Racist Notes at St. Olaf College Lead to Mandatory Race and Gender Classes
“I no longer feel safe or welcome here”
Racist notes targeting African American students recently appeared on the campus of St. Olaf College, a Lutheran school in Minnesota. As a result, students protested and presented a list of demands to the administration.
Lindsey Bever reports at the Washington Post:
Protests erupt, classes canceled after racist notes enrage a Minnesota college
Administrators at a liberal arts college in Minnesota canceled classes Monday to meet with students following a weekend of protests against hate speech on campus.
Hundreds of students at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., staged a peaceful protest Saturday evening inside a student union building after racist expressions against students. The latest of those came just hours before the demonstrations, when a black student reported having found a note on the windshield of her car that read: “I am so glad that you are leaving soon. One less n‑‑‑‑‑ 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.”
Some of the students protested through the night Saturday, sharing their own on-campus experiences with racism and chanting: “This ends now.” The students marched to the college chapel Sunday morning and stood in silent protest during a service.
Students were expected to boycott classes Monday after two days of demonstrations.
But St. Olaf spokeswoman Kari VanDerVeen said classes would not be held “so that we may have time for faculty, students, and staff to continue the discussions about racism and diversity on our campus.”
The Washington Post left out the fact that this is a very liberal campus. So much so that conservative students recently claimed they’ve been threatened with violence.
We mentioned it in a Quick Take just over a month ago:
Conservative Students Say They’ve Been Threatened With Violence at St. Olaf College
There’s no “safe space” for students who vote Republican at this school. Progressive students will be the first to play victim, when they’re not intimidating those who disagree with them.
The College Fix reported:
Conservative students say they have been ‘violently threatened’ at Lutheran college
Four in five students at St. Olaf College, a Lutheran liberal arts school, voted for the Clinton/Kaine ticket in 2016, while Trump/Pence drew 1 in 10 and Johnson/Weld 1 in 20.
But it’s not only that feeling of marginalization that has led conservative students to stay in the closet at the Minnesota school known for its music program, according to student newspaper Manitou Messenger:
Of the 12 students interviewed by the Manitou Messenger, several have been violently threatened because of their political beliefs, and almost all of them feel as though they can’t speak up about politics on campus – in class, online or with their friends. …
On the night of the election, a student in the Pause threatened to beat up [College Republicans President Emily] Schaller, calling her a “f***ing moron.” Over the next couple of days, she overheard multiple students threaten to hurt the next conservative or Republican they saw. Vice President of St. Olaf College Republicans Kathryn Hinderaker ’19 had a similar experience.
Students who were protesting the racist notes presented a list of demands to the administration which the school president ultimately signed. Twitchy reports:
Signs on doors at @StOlaf. Classes were officially cancelled when the boycott started this morning. Via @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/Nsgm9mi9ZC
— Doualy Xaykaothao (@DoualyX) May 1, 2017
“I was targeted a week ago…came home w the word N… on my car… I no longer feel safe or welcome here.” student Don Williams, a junior. pic.twitter.com/55gCA3v7aZ
— Doualy Xaykaothao (@DoualyX) May 1, 2017
Students have now interrupted a staff meeting w the pres of @StOlaf. Student leaders say “no dialogue” until pres reads list of demands. pic.twitter.com/O1xriZQVkH
— Doualy Xaykaothao (@DoualyX) May 1, 2017
President David Anderson just signed our terms. This is STEP 1 for institutional change regarding race at #stolaf. pic.twitter.com/eFH69WWe7x
— Lilia Escobar (@liliASmiles) May 1, 2017
Twitchy outlines the demands:
As part of their terms, students demanded the creation of a task force led by “two faculty members of color” and “three students and one alumni member of color.”
In addition to their terms and conditions, students put together a separate list of demands, which includes the creation and enforcement of “a comprehensive racial awareness and inclusiveness curriculum” and a revision of the school’s general education requirements to include “mandatory introductory courses in Race & Ethnic Studies and Women’s & Gender Studies departments.”
The racist notes at St. Olaf could be real but this situation is unfolding in a manner similar to the great Oberlin College racism hoax of 2013, in which racist posters were placed on campus by liberal students who wanted to start a dialogue.
If you wanted to force your school to mandate race and gender classes, planting racist notes on campus then expressing outrage about it and making demands would be one way to achieve it.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Hoax.
It’s Democrat Party Member Students leaving the notes – imo.
Whaddya think?
My wife is a St. Olaf grad and the president is a classmate of hers. She doesn’t think all this is going to sit well with alumni.
And here is a most amazing thing. Suppose the administration said they were going to wait for confirmation that these were real crimes rather than hoaxes. And suppose the evidences shows hoaxes (which is exactly what will happen). Would the demands change one iota? Nope.
Hoax hate crimes are occurring on college campuses because they work. Objective truth simply doesn’t matter any more. The narrative is that racism and sexist and so much more is rampant, and if those nasty deplorables refuse to commit racist and sexist acts to prove the point, then progressives are forced to do it themselves.
So why not do a shameless plug for my Guide to Progressive-Speak ( http://www.unshackledaction.com/progressive-speak ), which covers hate crimes and so much more. It is growing like topsy. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
Unfortunately, St. Olaf has been trending left for quite a while. We saw it over the middle of the first decade of this century when our daughter studied there. It was still a mix then, probably best described as culturally conservative but politically liberal. The left radicalism of the humanities departments, however was strongly entrenched and the students became more politically and culturally “progressive” over their four years. Still, we thought it a much better choice than the Eastern liberal arts colleges that were already (then) to the left of the Gang of Four.
