NJ College Against On-Campus Chick-fil-A Due To Its LGBTQ Views

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ - Rider University officials have decided they don’t want a popular but controversial fast food chicken restaurant on campus, no matter what the outcome of a student survey shows.

About a month ago, university officials sent out a survey to students asking them what new restaurant franchise they would like to see on campus. While Chick-fil-A was initially included as an option for students, officials later decided to remove it based on the perception that the restaurant is opposed to the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

“That decision required a difficult assessment of competing interests,” Rider President Greg Dell’Omo and Vice President Leanna Fenneberg said in a joint letter posted on the university’s website. “We sought to be thoughtful and fair in balancing the desire to provide satisfying options for a new on-campus restaurant while also being faithful to our values of inclusion.”

The university didn't say what other restaurants were under consideration, or what support Chick-fil-A received in the survey. However, it was reportedly one of the more popular choices, and there has been some student pushback to the decision.

Julia Pickett, a junior political science major and president of Rider's Young Americans for Liberty chapter, told Campus Reform she doesn't think the decision is fair, and that their food should have been the deciding factor, not their corporate values.

“If people didn't want to buy their food then they don't have to,” she said. “I think that the administration of Rider felt that having Chick-Fil-A on campus would cause unwanted controversy and felt that the easiest fix was to find another restaurant. I wish they would be honest about it though instead of trying to cover it as a deep offense to the school.”

In 2012, Chick-fil-A came under fire following revelations that Chick-fil-A's charitable organization, the WinShape Foundation, donates to the Family Research Council, which reportedly lobbied against a resolution that would denounce Uganda's so-called "Kill the Gays" bill. The bill calls for the death penalty for anyone who commits an act of homosexuality, which has been deemed a crime in Uganda.

In July of that year, Chick-fil-A president and chief operating officer Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press his company is ““very much supportive of the family,” and that is “the biblical definition of the family unit,” which doesn’t include homosexuals.

“The choices in this situation, like in so many others, were imperfect,” Dell’Omo and Fenneberg continued in their letter. “They challenged us to reflect on our values and consider what kind of community we want to provide for those who live and learn at Rider University. Ultimately, we decided to lean in the direction of creating a welcoming environment where differences can be appreciated and where each individual can expect to experience dignity and respect.”

They went on to say the decision shouldn’t be viewed as a form of exclusion, as they acknowledge the rights of the organization and individuals on their campus to hold any beliefs they wish.

“In many ways, this issue is one that goes beyond our decision and touches on a complex conversation taking place throughout the country,” they said. “We believe this is a conversation worth having, and we encourage dialogue to take place where many individuals with different perspectives can engage one another respectfully. As an institution of higher learning, we believe strongly in the open exchange of ideas and positions — especially around a complex issue such as this one.”

The conversation will continue, as the university’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion is organizing a campus forum so that they can hear from all students, faculty, staff and others. A date for that forum has not yet been set.

Truett Cathy opened Chick-fil-A in 1946 in Georgia. The restaurant has deep Christian values, reflected in part in the fact that it's closed on Sunday so that its employees can set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose.

Rider isn’t the first university to make this type of decision about Chick-fil-A. In 2012, the student senate at Galloway-based Stockton University actually voted in favor of telling the university to ask Chick-fil-A to leave campus.

However, then-president Herman Saatkamp later issued a statement saying it was in that university’s best interests to let the restaurant remain on campus.

Read more here: Chick-fil-A To Remain On Stockton’s Campus

Additionally, after Chick-fil-A initially came under fire, the Jim Henson Company discontinued a partnership in which it supplied toys for the chain’s kids meals.

Image via David Allen for Patch.