Back on January 28th I wrote that Indiana University had banned Chick-fil-A from its South Bend campus. University officials were concerned about Chick-fil-A’s donation of food to a marriage conference in Pennsylvania.
In essence, IU was offended that a vendor appeared to be in support of traditional mainstream (biblical) values.
Well, they are apparently offended no more. Chick-fil-A is back at Indiana University.
Raving fans rejoice!
“I heard from many students, faculty, staff, alumni and citizens from across the area, the state and the country,” said Chancellor Una Mae Reck. “No one was shy about their point of view.”
Although the chancellor didn’t offer an apology, she did seem to acknowledge the university’s heavy-handedness.
“Chick-fil-A is an American company that has the right to provide its food and resources to any event it wants to support. The South Bend franchise, in particular, has been very supportive of IU South Bend and all of our students.”
This is precisely the point I was attempting to make several days back when I suggested that IU should be eager to partner with honorable companies like Chick-fil-A. What a corrosive thing when institutions are condemning what they should be condoning, and condoning what they should be condemning. As a public institution, IU is beholden to the Indiana taxpayer, not the other way around. And like I said at the beginning, this has very little (if anything) to do with chicken and everything to do with religious liberty and free speech. Thankfully, the public is often very good at righting bureaucratic wrongs – and in this instance, it appears school officials got the message loud and clear.
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