Someone freaked out over the mere presence of a Chick-Fil-A on a college campus. The Duquesne Duke reported on March 26:
At the March 26 Student Government Association meeting, Senator at Large Niko Martini proposed that the SGA pass a resolution asking the university to reconsider the inclusion of Chick-fil-A as a dining option for students.
Martini is on the Lambda executive board. He clarified that he made the proposal on his own behalf and not Lambda’s.
“Chick-fil-A has a questionable history on civil rights and human rights,” he said in a statement to The Duke. “I think it’s imperative the university chooses to do business with organizations that coincide with the [university’s] mission and expectations they give students regarding diversity and inclusion.”
The SGA Senate did not pass any resolution but agreed to consider an alternate resolution to vett the Chick-fil-A Express, which senators tabled for the April 9 SGA meeting to allow time to research the concerns.
“Lambda’s leadership met recently with Auxiliary Services to share their concerns regarding Chick-Fil-A’s corporate position on LGTBQIA+ issues,” said Alia Pustorino-Clevenger, director for student life assessment and co-curricular community engagement, and also Lambda’s faculty advisor. “They will continue to have meetings in the upcoming weeks with Auxiliary Services and Parkhurst to address this matter further.”
Lambda President Rachel Coury personally said she worries the safety provided by Gay-Straight Alliance might be in jeopardy.
“I’ve tried very hard within the last semester and a half to promote this safe environment for the LGBTQ+ community,” Coury said. “So I fear that with the Chick-fil-A being in Options that maybe people will feel that safe place is at risk.”
Duquesne announced March 20 the addition of the Chick-fil-A Express to the Options Food Court beginning in the upcoming fall semester. The decision to add a Chick-fil-A was a response to student feedback, according to Duquesne spokeswoman Bridget Fare.
“The decision was announced as soon as the due diligence activities, including working with the City on permitting for the renovations, were undertaken and approved,” Fare said.
Chick-fil-A has faced controversy in the past for financially backing organizations that are accused of supporting anti-LGBT rhetoric.
Coury expressed concerns over the company’s history of supporting organizations that “are specifically anti-gay organizations.”
Fare said that the fast food company “has assured [Duquesne] that they do not discriminate.” She also said that “Chick-Fil-A informed the University that they ceased giving to Focus on the Family and Exodus International several years ago and have eliminated corporate donations and established a foundation with focuses on youth and education.”
In a statement provided by Chick-fil-A, Manager of External Communications Amanda Hannah said that the Chick-fil-A Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm, focuses on youth and education.
“Only organizations directly aligned with that mission are funded,” Hannah said. “Programs with social or political agendas are not included in that giving.”
Reporting from the left-leaning website ThinkProgress revealed that the Chick-fil-A Foundation donated $1,017,610 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in 2014.
The FCA has a “Sexual Purity Statement” for its volunteers and staff. It includes stipulations such as, “The Bible is clear in teaching on sexual sin including sex outside of marriage and homosexual acts. Neither heterosexual sex outside of marriage nor any homosexual act constitute an alternative lifestyle acceptable to God.”
Coury is aware of Chick-fil-A’s efforts for inclusivity. However, she would like Duquesne to acknowledge there is still some tension.
“It would be a really big deal for Lambda and the whole LGBTQ community on campus if someone could make a statement to eliminate the fear of being marginalized by having this business on campus,” Coury said.
The response from the Duquesne community to the addition of the Chick-fil-A has been mostly positive, according to Fare.
Students seem to appreciate having extra choices for on-campus dining but are dubious about Chick-fil-A’s dealings.
Madison Seffrin, a senior computer science student, said that she thinks the new addition is “a good thing.”
“I think it gives us another option, and it’s more food choices that make us comparable to other colleges that have a lot more chain restaurants on their campus, which is something I think we lack,” Seffrin said.
When asked about Chick-fil-A’s association with non-profits that expose homophobic rhetoric, Seffrin said that she does not “necessarily” agree with “some of those aspects,” but does think they are “a relatively stand-up company.”
She said she is bound to have some differences of opinion with the company’s policies.
