I wrote Monday about an uproar at Texas A&M surrounding a "ghetto party" that was scheduled in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Students were to come dressed as a black stereotype; in the past, some have worn blackface as part of their costumes. Though the party is an annual event, though it was to be held off campus, though it was cancelled when student organizers were confronted by outraged administrators, and though those same student organizers have apologized for the insensitivity of the projected party and publicly affirmed their commitment to tolerance and inclusion, A&M admins are nonetheless "investigating" further, announcing plans to send the culprits to sensitivity training and darkly hinting at the possibility of disciplinary sanctions for guilty students.

An editorial in Texas A&M's student daily, The Battalion, rejects the hotheaded illiberalism of the administration's handling of the matter, and singles out A&M English professor Marco Portales for particular condemnation. Portales said that the students involved in the ghetto party should be expelled, and added that "maligning" others is not a constitutionally protected activity (I had much to say about that in Monday's post, and Eugene Volokh has since commented as well). Here's the student paper on Portales' comments:

Statements like these give rise to fears that recent diversity initiatives are little more than political correctness run amuck [sic]. Those who, in the name of diversity, would punish views they deem unacceptable, do more to create an atmosphere of intolerance on campus than the organizers of the "ghetto Party." Forced adherence to a dogmatic multiculturalism will stifle free debate and breed division and rancor. Diversity must be a positive force for change - an appeal to reason and conscience, and should not degenerate into a purge of unorthodox or even distasteful opinions.