A ‘woke’ liberal arts college in Ohio is in a lot of financial hot water. After Oberlin College falsely accused a family-run Ohio bakery of racism, the shop was awarded $36 million in damages, and the owner called the payout “bittersweet.” After the liberal arts school finally forked over the settlement this month for the November 2016 incident, Lorna Gibson, of Gibson’s Bakery, appeared on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
“It is definitely bittersweet,” said Gibson on the Fox News show. “It took a tremendous toll. A lot of stress, a lot of financial toll. It definitely hit us hard,” said the bakery owner. Sadly, as the lengthy legal battle over the incident played out, both Gibson’s father and husband died, the New York Post reported.
Eventually, the bakery won its defamation suit against Oberlin. The whole issue started when three African-American students were caught shoplifting wine and claimed the store racially profiled them. The students were then chased out of the bakery by Gibson’s son, Allyn, and a scuffle ensued. The police then arrived, and the three students claimed Allyn racially profiled and assaulted them.
Things then got even worse for Gibson, as soon after, protesters gathered outside the bakery and demanded a boycott of its products. It was claimed by an Oberlin College staffer that the family had a “long account of racial profiling and discrimination” and disturbed fliers calling for the boycott.
In September, Gibson wrote in a piece for The Post: “A week after the incident, the school canceled all of our standing orders…The school put out a statement that implied that this wasn’t an isolated incident.” “Our business from the students themselves and administrators… dried up completely. And the students kept showing up to protest.” wrote Gibson.
Even though it was a win on paper for the family and its bakery, as the shoplifting students eventually pleaded guilty to attempted theft, the bakery itself lost a lot of business and suffered reputational damage, the family said.
In order to rebuild the store, they plan to use the money they have gotten from the settlement. “This should’ve really been a teaching moment for the college… and the students learned, they admitted their guilt, they apologized and went forward,” Gibson’s attorney Lee Plakas said. “The college still doesn’t get it,” added Plakas. “The teachers refused to be taught or accept the lesson,” the attorney concluded.
Gibson hopes the case teaches people not to jump to conclusions, as she says. “I just hope that if incidents occur that people step back and try to find out what really happened and not jump to conclusions or listen to just a few to escalate something,” concluded Gibson.