Playing chicken with controversy

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Posted: Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at 10:46 pm | Last Updated: Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 at 11:39 pm
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With over 1,000 restaurants in 34 different states, Chik-fil-A is undoubtedly a nation-wide chain. In Michigan however, there is only one Chik-fil-A location, and it’s located in the Pioneer Food Court at Oakland University. But, after the company’s CEO Dan Cathy stated he was in support of the “biblical definition of a family,” some students are pushing for its removal.

When Chrissy Starzyk, a member of the OU Gay-Straight Alliance, first found out Cathy was against same-sex marriage, she, along with the GSA, arranged a protest to get rid of Oakland’s restaurant. Though the attempt was short-lived, she said the student organization is planning another.

“I don’t like supporting companies who support anti-gay anything, so I had no reason to like the place,” Starzyk, a junior majoring in psychology, said. “I think now that it’s public knowledge, people will be more aware of the issue and we’ll have a better chance of getting support from the people on campus.”

She said its claim as the only one in Michigan is a win-lose situation, regardless of the way it’s publically viewed.

“People aren’t going to want to get rid of it because of that reason, despite it looking bad,” she said. “People brag about OU having the only (Chick-fil-A). In my opinion, people use it as a selling point. I think the only way we could be successful in ousting it is if we find another choice that both Chartwells and the students agree on.”

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said an attempt to discriminate against the restaurant would be unconstitutional.

“There couldn’t be a clearer and more blatant case of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination if the university forces Chick-fil-A to leave campus because of its owner’s exercise of his First Amendment free speech rights,” he said.

Chartwells, the company that operates Oakland’s franchise location, released a statement July 24. It said the company has clear and strong policies that embrace diversity, inclusion and respect in the workplace and have a zero tolerance for any behavior contrary to those beliefs.

“Chartwells has a Zero Tolerance Discrimination and Harassment Policy, which enforces compliance with federal, state and local laws that prohibit discrimination or harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, color, disability, age, pregnancy, national origin, veteran status or any other unlawful factor,” the statement said.

While unsure of the plans for the future of Oakland’s relationship with Chick-fil-A, Theodore Montgomery, director of media relations at OU, hinted at the likelihood of an opportunity for students to become involved in the decision.

“Oakland University is totally committed to inclusion in all forms,” Montgomery said. “We expect to continue to have a robust campus discussion about (retaining the Chick-fil-A in the Oakland Center) when our students come back to campus in September.”

Oakland’s location will reopen on Sept. 4 — the first day of the fall semester.

No religious or political student organizations could be reached for comment.

 

The Political Battlefield

Many politicians, including former president candidate Mike Huckabee, have stood behind movements either for or against Chick-fil-A, like the ‘Chick-fil-A appreciation day’ and the

‘Chick-on-Chick kiss-in.’

The mayoral debate 

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, San Fransisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emannuel have all spoken against Chick-fil-A, making threats to ban it from their respective cities. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on his Friday morning radio show, stated though he is a supporter of same-sex marriage, he does not agree with the attempts to block the Chick-fil-A’s from various cities in the country.

An issue of free speech

Many people have not ‘sided’ either with or against Chick-fil-A, but also do not agree with banning their expansion or operation solely on the basis of the comments made by Cathy. Many people say the business should not be judged poorly by Cathy’s excersizing of his right to free speech.

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Contact Staff Photographer Dylan Dulberg via email at dsdulber@oakland.edu or follow him on Twitter @dyldude64

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  • lindainind

    Funny how intolerant liberals are to conservative’s beliefs!   If you don’t like Chick-fil-A, don’t eat there and you won’t be contributing to the companies profits and the pro-family organizations they support.  Now if ABC restaurants contribute to gay organizations, I bet you’d think they had the right to exist!  Your problem is you know you are in the minority and it irks you that you are….  Tolerance is taught, not caught and you’ve not caught it yet….   Please note, that Chick-fil-A does not discriminate against who they hire (as long as they aren’t afraid to work and have a good work record) or who eats at their restaurant.  And you can choose to eat somewhere else if you desire…  and that’s okay with Chick-fil-A and me….  Gay friends I have…but they treat me kindly even though they know we don’t agree on their life style…  and they are NOT going to be kissing on the parking lot of any restaurant tomorrow or in September!   But they have the freedom to if they should desire because they believe in freedom of belief and speech!  And I’m okay with that….

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1331472481 Kenneth A Ration

    It is quite apparent that misinformed collegiate students
    are easily manipulated by an Academic Faculty touting the legalistic fiction presented
    as “diversity”.

