Posted on 06/21/2019 7:02:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
Identity politics is having an identity crisis.
Parading as a noble cause to elevate only one side of the hyphenated American, identity politics has always cultivated a mean streak, a vulnerable underbelly of hatred for the "other" it indiscriminately blames for prejudice against African Americans, Native Americans and any other culture perceived to be at the mercy of the white man.
No one disputes that prejudice based on race and religion is a terrible thing, but it's a simple truth that truth should not be sacrificed in looking for it. While identity politics seeks to liberate the victim of prejudice by asserting pride and punishment, it has sometimes pursued punishment with moral arrogance, encouraging people to play loosely with facts.
That's what happened at Oberlin College, a bastion of super liberal teaching and social activism in the grove of academe. Oberlin was once the preserve of abolitionists and presided over by Charles G. Finney, a 19th-century abolitionist and fiery Presbyterian evangelist of the Second Great Awakening. But now Oberlin has lost a major lawsuit for abetting what might be described as "a collective hate-crime hoax," and the case could be a tipping point against political correctness. A petty shoplifting incident involving Oberlin students grew into a vicious protest against innocent parties. The innocent parties sued and won.
On first hearing the superficial facts of Gibson Bros. vs. Oberlin College, it's easy to see how easy it can be, in the current cultural climate, to draw erroneous conclusions based on knee-jerk assumptions of racial prejudice. A black student walked into a white family-run market, and Allyn Gibson, grandson of the owner of Gibson's Market, was working. Gibson not only inspected the student's ID card and found it suspicious but also suspected that the student intended to steal wine. The student ran out of the shop, and Gibson, who is white, collared him. It's obvious the clerk was motivated by racism, right? Not quite.
It turns out the ID was indeed fake. Two shoplifted bottles fell out of the student's shirt. He and two friends who ran to his rescue, all black, pleaded guilty to "attempted theft and aggravated trespass" and conceded that Gibson's Market "was not engaging in racial profiling." But at Oberlin, a white guy chasing a black guy can be proof of guilt. A mob mentality was loosed on the Oberlin campus. Staff and students boycotted Gibson's Market, persuaded the college to suspend a contract with Gibson's. The Gibson family was branded racist.
The family sued and won steep damages for libel, business interference and emotional distress. The jurors heard testimony about not only the damage done to the Gibsons and their store but also how the nominal adults in charge at Oberlin pushed a false narrative and gave in to student demands based on it. Oberlin's dean of students handed out a handbill accusing the market of a "long account of racial profiling and discrimination." Over five years, of the 40 arrested for shoplifting at Gibson's Bakery, only six were black.
After a trial that lasted more than six weeks, the jury awarded Gibson's $11.2 million in compensatory damages, and later, $33.2 million was awarded for punitive damages. Gibson's Food Mart and Bakery, a fifth-generation family business that had contributed to Oberlin and the community for more than 130 years, was vindicated.
The Legal Insurrection blog, which followed the case when few media outlets paid much, if any, attention, calls it a "victory of the ordinary men and women of Gibson's Bakery over the smug, dismissive, arrogant higher-ed bureaucrats and their social justice warrior troops."
Some legal analysts call the court decision a threat to free speech and onerous for universities, but others cite the psychological and economic damage inflicted on innocent people. College and university officials would know better, it seems to me, if they were as wise and intelligent as they say they are.
"This historic ruling confirms that no institution, no matter how powerful, may baselessly smear individuals or businesses in pursuit of their political or social agenda, and even a college as influential as Oberlin may be held accountable for its actions in a court of law," says Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson.
While Oberlin College is the oldest co-educational liberal arts college in the United States and was one of the first to admit women and African Americans, it has become a caricature of campus "snowflakes," a cartoon of political correctness in reckless pursuit of piety on display.
Free speech is a priceless protection for freedom, but Oberlin is learning at considerable cost that justice is not blind to bullying and libel, even on a campus where self-righteousness is highly prized. Oberlin's students are getting an expensive teaching moment.
I would not get too excited yet.
I bet they are shopping for an appeals judge who attended Oberlin or some similarly PC institution to set aside the verdict.
