Some students at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University live in “fear” of the arrival of a Chick-fil-A fast-food restaurant to their college’s food fair, Campus Reform reports.
It’s not about the chicken sandwiches but the fact that the corporation had the temerity to support traditional marriage during the same-sex marriage debate.
Now student senators at the university say they can’t abide a Chick-fil-A location at their school and are trying to cancel plans for the restaurant to open in the fall.
Chick-fil-A has been the subject of chickophobic protests from gay-friendly politicians and liberal activists everywhere since its president, Dan Cathy, acknowledged that it had donated money to organizations opposed to changing the traditional definition of marriage.
That’s never yesterday’s news to the LGBT crowd. So Duquesne University Student Senator Niko Martini proposed a resolution at the March 26 student government association meeting to stop the arrival of conservative fast food before it’s too late.
“Chick-fil-A has a questionable history on civil rights and human rights,” Martini told The Duquesne Duke. “I think it’s imperative [that] the university chooses to do business with organizations that coincide with the [university’s] mission and expectations they give students regarding diversity and inclusion.’
That resolution failed but the student government did agree to another resolution that would allow for a “vetting process” of the new restaurant.
Martini’s campaign has been embraced by the university’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) where Martini is a member of the executive board. The GSA says Chick-fil-A poses a clear and present danger to the group’s “safe place” on campus.
“I’ve tried very hard within the last semester and a half to promote this safe environment for the LGBTQ community. So I fear that with the Chick-fil-A being in Options [an on-campus food fair] that maybe people will feel that safe place is at risk,” GSA president Rachel Coury said.
She suggested it would be a “big deal” if “someone could make a statement to eliminate the fear of being marginalized by having this business on campus.”
Student government president Olivia Erickson did make a big deal of the matter, saying she takes “this concern very seriously,” and is “working on gathering students’ opinions and getting all the facts we can so we can make the best decision.”
Ironically, Chick-fil-A is only coming to Duquesne because a student survey asked for more chicken dinner options on campus.
According to the report: “More than 245 college campuses around the country…have successfully brought Chick-fil-A onto their campuses,” said executive director of auxiliary services Scott Richards. ‘Now, our students will have the opportunity to enjoy the brand on our campus…”
