POLICE STATE-LAWRENCEVILLE, NEW JERSEY: CHICK-FIL-A NOT WELCOME AT RIDER UNIVERSITY
AUTHORITARIAN, DRACONIAN POLICE STATE IS THE MODEL TO BE
organizations that have been anti-LGBTQ, so that doesn’t align with our
wanting to have a place where people feel comfortable and that Rider is a
place that’s inclusive and welcoming,” Friedman-Krupnick said in an
interview with The Rider News on Nov. 12.”
“The email stated that “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.””
“Although this was what was written to Rider’s community, Aminov said
that the administration’s actual stance on free speech is hypocritical
and limiting.”
“In my opinion, the university only encourages free thinking as long as students think the way they want them to,” Aminov said.”
Rider
is a modestly-sized liberal arts university in Lawrenceville, New
Jersey. During the spring semester of 2018, administrators distributed a
survey in which students were asked about which restaurant franchises
they’d prefer to see locate to their campus.
Most students chose Chick-Fil-A above and beyond any other option.
And yet Rider—again, after inquiring into their preferences—refuses
to honor students’ wishes on the grounds that Chick-Fil-A’s “corporate
values have not sufficiently progressed enough to align with those of
Rider.”
According to Campus Reform, a
subsequent email explaining the administration’s decision was sent to
the student body. Evidently, Chick-Fil-A fails to “promote…inclusion
for all people.”
Julia Pickett, a political science major and
junior at Rider, objected to Rider’s decision, telling Campus Reform
that since Chick-Fil-A “sell[s] chicken,” its corporate values shouldn’t
be “the focus.” She added: “If people didn’t want to buy their food
then they don’t have to.”
Pickett also shared what she takes to be the real reason that accounts for Rider’s decision:
“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.” This being said, the
administration should “be honest about it though instead of trying to
cover it as a deep offense to the school.”
The Rider Assistant
Vice President of Student Affairs, Jan Friedman-Krupnick, informed
Campus Reform that both he and the University find it “important…that
all voices are heard.” However, while it’s correct that Chick-Fil-A is
(most) popular amongst students, “there are members of the community
(faculty, staff, and students) who strongly opposed the option as well.”
Of course, as anyone who has been paying any attention to the cultural
landscape for the last so many years knows all too well, Chick-Fil-A is
anathema to the political and ideological left for no other reason than
that it’s a traditionally Christian corporation. As such, it creates
employment opportunities for people young and not-so-young, male and
female, and the members of every conceivable racial, ethnic, and
religious background while insisting upon the highest quality of
customer service. Moreover, Chick-Fil-A has managed to become a
remarkably successful company, in many instances blowing away the
competition, even as it closes every Sunday to observe the Christian day
of rest.
Also in keeping with its Christian vision,
Chick-Fil-A continues to affirm what all peoples in all places and at
all times have always affirmed until pretty recently, namely, that
marriage is an inherently heterosexual union.
Chick-Fil-A, in other words, refuses to celebrate “same-sex marriage.”
But even this way of putting the matter is misleading. As such, it
reinforces precisely the narrative that the left has shaped in its
campaign to demonize one of the finest businesses in the country.
Chick-Fil-A is a family-operated business that was founded by S.
Truett Cathy. Back in 2012, its president and chief operating officer,
Dan Cathy, made an appearance on a radio program during which he made
the following comments:
“I think we are inviting God’s
judgement on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know
better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.’”
Cathy
went on to confess that he prays that God extends His “mercy on our
generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we
have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”
A month
later, when asked about Chick-Fil-A’s “support of the traditional
family” and the opposition against it, Cathy replied:
“We are very much supportive of the family—the Biblical definition of the family unit.”
Cathy elaborated:
“We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are
married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that…We want to do
anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much
committed to that.”
Cathy insisted that, despite the pressures
that leftist activist groups were bringing to bear upon his family’s
business, Chick-Fil-A had every intention of “stay[ing] the course.” He
concluded: “We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but
thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and
operate on biblical principles.”
Chick-Fil-A has donated money
to organizations known for their opposition to “same-sex marriage,”
organizations like the Pennsylvania Family Institute, the Family
Research Center, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. But notice:
the business whose “exclusive” or “anti-gay” “corporate values” are
allegedly incompatible with those of Rider University hasn’t a single
policy that so much as remotely speaks to the question of homosexuality,
to say nothing of “same-sex marriage.” Cathy was speaking to the
Christian vision of his family, a vision that is not only compatible
with, but which actually demands that gays, along with every other human being, be treated with the God-given dignity that inheres in all persons.
In other words, a person’s homosexual orientation is utterly
irrelevant to obtaining either a job or characteristically superb
customer service at Chick-Fil-A.
Yet perhaps it is ultimately this Christian vision that Rider University finds incompatible with its values.
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SEE ALSO:
https://www.advocate.com/business/2018/11/26/anti-lgbtq-chick-fil-not-welcome-new-jerseys-rider-university
EXCERPTS:
“”Chick-fil-A was removed as one of the options based on the company’s
record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community,”
Rider president Gregory G. Dell’Omo and vice president for student
affairs Leanna Fenneberg wrote in a letter to students posted Friday.”
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