Carleton College students rallied Thursday behind a freshman Hispanic student who had a "Mexican go home" message left in a note on his desk on Sunday.

The student took a picture of the message and put it on Facebook with the comment: "Someone left a beautiful note on my desk yesterday. Really? I would like for whoever did this to come to my room and apologize for this …. Otherwise I'm willing to bring this to the full attention of the administration. Absolutely ridiculous."

Late Thursday night, Hudlin Wagner, dean of students, issued a statement that said her office had investigated the incident "and the identity of the student who left the note was determined."

Wagner went on to say: "Based on the investigation, the college found that a serious violation of its community standards code of conduct had occurred. Statements and acts of this nature, anonymous or otherwise, are not tolerable and breach the college's commitment to an inclusive campus community. The determination and resulting sanctions in this case have been administered in accordance with our community standards code of conduct."

The statement did not name the offender nor did it say what punishment had been doled out.

Some student leaders had organized a gathering on campus on Thursday to address the issue.

"I was there and thought the tenor was thoughtful and mature. There is some hurt there that we are trying to address,'' said Eric Sieger, director of media relations for the Northfield college.

The gathering was student led and not organized by the college.

LAURIE BLAKE