I'm currently reading
The Disuniting of America by Arthur Schlesinger (an historian with impeccable liberal/progressive credentials). It was written in 1991 and in it he bemoans the political correctness that was then beginning to creep onto campuses across the country. But then he goes on to say, "The situation in our universities, I am confident, will soon right itself once the great silent majority of professors cry 'enough' and challenge what they know to be voguish blather."
If only it had worked out that way!
YEah it was starting when I was back on campus in the late 80s. It grew under Clinton, and as we know W never pushed back against it hard enough, and now here we are.