A woke Ohio college has continued to refuse to pay a $33 million defamation settlement to a family-run bakery it tried to destroy afte...
A woke Ohio college has continued to refuse to pay a $33 million defamation settlement to a family-run bakery it tried to destroy after falsely accusing it of racism.
Oberlin College was ordered by Ohio's state appeals court to pay Gibson's Bakery the sum on April 1, but continues to contest the payout, and says it is considering its options.
The bakery was wrongly accused of racism after calling the police on three Oberlin black students for shoplifting a bottle of wine.
One of its workers - Allyn Gibson - was even attacked by the three shoplifters after refusing to hand over a fake ID, and demanding they hand over the stolen wine.
That trio were later convicted - but not before Oberlin went along with its students' union's claim that their arrests had been as a result of racial profiling.
Shockingly, the college's then dean of students, Meredith Raimondo, helped circle the wagons, and even distributed leaflets accusing Gibson's of racial profiling in an attempt to destroy the 137 year-old business.
The arrogant academic even texted another dean to share her desire to unleash another woke mob on an academic who blasted Oberlin's bullying of Gibson's.
She wrote: 'F**k him. I’d say unleash the students if I wasn’t convinced this needs to be put behind us.'
Despite her disgraceful lies and bullying, the 52 year-old was allowed to stay with the college, and stepped down at the end of 2021 to take up a position at Oglethorpe College in Georgia.
Former Dean of Students and Vice President Meredith Raimondo stoked protests against Gibson's Bakery following the shoplifting incident, even though the claims were found to be totally false. She has since been blamed for much of the behavior that has seen Oberlin ordered to pay $35 million for defamation, with Raimondo since moving to a college in Atlanta
Jonathan Aladin, Endia Lawrence (center) and Cecilia Whettstone (right) were all convicted of shoplifting from Oberlin - but the woke college still accused the family-run business they stole from of racism, and boycotted them
Gibson's Bakery, a town of Oberlin stalwart since 1885, was accused of racism by the Oberlin College after an employee accosted a black shoplifter
A Student Senate resolution condemning the Gibson's was emailed to all students and was posted in a display case at school's student center, where it remained for a year.
Oberlin College officials ordered its campus food provider to stop buying bakery items from Gibson's.
The appeal court's decision is the latest chapter in a years-long battle between the private liberal arts college and the bakery that has been run by the same family in the town of Oberlin since 1885.
Gibson's found itself plunged into a firestorm On November 9th, 2016, the day after Donald Trump was elected president.
The drama began a black Oberlin student, Jonathan Aladin, was caught attempting to steal a bottle of wine from the bakery by a white employee, Allyn Gibson.
Gibson chased Aladin down the street and, according to witness accounts reported by the The New York Times, put the man in a choke-hold before two of the student's friends - Endia Lawrence and Cecelia Whettstone - intervened and a brawl ensued.
The next day Oberlin students held protests outside Gibson's accusing the bakery of racially profiling Aladin.
Aladin, Lawrence and Whettstone, would later plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of attempted theft and aggravated trespass, and themselves said Gibson's actions were not racially motivated.
But Oberlin - led by dean Raimondo and many students - had already decided to punish Gibson's for the imaged transgression.
The protests led to a severe loss in Gibson's Bakery business, including the loss of a vital contract the bakery had held with the school for years.
It had suffered frequent thefts in the run-up to the incident which saw it accused of racism.
Gibson's Bakery sued Oberlin College and one of its administrators -- Meredith Raimondo -- in 2017 for loss of business.
In 2019, Oberlin College was found guilty, due largely to evidence against Raimondo who had distributed fliers during the protests accusing the bakery of a longtime history of racial profiling and offered students up to $100 in compensation for protest supplies.
Allyn Gibson, son of the owner of Gibson's Bakery, got into a brawl with shoplifters upon confronting them
In 2019 Oberlin College was found guilty and ordered to pay Gibson's Bakery $40 million in damages, which was reduced to $25 million and $6 million in legal fees.
The unrepentant college has dragged the case out for so long that two of the plaintiffs died while waiting for the cash.
David Gibson died in November 2019 at age 65. Allyn Gibson, the father of the bakery worker who was attacked, died in February this year. He was 93.
The college and Raimondo appealed that sentence, but it was upheld this month.
After this month's ruling, Oberlin admitted that it is still refusing to pay the cash to the family business it tried to ruin.
And the college issued a mealy-mouthed statement when contacted by DailyMail.com on Monday, saying: 'Oberlin is obviously disappointed that the appeals court affirmed the judgment in its ruling. We are reviewing the Court’s opinion carefully as we evaluate our options and determine next steps.
'In the meantime, we recognize that the issues raised by this case have been challenging, not only for the parties involved in the lawsuit, but for the entire Oberlin community.
'We remain committed to strengthening the partnership between the College, the City of Oberlin and its residents, and the downtown business community. We will continue in that important work while remaining focused on our core educational mission.'
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