The point to the story of the boy who cried wolf is that there really was a wolf.
No, the point was if you cry wolf too many times for fun nobody will believe you the one time it is true.
At the danger of over working the wolf line, it seems that the shepherd had not noticed that the sheep were being harassed by coyotes and a misguided lamb thought the shepherd would pay attention to a wolf.
People keep talking about “handwriting” being similar in the faked notes, but earlier I read that the windshield note was typed.
There are two issues:
- someone (student, person from the St Olaf community, person from the local community) has insulted and threatened minority students on campus this year. This person has not been caught.
- someone fabricated a note that was an insult and a threat, and that note was either meant to be insulting but not a threat, or designed as a joke. OR could have been fabricated to “raise the issue” and force a solution. The extent of the fabrication is not clear (some of it can be read as “whoever wrote it did write it, but didn’t meant it”).The fabricator, whatever their motive, has been found out. They’re likely to suffer some academic and/or legal consequence.
But then one should cross off Oberlin, Middlebury, Grinnell,… etc, etc. That said, different schools address issues of white privilege, structural racism, and racism awareness to differing degrees. Part of the student body at St Olaf has been pushing the school to address these issues better.
Catalyzed by notes, which were not threatening except the typed one (the ‘hoax’ one), the response of the student body was to come together to support the minority students and to help push forward change in terms of how the school addresses the complex issue of individual racism and structural racism, an effort that is always complicated by the fact that whites do not experience it so think it’s all ‘made-up’ and are hostile or defensive about discussing these issues.
Ok, the last note that sparked the protests turned out to be a ‘hoax’ but there is no way the person who wrote it could have known that this would spark a campus-wide protest. There are ca 63 black students on a campus of 3000. The ‘hoax’ note sparked a large protest and class-boycott that led to all classes being stopped for a day.
From all I’ve read, both sides are thoughtful and sincere. Pictures from the end of the protests at St Olaf show the president holding hands with the organizers, heads bowed in prayer. This didn’t end like at UC Santa Cruz where students are being charged after occupying the admin building for 3 days.
The fact that the typed note was faked is horrible, but someone has been targeting students of color with handwritten notes through this past year, and I believe that is what the administration was referring to, when they said the “handwriting matched.”
As you can see, my S accepted admission at St Olaf a few weeks before protest and resulting dialog occurred. He has spent time on campus, this past year, and knows that a large majority of the students at St Olaf are caring and compassionate, and were very upset by what they learned their classmates were going through. This has been an difficult time for many people, but our family appreciates the way the community of students, faculty and administrators have come together to have an open and honest dialog about racism, and I am sure other issues. Overall, I think St Olaf will be an even better place for my son and his classmates to attend, as a result of this upheaval. We just hope it has not scared off to many students, as my S values the work St Olaf is doing to increase diversity. We’ll be continuing to follow this issue as it continues to be addressed.
Minnesota Public Radio has a story today.
The fabricated note was only the last one. The other incidents are still being investigated.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/05/19/st-olaf-students-who-protested-say-campus-racism-is-no-hoax
in other news, Carleton has suspended 13 students for hazing.