MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Program has once again found itself at the bleeding edge of American educational innovation. In April, KSJ director Usha Lee McFarling announced the 2026-27 HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship class representing the full spectrum of American diversity.

Take a gander at that “full spectrum.”

You can imagine MIT’s General Counsel Mark DiVincenzo dealing with this when McFarling first proposed recruiting the entire class strictly from HBCUs.

“What the hell is the matter with you, McFarling! Do you have any idea how hard we are working to dodge Title VI investigations? You want us to end up under the gun like Harvard and UCLA Medical School?”

“But science journalism can’t fulfill its mission to Build a Better World™ without journalists who have the right identity and lived experience.”

“Yeah, swell. Just make sure you include one white boy in that class so we have some plausible deniability when we’re charged with racial discrimination.”

“Where am I gonna find a white boy at an HBCU?”

“You’ll figure it out. And check to make sure there’s no commie drivel in his social media posts. The last thing I need is the Babbling Beaver on my ass.”

She figured it out. So there he is — shorn of his Charles Manson hair and Ted Kaczynski scowl — doing his patriotic duty to keep MIT’s federal funding intact. But don’t worry. He’s declared Noam Chomsky his intellectual hero, so his heart is in the right place even though his skin color indelibly marks him as a colonialist oppressor.

KSJ can now proudly add another crop of innumerate humanities majors to the pipeline feeding this dying profession, not one of whom is pursuing a science degree.

Story suggested by Advocatus