WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.–Students at Purdue University have wanted a Chick-fil-A fast-food restaurant on campus for years, but Purdue’s student body president doesn’t think that’s a great idea.
That president, Jo Boileau, said the school is sending a questionable message to the university’s LGBT community by allowing Chick-Fil-A to open a restaurant on campus next fall.
“As student body president and as an openly gay student, this is something I’m confronting on a daily basis, in conversations I’m having every single day with students on this campus,” Boileau told the Journal & Courier.
He says if Purdue could give back millions of dollars from Papa John’s founder John Schnatter in 2018 because of racist remarks, then he doesn’t think it would send a great message to its LGBT community by bringing Chick-Fil-A on campus.
Purdue landed a contract with Chick-Fil-A this summer to put it in the Third Street Suites residence hall.
A measure has been proposed to pressure Purdue’s administration to make sure that commercial ventures on campus “uphold the same values and promote inclusivity with their policies, hiring practices, and actions.” That measure didn’t specifically mention Chick-Fil-A by name. It is supposed to get a formal University Senate vote next month.
In June 2012, the then Chick-Fil-A chief operating officer Dan T Cathy made a series of public comments opposing same-sex marriage. This led to activists calling for protests and boycotts, while supporters of the restaurant chain and opponents of same-sex marriage ate there to support the restaurant.
Cathy passed away in 2014.
(PHOTO: Boston Globe/Getty Images)
