
(Associated Press)
(Updated 7:18 p.m.)
A high-priced North Carolina liberal arts college is considering kicking Chick-fil-A off campus because of the Atlanta-based company’s leader’s position on marriage.
Several months after they were made, comments by Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy in support of traditional marriage between a man and woman continue to reverberate. Earlier this month Cathy reaffirmed his commitment to “biblical families.”
The Student Government Association at Elon, a $38,000-a-year private college in north-central North Carolina, recently voted in favor of a resolution asking administrators to stop offering Chick-fil-A sandwiches on campus, according to The Times-News newspaper.
“We are honored to serve the students, faculty and staff of Elon University and to be a part of their campus,” said Chick-fil-A spokesman Jerry Johnston in a statement Wednesday. “The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year service tradition in all of its locations is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. Our intent is not to engage in political or social debates.”
The Elon resolution, drafted by a campus gay-straight alliance, accuses the company of not being in compliance with Elon’s anti-discrimination policy, partly because critics say the company has funded groups considered to be anti-gay and lesbian.
The 35-11 SGA vote was made despite overwhelming support for Chick-fil-A by Elon students, alumni faculty and staff, according to a poll conducted by the student newspaper, The Pendulum, which supports keeping Chick-fil-A sandwiches on campus.
Chick-fil-A’s contract is with Aramark, Elon’s food service vendor. A university spokesman told The Times-News the college could instruct Aramark to find another vendor, but no decision has been made.
Whether Chick-fil-A is eventually dropped, however, is another matter. While many colleges have seen student protests and petitions against Chick-fil-A in the wake of Cathy’s comments, few have instituted an outright ban on the company’s sandwiches.
Elon, founded in 1889, has an enrollment of about 4,000 and ranks No. 2 among Southern universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 America’s Best Colleges Guide.”
(Thanks for your comments!)
175 comments Add your comment
notowndown69
October 17th, 2012
4:49 pm
Will you lefty lunatics please stop forcing your genitals down everyone’s throats? Why can’t you just be secure in your lifestyle that you are correct in your fantasies and let everyone else be right? Stop trying to covert people that do not want to be perverted.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
4:49 pm
Abe Froman
October 17th, 2012
4:39 pm
. . .I shun the homosexual agenda that forces colleges like Elon (against the will of it’s students) to make a political statement by punishing a company due to it’s CEO’s exercise of free speech.
Yeah, 50 years ago you would have been decrying liberal elites for forcing Lester Maddox to shut down the Pickrick because he wouldn’t serve nonwhites.
I understand the differences between that situation and the one at Elon, but social injustice has no place in society today. Be a Christian and cook chicken all you want, but don’t expect tolerance of your behavior when you give money to actual hate groups to use the law to enforce your zealotry.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
4:50 pm
notowndown69
October 17th, 2012
4:49 pm
Will you lefty lunatics please stop forcing your genitals down everyone’s throats? Why can’t you just be secure in your lifestyle that you are correct in your fantasies and let everyone else be right? Stop trying to covert people that do not want to be perverted.
You think about genitals being forced down your throat more than gay people do. You wanna hook something up on the down-low?
God Forbid Someone Should Hold A Different Opinion
October 17th, 2012
4:51 pm
That’s a bunch of bull hockey brought on by DIVERISTY and Political Correctness. If you emphasize your differences, you emphasis differences, not commonality. The man has a right to his opinions, just as the stupid students have a right not to eat chicken. So what if all the straight people opted not to buy from gay people or gay-friendly companies? That would be just as stupid. No respect for the First Amendment, and no “tolerance” for anyone that holds “different (diverse)” opinions than themselves. When your mind is too open, the sense apparently falls right out of it. YAY DIVERSITY.
God Forbid Someone Should Hold A Different Opinion
October 17th, 2012
4:52 pm
Lord, I apologize for misspelling “Diversity”. I hope I don’t spend eternity in Hell for that.
