Oberlin College Tag

As the Gibson’s Bros v. Oberlin case gets set for the trial – now set to begin on Friday, May 3 – it is beginning to become more clear that this case of defamation accusations is set to be more of an early 21^st century cultural dissertation than one of merely determining monetary damages.

I attended court today as the lawyers argued pre-trial motions. As most trial lawyers know, pre-trial “in limine” motions can often decide the case. What the judge excludes and what they allow, how to define certain terminology the jury will hear, and rulings what is important and what is nonsense.

With Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College scheduled to start trial this week, there is much back and forth among political and legal analysts as to “what it is” and “what it is not.” For the most part, regardless of the political leanings of the various parties observing from the outside, this is still a basic tort law case involving libel and defamation.

Gibson's Bakery in Oberlin, Ohio, is in a pitched legal fight with Oberlin College. It's a classic town-gown fight, the working class locals versus the wealthier and often out-of-state students, faculty and administrators -- but added into the mix is Oberlin's infamous social justice warrior culture.

I have covered the lawsuit by Gibson's Bakery against Oberlin College perhaps more extensively than anyone else. I even became a small part of the story when Oberlin College tried, and failed, to subpoena my records.

We previously covered the lawsuit brought by the local Gibson's Bakery against Oberlin College and its Dean of Students, Meredith Raimondo. The lawsuit arises out of accusations by Oberlin College students, allegedly assisted by Raimondo and others at the college, that Gibson's was racist and engaged in racial profiling after the arrest of three black Oberlin College students for shoplifting. Protests outside Gibson's ensued, as did a boycott of Gibson's by students and the college.

Oberlin College and its Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo are defending a lawsuit brought by the local Gibson's Bakery after in incident in which three Oberlin College students were arrested for shoplifting. Oberlin students launched protests and a boycott of the bakery claiming racial profiling of the students. The college itself cut off business with the bakery, and the lawsuit alleges, assisted in helping organize the protests. The three students eventually pleaded guilty, but that didn't stop the controversy. The boycott continued even after police released data showing there was no racial profiling in shoplifting arrests at the bakery.

Oberlin College is struggling financially, after over a decade of intense national media coverage of extreme social justice activism on campus. The college has not met its enrollment goals resulting in a financial shortfall and talk about how to control expenses. We first covered the financial fallout from enrollment decline in September 2017, Radical fallout: Oberlin College enrollment drops, causing financial problems.