Administrators at Rider University in New Jersey are depriving students of an on-campus Chick-fil-A. Even though the school’s students voted to bring the restaurant on campus, the president and vice president decided it might offend some people.
President Gregory Dell’Omo and Vice President for Student Affairs Leanna Fenneberg said in a letter to students last week that Chick-fil-A is “widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community.”
A survey had gone out last year asking students to choose from a list of restaurants that they would most like to see on campus. Chick-fil-A was voted No. 1, but the school sent out a second survey a few weeks ago and Chick-fil-A had been removed as an option altogether.
“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,” Dell’Omo and Fenneberg said in their letter. They also said they had asked the school’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion to schedule a forum, “so that the voices of students, faculty, staff and others can continue to be heard, and we can all grow from this experience.”
So much welcoming and growing has got to be exhausting.
The restaurant’s anti-gay reputation, such as it exists, goes back to its history of corporate donations to Christian organizations and advocacy groups, including ones that oppose same-sex marriage. But there’s little evidence of a “widely perceived” belief that people think they can’t eat the chicken anyway — even gay and transgendered people.
Likewise, Chick-fil-A this year received the highest rating among fast food restaurants, amid a population that overwhelmingly supports same-sex marriage, according to one poll from this May. The American American Customer Satisfaction Index 2018 report found that Chick-fil-A got 87 points out of 100, based on a survey of 22,500 restaurant-goers.
Panera Bread (which is awful) came in second with 82 points.
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