Oberlin has an $850 million endowment. So this judgment isn’t even 5% of their endowment.
It may deter somewhat, but unfortunately it doesn’t hurt them enough.
In all likelihood, they have reserves and endowments many times the judgment. Too bad, too. Nobody responsible will pay the price.
If THAT’S what alumni want to do with THEIR money... fine.
“This historic ruling confirms that no institution, no matter how powerful, may baselessly smear individuals or businesses in pursuit of their political or social agenda”
************
Washington DC excepted.
Even though they may have an $850 million endowment, that money is very likely designated to specific programs. People rarely give undesignated funds to colleges and universities. They give to support a specific professor, degree, etc. So, they may actually not have the money to pay this judgment without pain to current programs. Undesignated funds are extremely valuable and guarded b/c they are so rare.
If Oberlin wants to prove it learned something from this debacle, it would fire the Dean of Students and every other single administrator who lied about Gibson’s or otherwise fanned the flames without knowing the facts of the case. This has not happened yet, of course. Firing the miscreants will probably hurt more than writing the big check.
If Oberlin wants to prove it learned something from this debacle, it would fire the Dean of Students and every other single administrator who lied about Gibson’s or otherwise fanned the flames without knowing the facts of the case. This has not happened yet, of course. Firing the miscreants will probably hurt more than writing the big check.
Cry me a river. If Oberlin has to cut some salaries and reallocate other funds to pay the judgment, or borrow the money, fine. That means the next time this happens, the Administration will act like adults in the room instead of privileged snowflakes.
Still waiting for them to fire Dean Meredith Raimondo.
In other words, I think this judgment will hurt.
I dispute it. Prejudice is part of the human condition and has its roots in the intrinsic survival drive. Prejudice is only terrible when a modern person acts on it to cause harm to others. Try as they might, the Left will never eliminate prejudice. Indeed, they live by their own prejudices every day.
Yes. It should. Every member of the Trump Administration investigated by Mueller had to take out second mortgages on their homes to pay legal bills. Imagine the unfairness of that, Mueller’s team of 20 lawyers, with their unlimited budget, versus ordinary Joe Q Citizen. It caused quite a disruption to their lives and changed their financial planning.
So I don’t give a very a flying fark what financial pain Oberlin has to undergo. Borrow from the bank. Refinance their campus. Recruit some new Board members who help them get outside financing (and also hold them accountable). If the University’s net worth drops by 5% ($44 M/$850 M) big deal. Grown-ups understand financial setbacks and how to manage through them.
They could start by firing any Administrator who was even remotely involved in riling up the students or writing damning emails about Gibson. They could then send a message by cashiering the idiot woman they just hired as President. Social justice is her middle name.
"Department Overview
Philosophy is notoriously hard to characterize concisely, but many philosophical questions focus on the most general or fundamental features of the world, of human life, and of the ways we think about them.
Such questions may include the scope and limits of human knowledge; the nature of the mind and its relationship to the physical world; whether or not we have freedom of the will; what it is for something to be beautiful; the nature of morality; what it is for one thing to cause another; whether or not there is a scientific method; how words come to have meanings; whether or not mathematical objects exist; what it is to explain something; the nature of truth; what is to be a person; what sorts of political institutions we ought to adopt; the nature of time and space; what makes something a work of art… all of these are central philosophical topics and there are many more."
So, what's the morality involved in stealing and lying?
The only unfortunate fact is that the judgment was not for $850 million. Nonetheless, I laugh at these LIB losers. Hahahahahahahahaha.
After a trial that lasted more than six weeks, the jury awarded Gibson’s $11.2 million in compensatory damages, and later, $33.2 million was awarded for punitive damages. Gibson’s Food Mart and Bakery, a fifth-generation family business that had contributed to Oberlin and the community for more than 130 years, was vindicated.
A fifth generation family business that had contributed to the community for more than 130 years was vindicated, and if I owned it, would be no more.
I’d “take the money and run”, so to speak.
Well said, Tom.
Eff Oberlin
From Dixie
If Oberlin does, than all the bakery has to do is go to the Supreme court. It can not go higher than that
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