Purdue not taking any food for thought from anti-Chick-fil-A protesters
Purdue University slammed protests from students and faculty Friday of its Chick-fil-A dining service arriving in fall 2020, clarifying that the school would not “ever seriously consider such an action.”
Jo Boileau, student body president at the Indiana school, claimed that the restaurant was problematic for Purdue’s LGBT community, saying “as an openly gay student, this is something I’m confronting on a daily basis,” according to The Lafayette Journal & Courier.
A motion by the equality and diversity committee, part of Purdue’s university senate, aims to make the school’s commercial endeavors “uphold the same values and promote inclusivity with their policies, hiring practices and actions.”
The proposal, which did not explicitly name Chick-fil-A -- a chain which has donated to pro-family groups in the past -- will be the subject of an Oct. 21 university senate vote, the Journal & Courier reported. But the university has seemingly already issued a verdict.
[RELATED: MAP: Campus backlash against Chick-fil-A spreads nationwide]
”We respect and protect the rights of all to express their opinions at Purdue,” a Friday statement by the school, but “this long-requested dining option will not be taken from [the campus community] and to dispel any impression that Purdue would ever seriously consider such an action.”
Purdue notes that demand from students, faculty, and staff for the restaurant has been “overwhelming.”
”Like all Purdue vendors, the young woman franchisee, a Purdue graduate, has signed and observed a commitment of equal access and treatment in her employment and service practices,” the school continues. “We would not be promoting choice and freedom by depriving thousands of people in our community of a choice they have long sought and are already taking advantage of in large numbers. And, we would not be practicing inclusion by excluding a completely legitimate business and its staff from our campus.”
[RELATED: KU faculty council BEGS university to kick Chick-fil-A to the curb]
Not all are pleased with the school’s stance.
“I’m extremely disappointed that Purdue is not standing behind our diversity statement,” Purdue professor Linday Prokopy said, according to the report. “While it’s freedom of speech for people to choose to eat where they like, and I would not object to a Chick-fil-A off-campus, it is not OK for the university to so openly tell the LGBTQ community that we are OK hosting a business that will donate profits to groups that seek to hurt them.”
As Campus Reform has previously reported regarding Chick-fil-A charitable donation history:
According to the Chick-fil-A Foundation’s website, the company donated $150,000 to the Salvation Army in 2017, funding camps for children, as well as the Atlanta, Ga. Angel Tree program, which provides holiday gifts to poor children. The same year, the foundation donated $1.6 million to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for school programs and sports camps. As for the Paul Anderson Youth Home, Chick-fil-A donated $6,000 to the group in 2017 for a yearly Christmas dinner theater, as well as a bike ride fundraiser. The three groups have indicated, to varying degrees, that they do not support homosexuality.
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