Share
Op-Ed

Parker: Small Bakery Handed Total Victory After Refusing to Bow Before Liberal College

Share

Periodically, in what seems like a never-ending assault on our basic values and the rule of law, good news emerges.

The good news now is that a panel of three judges on an Ohio court of appeals has unanimously supported a jury decision in favor of Gibson’s Bakery in its case against Oberlin College.

Gibson’s Bakery sued Oberlin for libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress and intentional interference with a business relationship because of the school’s support of student demonstrations accusing the bakery of racial profiling and discrimination.

The decision is worthy of our attention because it shows just how troubling the situation has become at our colleges and universities.

As our nation leans increasingly to the left and our most basic values — now called conservative values — are pushed out the door, displaced by the chaos of moral relativism, some bold individuals refuse to be intimidated.

Trending:
KJP Panics, Hangs Up in Middle of Interview When Reporter Shows He Isn't a Democratic Party Propagandist

That refusal has paid off for the Gibson family and for all Americans who care about truth. Oberlin now must pay a total of $31 million in damages to Gibson’s Bakery.


In 2016, a black Oberlin student was chased down by the son of the store’s proprietor after he caught the student shoplifting a bottle of wine. The student and two of his friends were arrested, and all subsequently pleaded guilty.

But the incident set off student demonstrations outside the mom-and-pop bakery, started by David Gibson’s great-grandfather in 1885. The owners were branded racists, and flyers were handed out by Oberlin’s dean of students claiming that the store had a history of racial profiling and discrimination.

Hopefully, the lawsuit filed and won by the Gibson family will put an end to the casual use of these horrible accusations.

The snapshot we now have of Oberlin College, which has a reputation as one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges, is deeply troubling.

Oberlin is now on the hook for millions of dollars in damages because its school administrators are so absorbed in their own liberal dogma that they can no longer think clearly, honestly and objectively.

The college maintains a web page dedicated to the case, and now, even after such a devastating defeat in court, it is still in denial about what happened.

Particularly concerning is that the school administration refuses to accept that this case was not about the First Amendment but about Oberlin’s support of its students committing libel against the Gibson family.

Over the years, I have spoken at almost 300 colleges and universities, and I have watched and experienced these campuses being taken over by left-wing activists.

Related:
Solomon: Court Decision Deals Body Blow After Biden Admin Tried to Block Corporate Move

In a study published in 2020 by the National Association of Scholars, 12,372 college faculty members were surveyed regarding political affiliation. Of the full sample, there were 8.4 registered Democrats for each registered Republican. At Oberlin, this ratio was 10.8-to-1.

Given that among the whole American population, the ratio of Democrats to Republicans is about 1-to-1, we get a picture of the incredibly distorted reality in higher education.

In the last presidential election, former President Donald Trump won the vote of those with no college degree 50 percent to 48 percent. He lost the vote of college graduates 43 percent to 55 percent.

The nation is indebted to the Gibson family for refusing to back down to the left-wing dogmatists at Oberlin College and for standing hard and fast for what is true.

© 2022 CREATORS.COM

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , ,
Share

Conversation