Oberlin College Tag

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.

We previously covered the bitter town/gown dispute between Gibson's Bakery and Oberlin College. The short version is that three Oberlin students were arrested for shoplifting at Gibson's bakery. Oberlin students claimed racial profiling, and mounted protests and a boycott supported by college student groups, administrators and faculty. The boycott continued even after police released data showing there was no racial profiling in shoplifting arrests at the bakery, and the three students pled guilty. See these posts for background on the dispute:

For over a year we have been covering an incident at Gibson's Bakery in Oberlin, Ohio, close to Oberlin College. The incident involved charges of racial profiling against the Bakery after three black Oberlin students were arrested for shoplifting. When one of the employees, Allyn Gibson, attempted to stop them, a scuffle broke out. The reaction from Oberlin student activists was to make claims of racial profiling, as we documented in our first post on the incident in November 2016, Bakery targeted by Oberlin College #BlackLivesMatter fights back:

A year ago almost to the day, we covered a dispute involving Oberlin College students and a local bakery, Gibson's Bakery. The Oberlin students, with the support of some faculty and staff, accused the bakery of racial profiling three Oberlin students who were arrested for shoplifting. Those three students eventually pleaded guilty, and police stats showed that Gibson's did not engage in racial profiling. Nonetheless, the turmoil has continued, and Gibson's is suing claiming a continuing campaign to strangle its business.