Oberlin defamation suit and verdict : not a good optic
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Anonymous
| I hate Oberlin now. |
Anonymous
+3 |
Anonymous
Lorain County is an incredibly racist part of the state of Ohio. I'm not surprised by the verdict, at all, given the players. Oberlin may or may not have deserved to lose the case, and I express no opinion on that here, but even if they didn't they would have lost in Lorain County. |
Anonymous
Evidence that Lorain County is incredibly racist? |
Anonymous
Every bit of evidence at the trial was that the plaintiffs, the Gibsons, were in no way racist. And that came from their black employees and even from the shoplifters themselves. This was just a baseless and malicious effort to put them out of business. |
Anonymous
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Oberlin kids shoplift from local businesses which probably creates a lot of animosity: https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/06/student-journalist-shoplifting-at-gibsons-bakery-was-part-of-oberlin-colleges-culture-of-theft/
(I know its from a conservative site but I think the point about shoplifting is important.) |
Anonymous
and 80% of the arrests for shoplifting were of white suspects. So where's the pattern of racism? I wish to add this would be no big deal if only the students demonstrated - but the Dean of Students was an active participant and tried to steer business away from the bakery on the grounds it was racist. So where was the adult leadership? |
Anonymous
| Verdict was affirmed today.https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/03/appeals-court-upholds-gibsons-bakery-massive-verdict-against-oberlin-college/ |
Anonymous
I didn't make the post you're referring to. But I have family there. Lots of family. And it is, in fact, very racist. |
Anonymous
| Evidence? This is Jim Jordan's congressional district. This is MAGA country |
Anonymous
Your link doesn’t work. Here’s another (below). What’s interesting about this is that the litigation has nothing to do with the behavior of the students and is based solely on actions by the Administrators. Oberlin claims that they’ve learned from the experience and moved on, but they’ve still not actually admitted they did anything wrong, and they’re considering a further appeal. Wonder what Oberlin would have done if they’d had any idea this would be headline news for 6 years? This is probably the only thing most people know about Oberlin. At best, the excellent music conservatory, and…this. https://chroniclet.com/news/297502/court-rejects-appeals-by-oberlin-college-gibsons-bakery-from-2019-civil-trial/ The appeals court "must emphasize, however, that the sole focus of this appeal is on the separate conduct of Oberlin and (former Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith) Raimondo that allegedly caused damage to the Gibsons, not on the First Amendment rights of individuals to voice opinions or protest," she wrote. Oberlin College, and media rights and free speech groups that filed briefs on its behalf, argued that a finding of defamation "could have a chilling effect on students' rights to free speech at colleges and universities across the country." Miraldi agreed, but that wasn't the issue at hand, the appeals court said. Instead, "the Gibsons' libel claim focused solely on whether Oberlin had disseminated false, written statements of fact that caused the Gibsons significant harm," the appeals court found. |
Anonymous
Can confirm. Confederate flags in Ohio aren't about heritage. |
Anonymous
In other words, you’ve heard people like the Gibsons are racist. That’s called hearsay, and courts don’t allow it as evidence for a reason. https://chroniclet.com/news/297502/court-rejects-appeals-by-oberlin-college-gibsons-bakery-from-2019-civil-trial/ The Gibsons called multiple witnesses to testify that they had never experienced racism while working at or patronizing the store, while Oberlin College employees who tried to testify they had heard reports or rumors of racial profiling or discrimination had their testimony rejected as hearsay. The college "did not call witnesses to testify about their personal experiences with the Gibsons. Instead, the defendants sought to have Oberlin administrators testify about 'what Oberlin heard' about the Gibsons from community members," Carr wrote. "Oberlin’s excluded evidence was hearsay, while the Gibsons' evidence on this issue was not." ****** The Gibsons presented evidence that when the college learned "that the student allegations of assault and racial profiling might be false," it started doing business with the bakery again but refused to correct the statements in the flyer or the Student Senate resolution. "The Gibsons also presented evidence that they had been continually taunted and harassed for many months, that their business and property had been vandalized, and that Grandpa Gibson had broken his back after an encounter with someone he believed was trying to harass him or break into his apartment," Carr wrote, adding that the appeals court "cannot conclude that reasonable minds could only conclude that this conduct failed to rise to the level of extreme and outrageous." |