Anderson has been good (so far) at raising money, but I think he has “little ivy envy” and is much more interested in St Olaf breaking into the USNews “nifty 50” of top liberal arts colleges than in preserving its midwestern Norwegian heritage.
We were consistent givers to the college (over and above paying full boat for our daughter), but we’ve written to both Anderson and the development office telling them we’re don.
I believe they are getting a lot of letters from alums and concerned parents noting that they are pulling donations to the school. I sent one also. No more $$$ from me.
I have heard more about this event that has not really made it into the media. Students were allowed into the building believing they could enter the cafeteria. However, the protesters had shut down the cafeteria. When students wanted to leave the building, the exists had been blocked by the social justice warriors. One student insisted he be allowed to leave ended up being savaged by the protesters and ended up with a broken nose.
In addition, students supporting the protest went door to door in their dorms demanding students go to the student center for the protest. Those that refused were derided as racists. A list was also made of those students and posted to Facebook identifying them as racists on campus.
This is St. Olaf today. Anderson has done well with the endowment up until now, but those who donate are learning the truth about what is going on at the college – donations are drying up. It is time for new leadership at the college if they do not suspend or expel many of these students and clean up the campus.
Confirmed as a hoax. A lie was created because the reality could not be shaped to fit their narrative or cause.
http://www.startribune.com/st-olaf-report-of-racist-note-on-black-student-s-windshield-was-fabricated/421912763/
Given that about zero of these were not hoaxes, expel the people clamoring for mandatory indoctrination courses.
I’m almost certain this is a hoax designed to force an even more extreme agenda. It’s like a Reichstag Fire. They had all these “demands” ready to go. Coincidence? I’m doubtful.
They found a weakness…they’re going to exploit it.
Agree. Obvious hoax.
shekels to bagels its a hoax.
Hoax. I’d just like all the other comments but my phone browser isn’t showing the like buttons.
Sure, it’s hoax, and everybody knows it’s a hoax, but the lefites can get a lot done before the hoax is uncovered, if ever.
Sounds like a hoax. Keep it up, nitwits – keep on blowing that dogwhistle of “racism.” The more you do it, the more obvious your BS becomes.
It’s probably a hoax. But even if it’s not, it means there is one student or staff member with inappropriate ideas and behavior. For that, all white students are placed under suspicion and forced to undergo radical indoctrination classes in race and “gender.”
If one student “of color” does something wrong, it’s because of oppression. If one student “of pallor” does something wrong, all students in that group are guilty and must repent.
[class] diversity or institutional racism is a first-order forcing of prejudice. The [class] diversitists are either ignorant or have malicious intent.
Hoax. And an obvious one at that. Left wing academic motto: Never let a hoax go unused.
This is so obviously a hoax that you’d have to be a nitwit not to immediately detect it. When they find out the hoaxers, they need to expel them. I understand it’s no longer appropriate to put their heads on a pike outside the college gate.
I smell racist Hoaxers
As part of their terms, students demanded the creation of a task force led by “two faculty members of color” and “three students and one alumni member of color.”
Am I the only bothered by the fact that not one of the college students putting together their written demands knows that “alumni” is plural? I’d sent the entire group of students making these demands to remedial English.
I have warm, affectionate memories for my alma mater, UC Santa Barbara. Because it was in a gorgeous location right on the beach (this has a lot of pros and not only the most obvious, especially at a school that grades on a curve and if you have sufficient maturity to not go to the goddam beach but to the library sometimes), the girls were hot, the girls who showed up for the ISVT (I believe they’re going by the name “All Sorority Beach Volleyball Tournament” now) were hot, and I worked in a liquor store.
I would never send them a dime.
As a minnesotan I have to say the odds this liberal school has attracted a racist who loves to do things anonymously is zero. There may be racists in this world but they don’t spend mountains of money to spend their college years in a liberal hell-hole like the college Republicans describe. Meanwhile the protestors seemed pretty organized in the area of demnds they are aming almost like they planned the demands and then figured out a way to get them
https://www.psych.ucsb.edu/sites/www.psych.ucsb.edu/files/images/grad/37D_CampusPoint003.jpg
Look at it. Tell me it’s not beautiful. They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Not True. I’d lie on those beaches in January listening to the music on the radio with occasional weather reports from Chicago and knew exactly what I had.
And back in those mountains is awesome quail huntng. Not bobwhites like you Easterners are familiar with. But still quail. I had to move out of the dorm to keep a shotgun. And after a weekend quail hunt there was Cold Spring Tavern.
http://coldspringtavern.com/index.html
Competing for the best part was my car. A 1968 Dodge Charger with not a 440 Magnum but, wait for it, a 440 Police Pursuit Special. It was rated at only five ponies more than the Magnum but only because it had the forged NASCAR bottom end. I doubt that rating because the Chrysler/Dodge castings were plenty strong, and in any case it’s the top end where you make your power.
It was, in short, a slice of heaven. And it needs to be killed.
I did graduate work at UC at the Beach (aka UCSB) back in the ’70s and it was indeed beautiful – the psychology literature used to have something called “Santa Barbara Syndrome” which described highly educated college grads, in fields as diverse as sociology and engineering, taking low paying jobs after graduation in order to stay in the area. I knew lots of them, toiling (sort of) away for many years at minimum wage or a little higher jobs, living in Isla Vista, and hanging on the beach and the parties.
Cold Spring Tavern was a special place – when I was there the owner was a woman named Audrey (I forget her surname now) and the bartender/main guy around the place was Dave, both of whom my girlfriend and I befriended. We were up there at least 3 times a month, brought and sent many friends, and rarely, if ever, had to pay a bill that was more than a fraction of what we ate or drank. (We usually tried, but Audrey would rip up the bill or tell Dave not to take our money).