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.