Oberlin defamation suit and verdict : not a good optic
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Anonymous
All the scandals you read about elsewhere are motivated by pure greed and blind ambition. When caught, everyone’s distancing by selling people down the river. That’s not what’s happening at Oberlin. Right or wrong, Oberlin is where it’s at because it was trying to support students, especially those most marginalized in the society. You may disagree - and you maybe right - but u can’t say Oberlin’s motive is one of abuse of its students that we see all around. |
Anonymous
This. And Oberlin STILL stands by its egregious behavior towards its neighbors. |
Anonymous
Yeah, I now consider myself a conservative. Just so sick of crap like this. It's been happening for a while and it's just getting worse and worse. |
Anonymous
 So it’s totes fine with you that they wrongly accuse a business of being racist because the shoplifters were black students?
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Anonymous
I call myself a moderate, but truthfully I’m politically homeless. |
Anonymous
Agreed. I would have more sympathy if they were truly supporting the student. But, this student has admitted that the behavior by the business was not racially based, but an attempt to prevent underaged purchase of alcohol. If Oberlin said that they were mislead by the student or that they were mistaken and showed any form of contrition, it would be understandable and would not reflect badly on the college. But in this instance, the perpetrator has admitted that the public harassment of the business was ill-conceived and rather than apologizing, the college has doubled down on their error. Sorry, but this is as bad as a someone racial profiling and refusing to admit to doing so even in light of damning evidence. |
Anonymous
Same. Used to be a democrat, but have been driven away by their extreme left turn. Still don't like the Republican Party. |
Anonymous
They played race politics again - completely failing to respect the rights of a small family business that served its community - and lost. Good result. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if Oberlin has to close at some point. It’s lost any reputation it once had as a serious, legitimate academic institution. |
Anonymous
I totally agree. Oberlin is still refusing to apologize for it's racism. It's outrageous that the entire student body is going along with this. |
Anonymous
I don't know if I can fairly agree. I saw some of the comments from Oberlin staff in various emails. They were not nice to the business. Even the writer in the link earlier in this thread criticized the college for the languages used in the emails regarding the business. I'm not sure how this is equivalent to being on the right side of history. History doesn't have a right or wrong side. History is history. There is a reason for the old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The dean and people at Oberlin may have had good intentions in the protest and supporting the protest but it doesn't mean the protest was good. Because it was not good, the shaming of a bakery and attempts to shut it down over a modern day McCarthyism, substituting racism for communism, was not good. And what abuse of Oberlin students are we talking about here? Is it real, or is it imaginary? Perhaps those same deans and campus staff are encouraging an environment that leads people to form the wrong assumptions about the surrounding community? How many students to to Oberlin and immediately dismiss the local town and its residents as racist or redneck or white trash without even making any efforts to get to know the town? Just wondering. The greed we saw with the admissions scandals, which you still must acknowledge was not led by the universities themselves but by select coaches and parents, is actually more understandable because it was about money. Cash for a spot in the incoming class. No one was hurt from it. It doesn't justify it, of course. But a rich family paying tens of thousands to fake an admissions application only shows stupidity, not malicious behavior. They did not trash or ruin names and reputations of other students. But what happened at Oberlin was malicious. And people were hurt, namely a small family business. They were accused of racism and their good name systematically torn down and ripped to shreds by Oberlin staff, faculty and students. That was wrong. Very wrong. There is a huge difference. |
Anonymous
| Oberlin is in no sense an essential institution and, while the school’s closure would harm the businesses in the town, its demise might actually send a positive message that schools that abandon their commitment to academic integrity and freedom in favor of a radical embrace of identity politics will pay a heavy price. I certainly don’t respect an Oberlin degree as a meaningful credential any longer. |
Anonymous
Well said. I feel sorry for any parent who has a child there. What a hateful place. |
Anonymous
No one cares what you think except you and your grandma. |
Anonymous
You should really get out of that hellhole. -dp |
Anonymous
+1 |