St. Olaf College Administration Says Racist Note was Fabricated

On my way back to Faribault from Kenyon on Wednesday I received a phone call from a former St. Olaf football player informing me the president of St. Olaf told the campus community a racist note left on an African-American student's vehicle was fabricated.

Indeed, President David R. Anderson wrote in an email that the note found April 29 by a female student was, "apparently a strategy to draw attention to concerns about the campus climate."

Students had reported the woman found the typed note on her vehicle, which said in part, "Shut up or I will shut you up."

The note appeared to be the culmination of other racist happenings on the campus, according to students who staged a sit-in that continued through Sunday, April 30.

The St. Olaf College president attended a late-night event that weekend to listen to student concerns and the next day students went to the administration building with a list of demands for the administration.

The protesters reached an agreement with Anderson.

The St. Olaf College president made it clear in his Wednesday email that concerns brought up by students were real and needed to be addressed.

"Despite this fact," (the racist note being fabricated) he said, "those concerns are real and, as I said earlier, we are committed to the process we have begun to address them. We also continue earnestly to investigate all of the other racist and hateful messages that have been reported."

The author of the note confessed to its fabrication and Anderson says, "Federal student privacy laws prohibit the College from disclosing the identity of the author of that note and from disclosing the actions taken by the College now that we know the author's identity."