Exposing Oberlin College Trustee Chaos

The Oberlin College Series

Posted Sep 7, 2019 at 00:08. Revised Dec 24, 2022 at 13:15.

10/7/2022. BOT repeals history!

The Oberlin College BOT has decided to end 180+ years of faculty independence (The Finney Compact). This will reduce the faculty to hired help, whose job now is to shut up and follow orders. The BOT has had the authority all along to kill the 180+-year-old Finney Compact without the consent of anyone else. Until now, the BOT understood that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

9/11/2022. Gibsons paid.

The Oberlin College BOT has humbled itself and agreed to pay the Gibsons the court-ordered settlement. As one would expect from such a sanctimonious group, the percentage being paid by insurance has not been revealed. Why should it be? It is not the BOT’s money, but only money from dead benefactors!

Post-trial developments.

5/27/2022. It’s April Fool’s Day in Oberlin!

Oberlin College has combined April Fool’s Day and Ground Hog Day. Will the court order immediate payment to the Gibsons?

5/16/2022. Off to the races, again!

Oberlin College has filed a jurisdictional appeal of the Gibson decision with the Ohio Supreme Court. Historically, the court has agreed to hear less than 10% of the Jurisdictional Appeals filed in it.

3/31/2022. Gibson’s Bakery wins!

The court has chosen to present Oberlin college with its verdict just in time for April Fool’s day, apparently to salute the college for its folly in this matter. The following is from the official and heavily censored Oberlin College alumni website:

Oberlin Alumni Association
Today, President Ambar shared the message below with Oberlin’s students, faculty, and staff. We wanted to share it with you, our alumni, as well. Dear students, faculty, and staff, An Ohio appeals court in Akron issued its ruling today regarding Gibson’s Bakery. We are still reviewing the 50-page decision, but I can share that the appeals court has kept the lower court’s judgment intact. While this news is disappointing, we knew it was a possibility. The Board is reviewing the Court’s opinion carefully, will consult with counsel, evaluate our options and determine our next steps. 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. But this outcome does not change the things we know to be true. It is still true that Oberlin is a great institution. We have a rich history that we can be proud of and a bright future that we have the joy of being able to shape. This ruling does not change our core work to create a dynamic and innovative environment for Oberlin students. We also are committed to fostering a positive work environment for our faculty and staff. Oberlin remains a place students enter to learn to meet the world as it is and a place they leave with the skills to go out and change the world for good. I am optimistic, not because the circumstances are always favorable, but because I believe that I am with the right community, at the right institution, at the right time. I could not be prouder of our work together, and this good work will continue. I look forward to what is possible and to our collective efforts. Best regards, Carmen Carmen Twillie AmbarPresident

3/27/2022. Waiting…

There is no indication when the Gibson case appeal, heard in early November 2020,  will be decided. Earlier, the appellate court ordered the trial court to unseal (publish) Allyn D. Gibson’s voluminous private Facebook posts.

8/22/2021. Missing judge replaced.

The court has replaced the missing judge hearing the appellate panel for the Gibson Bakery matter.

4/6/2021. Oberlin’s Sex Police Lose.

College loses sexcapades appeal.

4/5/2021. Oberlin Loses Title  IX case.

Court rules against college and Title IX.

12/20/2020. Following stupid orders?

The rats in the administration may be just soldiers following stupid orders from the BOT. If this is the case, the BOT will likely blame their soldiers and fire them for committing war crimes — i.e., following immoral orders.

12/8/2020. BOT lied to by College Administration?

Badly choked communication channels between the BOT and the college administration strongly suggest that the BOT was extensively and glibly lied to by people they trusted. That would explain a lot.

OberlinChaos is now working with other interested parties to find a way out of the tragic corner where the BOT finds itself. Attempting to reason with the BOT might be an exercise in absurdity.

Gibson’s Bakery — shoplifting started it all!

So, what does the Oberlin College Board of Trustees (the BOT) have to do with attacking Gibson’s Bakery? The answer is virtually nothing until the day after President Trump was elected. On that day, an underage Black college student attempted to buy wine in Gibson’s Bakery using a poorly counterfeited ID. When this failed, he tried unsuccessfully to shoplift the wine.
Allyn D. Gibson restrained the shoplifter outside the store, where two black women students assaulted Allyn before the police arrived. Allyn was not a store owner — a legally important fact later. The shoplifting student used physical violence against Allyn and his father, David Gibson, and threatened Allyn’s life during the shoplifting incident. These complications turned what would typically have been a misdemeanor into a criminal matter.

Oberlin College students boycott Gibson’s Bakery.

Less than 10% of the student body then launched a Gibsons’ Bakery boycott believing the accusations of racism and racial profiling against the Gibsons, and the screwups began. Most black residents of Oberlin were shocked by these accusations because they had known the Gibsons all their lives and understood the College’s slanderous allegations to be untrue.
The unproven accusations against the Gibsons rapidly gained momentum in the deflected anger over the 2016 presidential election results and the resultant TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome). Individuals in the College administration, including Dean Raimondo, supported the students by enthusiastically leaving behind a paper trail documenting their libel and slander against the Gibsons. The slanderous paperwork was a trial lawyer’s paradise consisting of emails, publicly distributed flyers, and college bulletin board postings. Not smart.

Don’t blame Dean Raimondo
For unleashing the students.
Blame the BOT
for not leashing Raimondo.

This campaign was devastating to the bakery because it endured 40 shoplifting incidents from primarily white college students over the previous 18 months. Based on the unproven accusations, the students advocated that no one patronize the bakery.

Oberlin College policy and procedure deficiencies.

Unlike most educational institutions, the BOT never defined a complete libel and slander policy. It provided no clear way for determining when an individual or group speaks for the College. Consequentially, people can shove their words into the College’s mouth.

The College made no effort to deny the students implicit or explicit permission to slander the Gibsons as an official college act. This oversight provided the Gibson lawyers with a vast arsenal of ammunition. They took the case on a contingency basis (only paid if they won) because they saw an almost certain victory.

Dereliction of duty explodes.

This blog calls out the dereliction of duty and breach of fiduciary duty by the BOT’s members for allowing the FUBAR, Keystone Kops style Gibson’s v. Oberlin College litigation to run so far out of control.
It appears that misinterpreting the first amendment’s freedom of speech provision is the College’s new excuse for letting slander run wild.
The BOT has accidentally given license to anyone associated with the College to shove whatever words they might choose into the College’s mouth, all in support of “free speech!”