A threatening note reportedly left on a black student’s car at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., was apparently a hoax intended “to draw attention to concerns about the campus climate,” according to emails from St. Olaf President David Anderson to students and faculty.
The note, which included a racial slur and an admonition to “Shut up or I will shut you up,” was reported to St. Olaf officials in late April and prompted hundreds of students to boycott classes in protest on May 1.
An investigation by the private liberal arts college found the note was the work of a student who confessed that it was not a genuine threat, Anderson said in his emails. He added that student privacy laws prohibit him from publishing the identity of the note’s author.
“We confronted a person of interest who confessed to writing the note,” Anderson wrote. “We’ve confirmed that this was not a genuine threat.”
“It was apparently a strategy to draw attention to concerns about the campus climate,” he added later.
Anderson also assured students and faculty that the college would continue to earnestly investigate other reports of racist incidents and messages on campus.
“I want to state very clearly that while this was not a genuine threat, we remain committed to the process we have begun to address the concerns about the campus climate that have been raised,” he wrote.
