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]So the penalty was because the college chose to cease business with Gibson’s?  I thought businesses could boycott whomever they want?  As long as it’s not because of a protected class?  I thought we all got to use our dollars for our or against a company if we don’t like their actions? Or for no reason at all?  [/quote]

They boycotted the business because of the owner's skin color and false claims of his behavior toward POC.[/quote]

I'm white, I don't think being white is a protected class?  I understand you might wish it were, but as of now I don't think it is.
If there is a particular libel charge, that can and should be decided by the legal process.
If there is a particular breach of contract, that can and should be decided by the legal process.

I'm not saying I agree with the college.  I'm just not sure that boycotting a business for whatever reason is/should be actionable, legally.

We have been told that corporations are people with consciences and they have to be able to do what they want, even when this exercise of conscience has a disparate impact on a protected class.  See Hobby Lobby and birth control for women.[/quote]

Discriminating against someone because of race is illegal.... being "white" is race.

And, this is NOT just about boycotting at all.  This is about defamation.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/us/oberlin-college-bakery-lawsuit-payment-reaj/index.html

[quote]When three Black Oberlin College students were accused of shoplifting by the owners of an Ohio bakery, the small liberal arts school that was once a stop along the Underground Railroad supported the students and called for a boycott.

The owners of Gibson's Bakery took the matter to court, claiming they had been defamed in 2016 when Oberlin professors and deans joined the student protests -- in some cases handing out fliers that read, "DON'T BUY."
"This is a RACIST establishment with a LONG ACCOUNT of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION," the flier said, according to the 2017 lawsuit.

The case stems from the November 2016 arrests of three Black Oberlin students at the bakery and market near the college's campus in Oberlin, Ohio.
One student, Jonathan Aladin, was accused of attempted robbery for allegedly trying to "steal wine or otherwise illegally obtain wine" from the bakery, according to the defamation lawsuit. He would eventually confess in a written statement to trying to buy alcohol illegally.
The two other suspects were arrested and accused of misdemeanor assault, court documents state. Oberlin staff members later tried to discredit the family-owned bakery, according to the lawsuit.
The suit said Oberlin's then Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo and other college staff members "handed out hundreds of copies" of the accusatory flier to the community and the media stating that Gibson's Bakery and its owners racially profiled and discriminated against the three students.

The suit said the "defamation, boycotts, demonstrations, and refusal to do business with Gibson's Bakery was having a devastating effect on Gibson's Bakery and the Gibson family."
In August 2017, nine months after the three students were arrested, Aladin and Endia Lawrence pleaded guilty to attempted theft and aggravated trespass, court documents state.
The third student also pleaded guilty to attempted theft and aggravated trespass. Her case has been expunged, Traci Orlando, civil secretary for Judge John R. Miraldi, said in 2019.
In a written statement released that same year, Aladin confessed to using a fake ID to try to buy alcohol when a shop clerk tried to detain him.

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