“It’s almost inevitable that a place that closes its doors on a Sunday will also not support some of the things that I support,” Seffrin said.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Alex Slater, a freshman economics student.
“I enjoy Chick-fil-A food and I eat there [in my hometown],” Slater said.
Slater had heard of the controversy surrounding the chain and disapproves of their connections to anti-LGBT groups.
“I don’t believe that should be something they should be involved in,” he said. “But that is something that warrants discussion and if it’s something that people are not comfortable with, that should be discussed as well.”
Chick-fil-A released a statement July 2012 that “going forward” they would “leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.” Tax filings for 2012 also showed that the company’s other charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, has ceased funding to all but one of the groups — the aforementioned FCA — accused of anti-LGBT practices.
SGA President Olivia Erickson expressed her and SGA’s intention to look into Martini’s and Coury’s apprehensions.
“We at SGA take this concern [about the installation of a Chick-fil-A on campus] very seriously,” Erickson said. “We are working on gathering students’ opinions and getting all the facts we can so we can make the best decision.”
“We serve as the voice of the students,” Erickson said. “SGA has a positive relationship with administration in order to function as liaisons for the students.”
Of course, they can't actually show were someone has been mistreated at a Chick-fil-A restaurant or where the chain has actually discriminated against anyone. Interesting to see someone so easily threatened by the serving of fried chicken.
29 comments:
What college this be at?
To think the mere thought of a chicken joint on their campus is so scary and upsetting that they feel threatened is astounding.
I wonder if Oral Roberts University has a Chik Fil A on campus. The school and its leadership basically run the state of Utah.
https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/23059-oral-roberts-university-case-another-threat-to-religious-schools
What does the NCAA say about the fact that this school would kick a player out of school if he were found to be homosexual?
Some people need to find another band wagon and leave the finger-lickin-good stuff alone.
@6:02: How does a school located in Tulsa, Oklahoma run the State of Utah? And what does finger lickin good have to do with Chick Fil A?
How can we blame Jackson's leadership for letting this happen?
Oh good Lord! Will someone give them a safety pin & tell them to go sit in the corner in their safe zone!! Damn snowflakes!!
I wonder if Oral Roberts University has a Chik Fil A on campus. The school and its leadership basically run the state of Utah.
Think it is time that you graduate to commenting over at Donner's Jackson Fake Press and Youth Indoctrination Camp.
ORU is in Oklahoma. I guess BYU and ORU just sort of blend in with Utah and Oklahoma.
PS. Idaho-potatoes. Iowa-corn. Not the same.
Anyone want to remind campus leaders that a black gay activist shot up the Family Research Council building in DC carrying a backpack with 15 Chik Fil A sandwiches and extra rounds of 9mm? To "make a statement" on gay rights and against CFA after their CEO expressed his religious beliefs? Or that CFA's business has soared after Left wing bigots attempted a "boycott?" The danger is from this type of left wing bigotry and hysterical paranoia. Not the other way around.
This is what passes for the college experience these days. Victimization 101.
Thanks, 7:23, for a good morning laugh!"How can we blame Jackson's leadership for letting this happen?" lol
I'm assuming that none of these kids take off for Christmas and just work straight through since they don't want to have anything to do with a Christian ideology? Good, glad they're keeping it consistent. Speaking of, I love the hypocrisy of liberals these days. They would be celebrating the diversity of a move to put a Mosque on campus, but go ballistic about a chicken restaurant whose owners have their own beliefs.
As a transspecies/otherkin person who identifies as a Holstein cow, I have to respectfully dissent from my LGBTQIA+ friends' criticism here.
Beyond literally saving the lives of millions of cows, Chick-fil-A fosters a welcoming environment in their restaurants, where you will frequently find employees who publicly present as bovine cheerfully greeting children, along with positive representations of cows on their marketing materials.
His better argument is that it will make the campus look tacky.
Fast food joints and other commercial property except for the campus bookstore should be elsewhere.
9:16 -- Have you ever been inside any college student union? Or are you just imagining what one might look like?
