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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
Opinion From the Editor
Oberlin case teaches colleges a vital lesson
Editorial
Mobility works Academic research, anecdotes and common sense tell us that Northeast Ohio suffers from a workforce mismatch, with a lack of reliable transportation standing in the way of many people getting and keeping jobs. This is a difficult problem, but it’s fixable, and we’re encouraged that there’s both increased recognition of the challenge and a willingness to get creative to find answers. A June 17 article by Crain’s manufacturing reporter Rachel Abbey McCafferty examined the extent to which transportation has become a key issue in companies’ difficulties in finding reliable workers. Brianna Schultz, vice president of workforce development at Manufacturing Works, went as far as to say she considers transportation the “biggest barrier” to employment, in part because transportation problems can make “otherwise reliable people look unreliable.” She noted, for instance, a classic geographic mismatch: While many Northeast Ohio manufacturing jobs are in suburbs such as Euclid and Solon, a good number of available workers live in the city center, rely on public transportation and don’t have easy access to those jobs. For those who take a bus, underfunding of public transit and subsequent service cuts by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority have created some long commutes — two hours, in the case of one worker at a Solon company cited by Bethia Burke, vice president of the Fund for Our Economic Future. That creates a strong disincentive for people to pursue those jobs, limiting employers’ candidate pool. For people who do manage to land a position, it creates huge pressure to be on time, or to find the time to upgrade skills. To some extent, this validates the meaning of place. Not long ago, workforce experts thought we were approaching a point where location no longer mattered and people could work from virtually anywhere. That’s true in some fields but not others, and it turns out people like being close to things. A new Brookings Institution report looked at the national
trend of jobs gravitating to urban cores and made a striking finding with respect to Cleveland. Crain’s government reporter Jay Miller wrote that while the number of jobs in the Cleveland area declined a bit from 2004 to 2015, “the location of those jobs has become more concentrated.” The report found job density here “increased by 30% from 2004 to 2015, from 8,924 jobs per square mile to 11,578 jobs per square mile.” That increase in density was due largely to the growth of jobs in health care and technology, stretching from Midtown Corridor to University Circle. Chad Shearer, lead author of the report, offered this advice: “City and regional leaders can build stronger, more inclusive economies by investing in policies that promote more concentrated development patterns that better meet the needs of businesses and workers.” Stronger funding of public transit is a key component to this, too. The state of Ohio has long been a laggard in this area, though under Gov. Mike DeWine, it has begun to increase investments for the state’s 61 urban and rural transit systems. This is a good start, but transit has been underfunded for so long that it will take a sustained effort to bring Ohio into parity with more forward-looking states. We encourage lawmakers to see public transit as a key economic development asset and provide more funding for it in future budgets. On a smaller scale, we’re eager to see what comes out of a $1 million effort from the Fund called the Paradox Prize, which is designed to encourage solutions to what Burke calls the “mobility paradox.” That paradox: “No car, no job. No job, no car.” The Fund is soliciting ideas for urban, suburban and rural environments. Applicants will submit a 300-word summary of the transportation challenge they’re trying to address, a proposed solution and potential partners. A lot of you are creative thinkers on these subjects. Take the Fund up on its challenge.
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No walls separate Oberlin College from the city it inhabits. The college and the city of Oberlin both were born in 1833 and grew up together. Tappan Square serves as a gateway of sorts between the two. Across from the square, small businesses line West College Street, wrapping south around Main Street. You can find yarn at the Ben Franklin, vintage clothing at Ratsy’s Store, handyman advice at Watson Hardware, and the best burgers (and tater tots) in town at The Feve. I worked in Oberlin for a short time before coming to Crain’s, and I explored its many charms, quirks and history. Don’t get me started on the delicious pizza at Lorenzo’s. Gibson’s Bakery was another of my occasional lunchtime stops. Situated in the shadows of the town square, Gibson’s has served up its delicious butter cookies, canElizabeth McIntyre dies and other sweets since 1885. As Crain’s reporter Rachel Abbey McCafferty explains in this week’s issue, the venerable bake shop and convenience store made national headlines recently when a jury ordered Oberlin College to pay Gibson’s $44 million for defamation, infliction of emotional distress and intentional interference of business relationships. The amount of the judgment is likely to be reduced, and rightfully so, based on Ohio legal requirements. The lasting effects of the case, however, should reverberate among colleges and universities for years to come. According to court documents and reports in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, here’s what happened: In November 2016, an Oberlin undergraduate student, who is black, attempted to shoplift wine at Gibson’s and was pursued by clerk Allyn Gibson, the white great-grandson of the store’s founder. Police were called and found the student and two friends punching and kicking Gibson in Tappan Square. The three undergrads were charged and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. Oberlin students then began days of protest against Gibson’s, joined by college administrators, demanding a boycott of the store. Oberlin’s dean of students and other college representatives bought pizza, used student funds to purchase gloves for the protesters, and helped pass out fliers, printed on college equipment, stating: “This is a RACIST establishment with a LONG ACCOUNT of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION.” Within weeks, Oberlin College temporarily suspended its purchase of baked goods from Gibson’s. Gibson’s then sued. The case has been cast in many circles as an attack on free speech. As a journalist, I’m always the first to defend free speech, but facts matter. A student spouting an opinion is different than an organization with community standing and a billion-dollar endowment doing so. College administrators actively engaged in defaming Gibson’s Bakery and ended a long-standing contract with Gibson’s based on students’ refusal to eat its baked goods. Higher education institutions need to provide students the space to exercise their rights to free speech and ensure safety, as Oberlin College argued in its defense. And yes, school administrators can be politically active on their own time. It crosses the line, though, when the administrators are actively protesting in their official capacity. The smart educators at Oberlin got their advanced degrees by doing research, defending a thesis and backing up theory with logic and fact. They got the institution into legal trouble by doing none of that and instead by rushing to judgment. I agree with Ashland University President Carlos Campo, who talked to McCafferty for her article in this week’s issue. This case should serve as a reminder for administrators to get the facts before carrying a protest sign.
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6/21/19 12:56 PM