Get Woke, Go Broke: A Cautionary Tale of Oberlin College and Insurance

Oberlin College was in dismay this past week, as a jury quickly awarded a 5th generation bakery near the campus nearly $11 million in the verdict that should not surprise those of us in the normal realm of society. The bakery did not refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding, or practice discrimination in any way. It simply prosecuted shoplifters for stealing baked goods. And, the decision makers at Oberlin College decided it was racial discrimination, and helped organize protests of students and faculty against the bakery, who had been near the college since the literal 1800’s.

Oberlin’s insurance carrier, Lexington (which we write through at Coastal Alabama Insurance), is refusing to help pay the damages, as the act(s) of Oberlin were intentional and not accidental. Insurance does not provide coverage for malicious intention, nor should it. Insurance is there in times of accidents, not times of purposeful actions.

In the opinion of this agent, the insurance carrier was in the right, and Oberlin College did the wrong thing on several occasions. In our society, we have all have roles, and insurance is a necessity for certain parts of our financial makeup and fabric. However, as we forge forward into a society of extreme political correctness, where the prosecution of thieves generates protests not due to the crime but the color of the criminals, insurance rightly should not provide coverage for the perpetrators of PCU (Political Correctness University).

As Oberlin College and their administration recently found out, getting woke has it’s price, Specifically, $11 million. At a college where tuiton rates are nearly $75k per year, $11 million should be covered quickly, however the message from the righteous jury is simple: Get Woke, Go Broke.