Jury: Oberlin Should Pay Additional $33 Million

Last week an Ohio jury ordered Oberlin College to pay a local bakery's owners $11 million, finding that the college and its officials had libeled the business and its owners when students held protests of the bakery. The protest was based on accusations that the bakery had mistreated black students, but those students admitted later that the altercation they had with the bakery's owners followed an attempt to shoplift. On Thursday, the jury added $33 million in punitive damages, even though Ohio law limits such damages to twice the compensatory damages, or $22 million in this case, The Chronicle-Telegram reported.

A spokesman for Oberlin said that the college had no comment.