Quinnipiac professor: Ban ChickfilA from campus for ‘antiLGBTQ position’

HAMDEN — A Quinnipiac University professor is questioning the presence on campus of a ChickfilA truck, which she said is “open about its antiLGBTQ position.”

“Why does @QuinnipiacU continue to welcome @ChickfilA to campus?” journalism professor Margarita Diaz said on Twitter. “This company’s ownership has zealously embraced a homophobic stance. We can do better.”

In response, university leadership said there would be scheduled “conversations” about any concerns.

“The university will schedule conversations to better understand and discuss the student, staff, and faculty concerns related to using ChickfilA as a vendor,” John Morgan, associate vice president for public relations, said in a statement.

ChickfilA’s leadership has not been shy about its political beliefs. In 2012, CEO Dan Cathy told Baptist Press that he defines the construction of a family based on the Bible.

"We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” he said.

“We are a familyowned business, a familyled business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

Before that, LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality Matters said ChickfilA’s charitable foundation gave almost $2 million in 2010 to antiLGBTQ organizations.

ChickfilA did not immeidately reply to requests for comment but, in March, ChickfilA responded to antiLGBTQ accusations saying they were “misleading and inaccurate.”

“To suggest that our efforts in supporting these organizations was focused on suppressing a group of people is misleading and inaccurate,” the chain said in a statement. “It is wellknown that our Founder S. Truett Cathy used biblical principles to guide our business in its formative stages, and that we still uphold those same principles today.”

The statement said the chain believes “that the ethos of, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ accurately describes how we live and work every single day. These principles are lived out at our corporate Support Center in Atlanta and our more than 2,400 restaurants across the country. Some ongoing reporting, despite our efforts to earnestly provide the facts, implies a misleading narrative.”

Diaz, though, said the university must model values, and that the chicken sandwich chain’s don’t match those of the Quinnipiac community.

“As an educational institution, Quinnipiac has a responsibility to model its values to students and other members of our community,” Diaz said by email. “By welcoming ChickfilA to the campus of Quinnipiac University is making this company — which is open about its antiLGBTQ position — a legitimate part of our community.”

The ChickfilA truck that appeared at Quinnipiac was there at the behest of a sorority, according to university leaders.

“A university sorority invited ChickfilA onto campus on Monday as part of a fundraiser for a local shelter that supports victims of domestic violence,” Morgan said.

Diaz said the university should take a vendor’s political and social beliefs into account when deciding whether to allow them on campus.

“What if ChickfilA were giving money to racist organizations? Or the Klan?” she said. “Would we look the other way and invite them to campus? What makes discrimination against LGBTQ folks so different?”

ChickfilA has a few locations in Connecticut, including Norwalk, West Haven, Danbury, Brookfield and Waterbury.

“By welcoming ChickfilA to the campus of Quinnipiac University is making this company — which is open about its antiLGBTQ position — a legitimate part of our community.”

Quinnipiac University professor Margarita Diaz