Comment Worth Repeating
October 17th, 2012
4:52 pm
Billy Mays is NOT Here
October 17th, 2012
4:44 pm
News Flash: Billy Mays died of a drug overdose. Sounds like he might have attended Elon before he snorted too much OxyClean. RIP
John 14:6
October 17th, 2012
4:53 pm
As long as yu believe in the Trinity, my friend, you will not have to worry about going to hell…..
mybulldawgs
October 17th, 2012
4:53 pm
As far as I’m concerned, this stupid Liberal-liberal-liberal arts college is only cutting itself off from delicious Chick-fil-a. That’s their loss. Chick-fil-a is to be applauded for running their organization as a Christian based organization. This country needs far more just like them. Send this liberal arts campus to Cuba or Russia.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
4:53 pm
Thrash
October 17th, 2012
4:48 pm
You are not making any type of a statement, other than accentuating your blind intolerance towards others that don’t share your sentiment.
Once again, not accepting intolerance, hate, and zealotry IS NOT INTOLERANCE. You are extraordinarily ignorant when you post stuff like that. Just stop mincing words and admit you hate queers because you have deep insecurities about your own sexuality.
Harris
October 17th, 2012
4:54 pm
This is old news, over and done with. Why is this college bringing it up again???
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
4:55 pm
God Forbid Someone Should Hold A Different Opinion
October 17th, 2012
4:51 pm
That’s a bunch of bull hockey brought on by DIVERISTY and Political Correctness…
The right-wing definition of “political correctness:” not being able to use racial slurs in open conversation.
God Forbid Someone Should Hold A Different Opinion
October 17th, 2012
4:55 pm
Chick Fil-A has not given money to HATE GROUPS. Someone who holds a different belief than you does not automatically hate you. That is some kind of brainwashing you have bought into. I don’t hate you for having a different opinion or belief than I do. To believe that someone hates you just because they have a different opinion or belief than yours is either symptomatic of deep feelings of inadequacy about yourself or behaving like a toddler in the terrible twos stage. Get a grip, my stars.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
4:56 pm
I DIED AFTER SNORTING OXYCLEAN … AND I JUST VOTED FOR OBAMA!
FORWARD!
Thrash
October 17th, 2012
4:57 pm
Billy Mays is a genetic freak sodomite???
Jesus
October 17th, 2012
4:57 pm
Screw all Christians-straight and gay
God Forbid Someone Should Hold A Different Opinion
October 17th, 2012
4:58 pm
I am NOT right wing, dear Billy Mays. I just happen to believe that holding different opinions is OK. I’m looking over my shoulder right now for the Nazi thought police to come after me because I believe that. I vote as left wing as anybody, but I do have common sense and the ability to think for myself independently of the “party line.”
gglenn
October 17th, 2012
4:58 pm
I blame the heterosexual couples for this problem. They are the ones that keep having the gay children. What’s with that?
Jeff
October 17th, 2012
5:00 pm
Guess I won’t be dropping by Elon campus any longer. Only went their for Chick-fill-a
Lee
October 17th, 2012
5:00 pm
I am not sending my child or funds to Elon.
Concerned
October 17th, 2012
5:01 pm
@BILLY MAYS HERE 4:56PM Typical democrats, using dead people’s identities to cast votes for their candidate.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:06 pm
God Forbid Someone Should Hold A Different Opinion
October 17th, 2012
4:58 pm
I am NOT right wing, dear Billy Mays. I just happen to believe that holding different opinions is OK. I’m looking over my shoulder right now for the Nazi thought police to come after me because I believe that. I vote as left wing as anybody, but I do have common sense and the ability to think for myself independently of the “party line.”
No one, including me, can make you hold different opinions. But your backward thinking disguised as pragmatism has no place in a developed, modern society. No thought police are going to come after you (that is your own persecution/inferiority complex), you will simply be marginalized and relegated to the fringes of society–which are arguably greater in number in the South than other parts of the country,
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:07 pm
Lee
October 17th, 2012
5:00 pm
I am not sending my child or funds to Elon.
They couldn’t get in and you couldn’t afford it anyway.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:07 pm
… OR MAYBE I DRANK ORANGEGLO THINKING IT WAS BLUE KOOL-AID. MOST GAY MEN ARE COLOR BLIND. I DON’T LIKE CHICKEN, BUT PREFER A JUICY BEEF TENDERLOIN.
I PLAN TO VOTE FOR OBAMA, TWICE!
