Racist Letter at St. Olaf Was a Hoax, College President Admits

ashley.rae | May 11, 2017
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After student protests in response to a racist letter found on campus caused classes to be cancelled at St. Olaf College, the college president revealed the letter was actually a hoax meant to “draw attention to concerns about the campus climate.”

Fox 9 reports that on Saturday, April 29, St. Olaf student Samantha Wells reported receiving a letter addressed to her, stating, “I am so glad that you are leaving soon. One less n****r that this school has to deal with. You have spoken up too much. You will change nothing. Shut up or I will shut you up.”

Despite the nature of the letter, emails obtained by the College Fix assert Wells did not want the case investigated. 

Wells allegedly told a member of the email chain, “she doesn’t want people tongo [sic] through computers to find the person who wrote the note to her. She does, however, want everything possible to be done for the others.”

Wells added to the email conversation, “I would like to echo Krysta and say that I do not want my case to be investigated. Not because I do not want to let this person go but because I am very stressed and I think that efforts could be utilized elsewhere. That said, I do want them to investigate both previous and possible later cases.”

The following day, students at St. Olaf began protesting against alleged racism on campus.

Rosalyn Eaton, the dean of students, said of the protesting students at the time, “They (students) have reason to be concerned and frightened. This violates all of our values as a community. Racism is alive and well in the United States and it is alive and well at St. Olaf.”

The protests carried through to Monday, when classes were canceled for students to air their grievances about racism. When given a list of demand by students, the school administration’s President’s Leadership Team said they would be acknowledging the demands and accepting them.

It turns out, however, the protests and cries of racism were all based on a lie.

Fox 9 reports St. Olaf College president David Anderson sent an email to students saying the person of interest in the case confessed to writing the note and that there was “no ongoing threat from this incident to individuals or the community as a whole.” At the same time, however, “We continue to investigate the other racist incidents, which we are taking very seriously.”

In a second follow-up email, Anderson clarified the note was fabricated and part of a hoax to “draw attention to concerns about the campus climate.” Despite the hoax, Anderson reassured students that despite the hoax, “those concerns are real”:

Unfortunately, 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.

But I can tell you this. The reason I said in my earlier note that this was not a genuine threat is that we learned from the author's confession that the note was fabricated. It was apparently a strategy to draw attention to concerns about the campus climate.

The other racist incidents Anderson is referring to relate to other, similar notes found on campus.

According to CBS Minnesota, it was originally believed six of the seven racist letters on campus appear to have been written by the same one or two people.

In a report on the incident after the discovery that the note was fabricated, CBS Minnesota added, “It is not clear if all seven notes were composed by the same culprit.”

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