Rider University, New Jersey, has removed the option to allow a branch of fast-food chain, Chick-fil-A, to open on its campus.
In 2012, Chick-fil-A’s CEO, Dan Cathy, stated that the company supported the “biblical definition of the family unit” and donated money to Christian charities which support traditional marriage.
Despite conducting a student survey, where students favoured a Chick-fil-A, Rider University refused to consider the restaurant as an option, on the basis of its anti-LGBT views.
‘Glorify God’
The university claimed that the restaurant would not create a “welcoming enviroment” for students.
The company’s corporate purpose is: “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us”.
Chick-fil-A was not applying to open a branch, but in response to its exclusion, a spokesperson for the business said its restaurants “welcome everyone” and have “no policy of discrimination against any group”.
Exclusion
University President Gregory Dell’Omo said: “We understand that some may view the decision as being just another form of exclusion”, but claimed this was “not the spirit” of the decision.
In 2015, Andrew Guernsey, from John Hopkins University where a Chick-fil-A was banned, said that keeping the university “free from one side of a debate on hot-button issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, is absolutely antithetical to Johns Hopkins’ stated commitment to the free and robust exchange of ideas”.