Blogger Fired who Called Black Studies Programs a "Claptrap"

Naomi Schaefer Riley dismissed for controversial piece.

An education blogger has been fired after she was critical of black studies programs in colleges and universities, according to the Huffington Post.

Blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley of The Chronicle of Higher Education came under fire after she questioned the legitimacy of the programs calling them "left-wing victimization claptraps."

Riley, who wrote for the Chronicle's blog, Brainstorm, pushed back on an essay she published titled "The Most Persuasive Case For Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read The Dissertations."

She responded to a sidebar of a story that profiled several up-and-coming black studies scholars in the process of writing dissertations. The dissertations focused on race discrimination in housing and black midwifery in the United States.

Nearly 7,000 people called for her dismissal from the blog in a petition. Yesterday, Liz McMillen, the site's editor, apologized for the post.

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"When we published Naomi Schaefer Riley’s blog posting on Brainstorm last week … several thousand of you spoke out in outrage and disappointment that The Chronicle had published an article that did not conform to the journalistic standards and civil tone that you expect from us," McMillen wrote. "We now agree that Ms. Riley’s blog posting did not meet The Chronicle’s basic editorial standards for reporting and fairness in opinion articles. As a result, we have asked Ms. Riley to leave the Brainstorm blog."