Cornell law prof: Oberlin bakery onslaught an 'example of the mob not waiting for facts'

Cornell law professor William Jacobson says that the recent controversy at Oberlin College over a bakery that was allegedly libeled is yet another example of the "mob not waiting for the facts to come out."

As Campus Reform reported Monday, Oberlin College in Ohio was ordered to pay $11 million in damages to Gibson's Bakery amid accusations of the college and its employees committing defamatory behavior against the family-owned shop, which largely depended on the college community for its business. The allegations against the bakery stemmed from a 2016 shoplifting incident, which involved a minority individual.

"This is another example of the mob not waiting for the facts to come out."

An onslaught of criticism against the bakery followed that incident, including many labeling the shop as racist. The racial minority involved in the 2016 incident, along with two more individuals, eventually pleaded guilty to attempted theft and aggravated trespassing.

[RELATED: Oberlin College sued for MILLIONS after attacking 'racist' local bakery]

In an exclusive interview with Campus Reform, Jacobson, who is also the founder of Legal Insurrection Foundation, which runs the website Legal Insurrection, said the slew of allegedly slanderous comments just goes to show how the "mob" doesn't wait on the facts to come out.

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Campus Reform asked Jacobson if the three individuals involved in the incident were the first ones to allege the bakery discriminated based on race, or if those allegations surfaced elsewhere.

"I'm not sure if they alleged it at the moment of the arrest but by that evening it was all over the campus," Jacobson said. "So who started it, I don't know, but significantly, several months later, all three pleaded guilty to shoplifting and to aggravated trespassing and in their plea statements acknowledged that they were shoplifting and that there was no racial profiling going on."

[RELATED: Lawsuit accuses Oberlin of slandering local bakery as racist]

The Cornell law professor then added, "this is another example of the mob not waiting for the facts to come out."

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