and don't want the value of those degrees eroded by serious questions.  It's part of the hold that colleges have over their alumni, and over society generally.  And it's hurting our society.

May 10, 2012