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An Ohio jury has ordered Oberlin College to pay $11 million to a bakery which said it was libeled and wrongfully accused of racially profiling students.
The case stems from the November 2016 arrests of three black Oberlin students at Gibson's 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 a defamation lawsuit. He would eventually confess in a written statement to buying alcohol illegally. Two other suspects, Cecelia Whettston and Endia J. Lawrence, were arrested and accused of misdemeanor assault, court documents state.
After that, Oberlin staff members tried to discredit the family-owned bakery, the lawsuit says. Oberlin College staff -- including deans and professors -- and students engaged in demonstrations in front of Gibson's Bakery following the arrests of the three students, the lawsuit stated. The suit also said Oberlin Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo and other college staff members "handed out hundreds of copies" of a flier to the community and the media stating that Gibson's Bakery and its owners racially profiled and discriminated against the three students.
A mass email sent by Oberlin College's Vice President and General Counsel to school alumni criticized the decision of the jury, despite the trial not being over. The email was sent ahead of a punitive damages hearing, which may triple the amount Oberlin College has to pay.
Also at Inside Higher Ed.
Update: Bakery suing Oberlin College for libel wins $33M in damages
Oberlin College hit with maximum PUNITIVE DAMAGES (capped at $22 million by law) in Gibson's Bakery case
(Score: 2, Insightful) by gawdonblue on Monday June 10 2019, @09:27PM (5 children)
... dog whistling.
Disappointed and sad.
(Score: 3, Touché) by epitaxial on Monday June 10 2019, @10:02PM (4 children)
Oh go fuck yourself with this dog whistle bullshit. Explain exactly what racist thing occurred.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Monday June 10 2019, @10:11PM (3 children)
The problem is probably the source.
As pointed out above The Tennessee Star is not a local news site, but is one of many carbon-copy sites made to specifically appear to be local news sites.
They purposefully run stories designed to foster outrage.
It's a real shame you Americans are so frightened of each other.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday June 10 2019, @10:28PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday June 10 2019, @10:46PM
True. In this case, however, the New York times has repeated the claims outlines in the story (see above under ElizabethGreene's post). Maybe sometimes a cigar is just a method of killing yourself?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 10 2019, @11:11PM
What source? Sorry, but look at the freakin' summary, which is a quote from a CNN article, with the link to the CNN article at the top. The only Tennessee Star link is near the bottom of the summary, which just gives the further detail about the email, which is also mentioned in the CNN article and the Inside Higher Ed article linked at the end of the summary here.
I agree that the Tennessee Star is a bad source to link to, but it's not like this story wasn't covered in multitudes of mainstream media outlets.