<p>Hi all, I was previously accepted into St.Olaf but chose another school for the IR program. Since then I have switched out of IR, and it has become clear that St.Olaf really was a better fit for me, so I am considering transferring. However, when I went back to do a little more research to validate my feelings, I found some concerning information on some recent incidents of hate crimes. I found the "enough" page on facebook, and while it's good that the students have organized that response, I worry about how large of a group might hold less tolerant views since I noticed the page had received 500 likes of 3,000 students. I consider myself very socially liberal, and I have many gay/bisexual friends, so support of that community is important to me. I also consider myself a feminist and believe greatly in the value of diversity. While I realize that St.Olaf is not a diverse school, it feels perfect to me in almost every other way, so tolerance of existing diversity is mainly what I'm worried about. Could anyone speak to political affiliation, tolerance of racial and income diversity, and especially tolerance of the LGBTQ community?</p>
<p>Emma–No one responded to your post. I have a similar question. Have you received any other info about this issue?</p>
<p>I can take a stab at it. I live in the area, and my kids’ high school is kind of a feeder (often multiple kids from their school attend St. Olaf). Almost every kid I know from our school who is gone is not only supportive of LGBTQ friends (I can name half a dozen off the top of my head), but would definitely stand up for someone if someone else said or did something that was demeaning or rude based on sexual orientation. I can think of one kid who might fall on the other side of opinion on this of all the students I know who have gone to St. Olaf. Now… can’t say about all the other kids coming in.</p>
<p>Not sure if you have the academics, but Carleton is more liberal and going to be more accepting. Or Macalester, which is an easier admit than Carleton. I can’t imagine any difficulty for you on either of those campuses. Not sure if they meet your other requirements, but something to consider.</p>
<p>I’m a current senior at Olaf, and I agree that while it is not the most diverse of colleges (not by a long shot), most people are generally very accepting. This is ESPECIALLY true for the LGBTQA population. There is a thriving honor house, there are tons of awareness events, there’s GLOW! (Gay Lesbian Or Whatever) organization, etc. There was also huge support campus-wide for “Vote No” during the last election (which if you’re not familiar with Minnesota politics was the amendment the state was trying to add to make same-sex marriage illegal in 2012). So LGBTQA is definitely not an issue here.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we do have issues stemming from our lack of desire to talk about race/nationality/global issues. Some idiots have done idiotic things like vandalizing Palestine-awareness displays and writing insensitive comments about other races on bulletin boards when drunk. However, those are very limited (I think maybe 3 incidents happened last year, though don’t quote me on that) and because it’s such a “perfect” small school they were definitely a huge topic of conversation for a while. The real issue is that a lot of people just want to ignore the issues since they often don’t have much impact on us personally, so even though we get up in arms about specific incidents, sometimes support fizzles after it isn’t a blatant issue anymore. I can’t think of any discrimination that has taken place against specific students though; I think it’s more a problem with ignorance of “others” outside our bubble.</p>
<p>Regarding the Enough! campaign in particular, the group was just started late last year and is not very active or well-advertised, so definitely don’t use that facebook page as a measuring stick for how accepting the college is. Just because someone didn’t “like” the page doesn’t mean they are racist homophobes.</p>
<p>Politically, I think we’re skewed liberal as are most colleges. Of course there’s a thriving conservative community too, but we’re pretty overwhelmingly socially liberal at the very least.</p>
<p>Income diversity: there are a lot of rich people. There are also plenty of scholarship students. (I’m one of them; the only reason I’m here is because of academic scholarships.) I also know a couple of people who aren’t paying anything to be here because of need-based scholarships. The topic rarely comes up in conversation and it definitely isn’t all that obvious. I really don’t think it’s an issue at all. Some people have a couple houses and a cabin, others have an apartment and just get invited to the cabins.</p>
<p>I wish you luck in making your decision! I absolutely love it here, but I acknowledge that we have many faults and are generally more sheltered than some other colleges. Let me know if you have any other questions or want more specific clarification.</p>