Nurse, May I Have My Painkiller? Nurse?

I hadn't looked at Stop Me Before I Vote Again in a few months, but I was feeling masochistic today so I clicked and browsed, and hit pay dirt. Fovver Smiff let loose a rather Hitchensian fart of exceptional stankiness (recycled from an earlier comments thread, yet! not that I'm casting asparagus, I've done it myself) on the subject of "studies" departments in our institutions of higher learning