Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College: Difference between revisions
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Gibson's Bakery vs. Oberlin College is an Ohio legal case.
Incident
On November 9, 2016 an underage Oberlin College student attempted to purchase for a bottle of wine using a fake ID. When the store clerk rejected the fake identification card, he noticed that the student was concealing two other bottles of wine inside is jacket.[1] When the student tried to pay for a bottle of wine with a fake ID, and the store clerk noticed that the student had hidden two more bottles of wine under his coat.[1] The student ran out of the store, dropping the stolen wine as he was chased by the store clerk, Allyn D. Gibson, a son and a grandson of the owners.[1] Gibson was knocked to the ground, where he was hit and kicked by the thief and by two students who joined him in attacking him.[1]
Officers Sergeant Victor Ortiz, and Officer Raymond Feuerstein observed Allyn Gibson lying on his back with several people punching and kicking him.[2] Their report stated that Allyn Gibson "had several abrasions and minor injuries including what appeared to be a swollen lip, abrasions to his arms and wrists and a small cut on his neck."[3]
In August 20167, the three students pleaded guilty, admitting that their actions were wrong.[4]
Protests
The next day, hundreds of students gathered in a park across the street from Gibson's Bakery protesting the treatment of the three students on the grounds that the attempt to arrest the shoplifter, who was black, and the two students who joined the assault on Gibson, both also black, was racist.[1] Oberlin's Dean of Students, Meredith Raimondo and other College officials joined the protestors, bringing them pizza, authorizing the purchase of winter gloves for students protesting in cold weather, and helping pass out flyers urging passersby to boycott Gibson's.[1] Dean Raimondo helped students hand out broadsides urging : “Don’t Buy. This is a racist establishment with a long account of racial profiling and discrimination.” [1]
The College Senate voted ot boycott Gibson's.[2]
The College suspended its longstanding purchasing agreement with the Bakery.[1]
Oberlin blamed the bakery for bringing the protests on itself, claiming that “Gibson bakery’s archaic chase-and-detain policy regarding suspected shoplifters was the catalyst for the protests,” the college said. “The guilt or innocence of the students is irrelevant to both the root cause of the protests and this litigation.”[1]
Investigation
Local police records showed no previous accusations of racial profiling by Gibson's.[1]. According to police records, in the five years between 2011 and 2016, 2011, there had been four robberies at Gibson's Bakery including this incident, 40 adults arrested for shoplifting of whom 32 were white, six were black, and two Asian and "33 of the 40 were college students."[3]
Local merchants have suffered from shoplifting by students from the college.[1][3] The College newspaper had previously published an article describing shoplifting as a rite of passage among Oberlin students.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hartocollis, Anemona (14 June 2009). "It blamed the store for bringing its problems on itself. "Gibson bakery's archaic chase-and-detain policy regarding suspected shoplifters was the catalyst for the protests," the college said. "The guilt or innocence of the students is irrelevant to both the root cause of the protests and this litigation."". New York Times. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ a b Sloan, Tyler (11 November 2016). "Students Call for Gibson's Bakery Boycott". The Oberlin Review, University Wire.
- ^ a b c Malkin, Michelle (18 December 2016). "Baking up racism at Oberlin College". The Sun (Lowell).
- ^ Kang, Dake (12 December 2017). "Racial dispute at beloved bakery roils liberal college town". Philadelphia Inquirer.