How Donald Trump’s politics help feed ‘PC police’ backlash at small Maine college

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/03/21/the-point/how-donald-trumps-politics-help-feed-pc-police-backlash-at-small-maine-college/

BRUNSWICK, Maine — Bowdoin College’s ongoing efforts to accommodate a more diverse student body continue to make the 222-year-old liberal arts college a target for national conservative media.

The latest volleys in what some label a “war on political correctness” came after the student-run newspaper, The Orient, reported that students involved in a Feb. 20 party featuring mini-sombreros and tequila had been placed on social probation, moved to different housing and banned from the college’s annual Ivies celebration and that student government would consider impeaching members who attended.

The backlash intensified after Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell offered her views in the March 3 column, “Political correctness devours yet another college, fighting over mini-sombreros.” Soon the story was picked up by conservative publications, including The National Review and the Conservative Angle, as well as by anonymous sports bloggers, one of whom criticized Latino students by name and published photos from their personal Facebook pages along with their hometowns.

Thousands of anonymous comments blasted the college administration for bowing to the “PC police,” while other comments — and personal emails and Facebook messages — directed hate-filled criticism and threats at students and faculty who objected to the party.

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