St. Olaf president says intensive effort underway to find people behind racist messages

St. Olaf students are returning to classes Tuesday after hundreds of students staged a sit-in to protest a string of racist threats made on campus this year.

The college went as far as to cancel all classes Monday so that they could have public discussions about race relations at the small, mostly white, liberal arts college.

At the sit-in, a group of students presented St. Olaf College President David Anderson with a list of demands to address an array of concerns that go beyond the racist notes that prompted the protests.

Later in the day Anderson signed a modified agreement forming a task force to review race relations at the college.

He spoke with MPR's Cathy Wurzer about Monday's sit-in, race relations on campus and how the investigation is progressing.

Click on the audio player above to hear their conversation.