Appeals Court Upholds $33M Verdict Against Oberlin College For Helping Smear Bakery Over Hate Hoax

The cost of woke.

Court Upholds Bakery’s $32 Million Victory against Oberlin College over False Racism Accusations https://t.co/mqe053SR4m

— Attorney General Dave Yost (@DaveYostOH) April 1, 2022

Finally. Consequences for anti-white hatred at Oberlin, which I've documented for decades. https://t.co/DoKfyOb6aq pic.twitter.com/D2EsR3YfIB

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) April 3, 2022

An intermediate Ohio appellate court recently ruled 3-0 that a progressive college must pay $33 million in damages for defaming a local bakery.

The case stemmed from a boycott that the appeals court said went legally wrong. On Nov. 9, 2016 (the day after Donald Trump was elected as president), three Black students at Oberlin College were arrested for attempting to steal bottles of wine from Gibson’s Bakery, an establishment close to campus. Oberlin’s Student Senate immediately declared the incident a case of racial profiling, and without investigating any further, it passed a resolution calling for a boycott of the bakery.

The college’s administration got on board, too, and sent an email to students heavily implying that Gibson’s had discriminated against the students on the basis of race. Then-Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo and others handed out flyers that supported the boycott and accused Gibson’s of having a history of racial profiling. What’s more, Oberlin took steps to support a protest of Gibson’s. Evidence adduced at trial showed that the school provided a break room in a nearby building for protesting students in which they could partake in coffee and pizza. Dean Raimondo also agreed to reimburse a student $75-100 for money spent on gloves given to protesters to combat cold weather.

As a result of the outcry, Gibson’s lost significant business; not only did the bakery lose individual patrons, but it was also dropped from a major contract for baked goods that it had with Oberlin’s food services provider.

Gibson’s Bakery, however, had not racially profiled the shoplifters, according to the court record. The bakery was exonerated when the arrestees admitted in open court that they had indeed attempted to shoplift and even engaged in physical altercations with Gibson’s staff.

[...] Oberlin may still choose to appeal the ruling to the Ohio Supreme Court or even the United States Supreme Court.