Chaos
October 17th, 2012
5:08 pm
The academy is supposed to be diverse. Some, it seems, have forgotten that conservatives, even religious conservatives (GASP) are a part of that diversity. It is sad that left-leaning academics and the students that they influence have seemed to have forgotten that simple fact. Don’t like CFA, don’t eat there. I don’t like gay bars…but I don’t go there and I don’t waste my time protesting against them either. I frankly don’t care. Lastly, we are talking about students…many of them have and age that still starts with a 1. They are idiots.
Anthony
October 17th, 2012
5:10 pm
Ok, scratching Elon off the list of potential colleges for my kids.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:10 pm
I VOTE IN FLORIDA AD NAUSEUM, POST MORTEM
Elongate
October 17th, 2012
5:15 pm
College is where gay power starts and ends. This is where they try to convert others to the lifestyle. They can excercise their power here because they know once they get out into the real world they have none.
This latest gay pride moment keeps them in the news.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:16 pm
Chaos
October 17th, 2012
5:08 pm
The academy is supposed to be diverse. Some, it seems, have forgotten that conservatives, even religious conservatives (GASP) are a part of that diversity.
Diversity and tolerance does not mean having to accept hateful and intolerant beliefs. This is fairly philosophical and nuanced so I’m not surprised it’s way over your head.
Spoony Bard
October 17th, 2012
5:16 pm
Here’s the REAL TRUTH, for those brave enough to hear it. The Cathy family has really pulled the ultimate con. They love homosexuals, and the religious zealotry/heterosexual love has been a carefully orchestrated act. They want the whole world gay.How to do it… “I’ve got it! We will mix together the two things that hetero whiteys love best – Jesus and fast food!” Now, armed with this ingenious plan, they have been secretly injecting small doses of “The Gay” into the chicken sandwich recipe for decades. So, Chick-fil-a lovers, if you’ve been feeling a hint of gay creeping into your daily life – a little stronger with each sandwich – now you know why. The gay is in the chicken, you fools!
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:17 pm
Anthony
October 17th, 2012
5:10 pm
Ok, scratching Elon off the list of potential colleges for my kids.
You couldn’t afford it, but I wish your child the best of luck at [Directional] [State] University.
woodrow
October 17th, 2012
5:18 pm
LOL. Screw free speech, let’s ban Chick-fil-a. Nice moralistic platitude going for ya.
Q Carpenter
October 17th, 2012
5:18 pm
I 2nd “King of Mean” comments……dang….move on folks!!!
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:20 pm
woodrow
October 17th, 2012
5:18 pm
LOL. Screw free speech, let’s ban Chick-fil-a. Nice moralistic platitude going for ya.
So stupid
Chappy
October 17th, 2012
5:26 pm
Politcally correct: definition: thought police. No one must deviate from what they tell you you must believe. What a manufactured load of political maneuvering.
The center for disease control says the average homosexual males has over 500 partners, I’m just not reading a desire for mariage in that. Its their life, and i couldnt care less (except they feel other people are responsible for their healthcare bills from these choices), but I resent somewhat the political manipulation by means of bullying and lies.
Maybe if we took out the financial incentive for special classes, children and marriage, why should these be tax deductions? Then with a level playing field we can stop this malarky, and allow EVRYONE the right to frredom. Including people who disagree with your choice. There would be a lot more peace.
Pee Wee Herman
October 17th, 2012
5:27 pm
Elon sounds like the name of someone who lives in a closet in their parents house. Are you sure about this?
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:29 pm
Chappy
October 17th, 2012
5:26 pm
Politcally correct: definition: thought police.
No dummy, you can think and say whatever you want. Just don’t expect to lauded/accepted for your stupid, redneck, backwards beliefs. In fact, expect some backlash–that’s free speech too. See you at the fringe!
aon
October 17th, 2012
5:30 pm
@ Elon Grad. Leave Ga Southern out of this. Just because our superior football team beat you a couple of weeks ago gives you no right to bring them into this discussion. In fact, the last time I looked they still had Chick-fil-a on their campus and it does a booming business.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:31 pm
Pee Wee Herman
October 17th, 2012
5:27 pm
Elon sounds like the name of someone who lives in a closet in their parents house. Are you sure about this?
Obvious psychological projection going on in your post. We’re all worse off because your parents have internet access.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:32 pm
aon
October 17th, 2012
5:30 pm
@ Elon Grad. Leave Ga Southern out of this. Just because our superior football team beat you a couple of weeks ago gives you no right to bring them into this discussion. In fact, the last time I looked they still had Chick-fil-a on their campus and it does a booming business.
