Reply to Oberlin College ordered to post $36 million bond to delay Gibson’s Bakery collection of Judgment

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Reply to "Oberlin College ordered to post $36 million bond to delay Gibson’s Bakery collection of Judgment"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If anyone wants to read an unbiased, fact-based analysis of the case that does not include political overtures, this is the best thing I've seen:

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/gibson-s-v-oberlin-college-how-false-6341044/

What's wild to me is that the jury and the court additional holds Oberlin responsible for the statement published by the Student Senate. So even if the Oberlin admin wasn't involved at all, because the Student Senate defamed Gibson's the university would still be on the hook. This is troubling for a number of reasons.[/quote]

Thanks for the link, did you read it? It's pretty well reasoned why actions by the student Senate was linked to Oberlin admin. The student Senate derives it's authority from Oberlin, and Oberlin has oversight over the student Senate. [/quote]

DP.  But the consequence of this will be that colleges in Ohio need to crack down on student activities and exercises of free speech by students involved in those activities so that the college will not be held legally responsible for students’ statements. Editorials in the student newspapers, speaker invitations by campy political groups, and expression of speech will need to be filtered the administration first to make sure it is the “correct” kind of speech.  That will be a pretty big hit for the campus Republican groups who have been fighting hard for freedom to invite controversial speakers for organization events.[/quote]

Oh Lord. There is a huge difference between the student body and the student Senate. Anything the college officially sanctions and exercise authority/control over, it must not use as a tool for slander/libel. It must also exercise it's powers to prevent slander/libel by the same. I also don't think you are making the right argument about the "correct" kind of speech. What's at hand here are claims of facts, not opinions. [/quote]

Why is the student senate fundamentally different from the student newspaper in this regard?  Or from an official, school-sanctioned college republicans/democrats organization?  Or an official Black or Hispanic students association?[/quote]

Depends on the form and format of the student newspaper. If a student newspaper is purely independent, it's unlikely the school would be liable. However, as with many/most student newspapers, which are officially sanctioned by the school, and operated in a way that does not make it a public forum, then it will also be liable for libel. Here again, I will just point out that there is a huge difference between the student body and a student newspaper. The former is a collection of private individuals, the later is a component of the school with participation from students. [/quote]

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