     

    Diversity is the political correctness tool best defined as
    factionalism.  Factionalism is tool of
    political subversion instituted by Academic Progressives to further the agenda
    of the Nanny State.

     

    The Political correct crowd that dominates Collegiate Academic
    have convinced a plurality of their captive audience of Students that the State
    is Omnipotent, from where they ALL shall secure their “civil rights”.

     

    The Fundamental Law of the American Republic
    clearly states our substantive rights are Ordained by God. 

     

    The United
    States of America is a melting pot populated
    by a diverse Citizenry that has come from all four corners of the World.

     

    The diverse Citizenry here in America  haves shown that they will no longer be cowered
    by the Political Correctness Police  as
    shown by the Chik Fil A eateries that have been enthusiastically overwhelmed by
    these past few days by liberty Loving Americans showing their Support for Free
    Speech, God and Country.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cecilia.a.russell Cecilia A. Russell

    Are we turning into a state where freedom is only for the few.

  • Teresathompson2911

    So what’s the message we’re sending here? If you’re a business owner you have no right to your own opinions or beliefs? Most Christians are against gay marriage, and just about everyone knows it! So we can believe it as long as we don’t say it? Saying that christians hate gays because they oppose gay marriage is like saying anyone who is opposed to drinking hates all alcoholics. This whole situation is just utterly ridiculous, and shows an amazing amount of lack of common sense. I agree with Cecilia, is freedom only for the few?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/6ITN3VCCGKK3KHKNFFUGLPJYQQ B

    Agreed.. Diversity Divides a Nation… Unity Brings a Nation Closer.

  • ChildPlease

    @lindainind so if you don’t like something or agree with something that is going on you are supposed to just ignore it? Maybe you are the one without tolerance. I would hate to find out what you are not tolerant towards. Murder, genocide, rape? All extreme issues but if we don’t fight back against those crimes they will grow and become worse. We cannot tolerate anyone, let alone a CEO of a large fast food chain, to put down human beings because he doesn’t believe in their lifestyle. No matter what, people are people and should be allowed to live without prejudice and discrimination. 

  • Mecw11559

     Well Said Kenneth! 

  • Mecw11559

     And its the politically correct that is puppeteering the division.   Liberals are playing special iinterest groups like a well tuned violin.

  • PennyOnline

    I’m assuming that Ms. Starzyk’s education suffered when she was protesting outside the White House for the first 3.5 years of President Obama’s term, since he also denied that same-sex couples had the right to marry during that time. It must be hard to operate a vehicle without gasoline from OPEC countries, in many of which homosexual people may be put death. Do you know the stance of the CEO of every single company with whom you do business?  If we are to deny Chick-fil-A a spot here on that basis alone — the CEO’s opinion, not the policies of his business — I assume that you are also collecting opinions about homosexuality from the leadership of every food provider, the bank, the bookstore (and every book publisher), the unions active on campus, the OU administration, and anyone else who might come in contact with students, who must be sheltered from making our own independent choices.

    The CEO of Chick-fil-A has the right to be a devout adherent to a religion and to speak about those views.  Those rights are secured in the very first amendment to our Constitution.  The “right” to same-sex marriage — which I believe should and will be acknowledged eventually — has far less, and little official, support. 

    I am not a fan of silly issues like this being used as weapons against people who have a different opinion from oneself.  People on both sides of this ridiculous fast food fight should be ashamed of their behavior.

  • PennyOnline

    This is such a terrible argument that it seems like troll bait, but I have to take it anyway.  Whether to allow a business on campus whose CEO speaks his Constitutionally-protected views is so far from genocide, the word hyperbole is too small to apply.

    But since you mentioned murder: Consider that many of the faithful (to the world’s largest religions, not only Christianity) believe that abortion is murder.  Truly, deeply, believe it — not as a way of “keeping women down”, but because they believe that an innocent life is being ended.  They mourn. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who believe that a woman or woman and her partner have the right to choose to carry a pregnancy to term.  Who wins?  Murder or human rights?  Perhaps in college you’ll learn that these questions are not as simple as they might seem and that your perspective is not the only sincere, loving, intelligent one.

  • http://facebook.com/profile.php?id=1189147936 MikeinMI2

    @ChildPlease Quite making things up, he didn’t “put down human beings because he doesn’t believe in their lifestyle.”  Mr. Cathy only said that he believes in the Biblical defining of Marriage.  He did not defame, discriminate against gays.