“I couldn’t get into a much better university so I’d better berate their sports team!” –an idiot
Rev Al
October 17th, 2012
5:35 pm
Well of course these college STUDENTS know best…I mean they are college STUDENTS so we should defer to their “wisdom”….what a bunch of d-bags…..
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:37 pm
Rev Al
October 17th, 2012
5:35 pm
Well of course these college STUDENTS know best…I mean they are college STUDENTS so we should defer to their “wisdom”….what a bunch of d-bags…..
So far as I know, no Elon student or organization has told or asked you to follow their example.
The persecution/inferiority complexes of right-wing folks literally knows no bounds.
Rev Al
October 17th, 2012
5:39 pm
It’s a comment section Willie….your pseudo intellectual reach is funny….persecution complex?? That’s funny there Willie….you must be one of those “wise” college students…or just a d-bag…probably the latter….
Eric
October 17th, 2012
5:40 pm
The attempt to ban CFA from this campus represents an important “check and balance” to corporate sponsorship activities that may be discriminatory. Bringing that out into the open for public awareness is what I think Elon SGA is trying to say. That too is an important aspect of free speech.
Chaos
October 17th, 2012
5:44 pm
Billy Mays: says “Diversity and tolerance does not mean having to accept hateful and intolerant beliefs. This is fairly philosophical and nuanced so I’m not surprised it’s way over your head.”
And your views aren’t hateful and intolerant? Try looking at all your posts…or better yet, the mirror.
Let me be a bit less nuanced…You are clearly too close to this argument to even have a philosophical argument about it. Quit throwing bricks at everyone who has a different view. Be gay if you want…don’t be gay if you want…but quit pushing everyone else around here.
But I get it…you’re just trying to make up for some short-comings your own life, so it makes you feel better putting others down while hiding behind a keyboard. How’s that for free speech?
JR
October 17th, 2012
5:45 pm
Elon is where rich people send their stupid kids that can’t get into Duke or Wake Forest.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:49 pm
Rev Al
October 17th, 2012
5:39 pm
It’s a comment section Willie….your pseudo intellectual reach is funny….persecution complex?? That’s funny there Willie….you must be one of those “wise” college students…or just a d-bag…probably the latter….
I would be ashamed to post a flame that weak
Contractor
October 17th, 2012
5:50 pm
Who cares? If they want to pay $34,000. Year for an irrelevant college that’s not giving them good job prospects after school, let them do what they want. It’s no skin off anyone’s back, except theirs. Gotta love their “acceptance” attitude, but then showing their true colors during protest. The University of Alabama has theirs, so I’m going to remain happy.
Contractor
October 17th, 2012
5:51 pm
Excuse me, $38,000 a year. Even better. Didn’t mean to short them.
Moderate
October 17th, 2012
5:52 pm
Dan Cathy made a personal statement of his personal beliefs in the context of a religious group. He has expressed no hatred nor animosity toward gay people. He also has made no statement in his executive role at Chick-Fil-A advocating any discrimination against any group. This is the inconvenient truth (stealing a phrase) that the gay advocacy groups don’t get.
Perhaps militant gays should root out all of those traitors to the cause who actually work for the company (and there are plenty) and enjoy better pay and benefits than at other fast food outlets.
If you’re going to go through the world hating everybody who disagrees with you and trying to marginalize them, you will have a sad life.
BILLY MAYS HERE
October 17th, 2012
5:53 pm
Chaos
October 17th, 2012
5:44 pm
Billy Mays. . . your views aren’t hateful and intolerant? Try looking at all your posts…or better yet, the mirror.
Let me be a bit less nuanced…You are clearly too close to this argument to even have a philosophical argument about it. Quit throwing bricks at everyone who has a different view. Be gay if you want…don’t be gay if you want…but quit pushing everyone else around here.
But I get it…you’re just trying to make up for some short-comings your own life, so it makes you feel better putting others down while hiding behind a keyboard. How’s that for free speech?
Again with the mincing words and false pragmatism. Be a man. Just admit you can’t stand treating gays as humans you wish they would get back in the closet because it stirs up your own sexual insecurity.
To quote philosopher Karl Popper: “If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”