Unions aren't racquet clubs or museums. Virtually every one in the country has multiple fast food options.
9:16 has been to the student union @ ORU in Utah.
There are very few things the free market cannot address. Just let the haters start a chicken place and try to make a better product than chic-fil-a. But no, it is easy to tear somebody else's stuff down.
As disturbing as it is that they act this way, the far more troubling situation is that they are given attention, credence, and taken seriously by adults. This is the young adult manifestation of the temper tantrum and nobody has to balls to slap them across the face and tell them to grow up.
Dammit! We coddle these punks and give them snow globes and coloring books and safe spaces and they are a bunch of fucking marshmallows who have zero spine. They're only tough when they're in a crowd. It's classic brat behavior, like sticking your tongue out at another kid while peeking from behind your mother's skirt.
And I read a columnist in New York Magazine who was standing up for these nitwit morons. He's the one who needs a good ass-whipping.
Left Winger Woody Guthrie: "Left wing, right wing, chicken wing, it don't matter to me."
And, try to remember you are voluntarily attending a Catholic private university on Good Friday, Junior. The Romans didn't "tolerate" Christians, either.
We used to have to watch idiots run out onto the baseball field during a game just so they can get their mugs on TV. TV wisely stopped filming them, and even quit talking about "the idiot on the field", because they didn't want them to get their five minutes. That's what we should be doing to these snowflakes. Ignore them, don't attend the press conferences, don't run the stories in your media, and that includes you, Kingfish. Relegate them to obscurity and they'll either go away or be obscure.
Utah-Oklahoma. Potato-Putah-toe. My bad and apologies all around. It was early and I mispoke. To solve the problem, I'm buying everybody a chick/biscuit Sunday morning at 7:10 in Madison at Chick. I meant to say Brigham Young instead of Oral Roberts, but, yes, those two do sort of run together when it comes to power, influence and ideology.
And if you don't know what finger-lickin-good has to do with chicken, you are beyond help. Stick with chitlins.
Wouldn't it be ironic if a school named Oral were opposed to homosexuality? WAIT!
all you need to know about the state of utah is that it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the morman church .
Mormon. Actually LDS. Wonderful place. Ranked 10th in the nation in quality of life. We are bottom ranked.
While stumbling over states and college venues, the point made is that these Christ-Based schools run several states. And they either don't allow homosexuals or will kick one off the team if his passion is discovered.
And the question is: What does the NCAA have to say about this or do they simply choose to overlook the facts? They get all pissy over the bathroom argument and a state flag yet they ignore these states that discriminate openly on campi. They're going to have to either address this reality or get out of the business of politics altogether (which is what they ought to do). MY state flag and YOUR gender-identified bathrooms ain't nunna the damned bidness of the NCAA.
9:35 am I expect I've been to more student unions than you have. Just in the immediate family there are 4 undergraduate degrees and 5 advanced degrees all at different universities. That doesn't count all the colleges and universities we visited in our the selection process. The larger schools combined student unions with the bookstore, school franchise items and student union in one multi-story building. They had vending machines and if they had food, it was a food service contractor . Food service contractors also served in the cafeteria and alumni house and in the boxes of the stadium. But not a one had a fast food franchise unless it was in a large football stadium and basketball arena and then it was seasonal. And, they didn't want food like a chicken sandwich in the stands because of clean up. Can you imagine the mess there'd be in Cameron ?
University towns have restaurants and fast food in the towns and wouldn't take kindly to the university competing.
1:26 Don't think you'll be getting anything at CFA on a Sunday morning... anywhere.
12:03.....Ain't you smart. That's why I offered to buy everybody one Sunday. Here's your sign!
The only thing I know about Duquesne is that they lost to LSU in the finals of the All College Tournament in Oklahoma City in 1969. Maravich had 53.
LSU has had a McDonald's in its student union for at least 20 years.
And MSU has had a Chic Fil A in its union for a decade, maybe two. However long the franchise has existed. MSU also has military recruiting set up in the first floor of the union on a regular basis with not a whole lot of bedwetters gnashing teeth and busting pimples.
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