Chick-fil-A Stays on University of New Mexico Campus

Religion Today | Published: Mar 05, 2013

Chick-fil-A Stays on University of New Mexico Campus

Chick-fil-A will continue serving University of New Mexico students, after the Student Union Building board voted 8 to 3 last week to keep the fast food chain on campus. After Chick-fil-A's CEO made remarks last year in support of traditional marriage, some had argued the restaurant was disrespectful and threatening to gay and lesbian UNM students. SUB board president Rebecca Vanucci, who voted to get rid of Chick-fil-A, said, "If someone is telling me they feel unsafe then I feel I should respect that and that's why I wanted them removed." But not everyone believed the restaurant should be banned: A survey of about 3,700 UNM students and staff, presented by the SUB board at its meeting, showed that 94 percent said they wanted Chick-fil-A to stay on campus. "I feel business has the right to do business regardless of personal beliefs," said Steven Ybarra, a UNM senior. "They provide a good product with a good price in clean facilities." Some also expressed concern that if Chick-fil-A could be thrown off campus for the beliefs of its owners, other companies might ultimately have to comply with a wide range of ideologically driven conditions before doing business on campus.



Chick-fil-A Stays on University of New Mexico Campus