Oberlin College agrees to pay over $36M to bakery after supporting claim of racial profiling

Oberlin College has agreed to pay $36.59 million to a nearby bakery that accused the school, known for its progressive politics, of defaming and falsely accusing the business of racism after a worker caught a black student shoplifting.

The agreement ends the 6-year-long legal dispute between the Cleveland-area college and Gibson’s Bakery that attracted national attention over such issues as criminal justice, race and free speech, according to The New York Times.

The college’s board of trustees announced its decision Thursday to pay the million – nine days after the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the college’s appeal of a lower-court ruling,

The case centered on whether Oberlin officials defamed the bakery by supporting students who accused it of racial profiling. The courts decisions essentially said school officials had done so, which legal experts told the newspaper may make other colleges think twice about joining student causes, the newspaper also reports.