FEBRUARY 2, 2011, 3:45 PM

Chick-fil-A Protests at N.Y.U. Are Muted

By PATRICK MCGEEHAN and MEREDITH HOFFMAN
On some college campuses, students are agitated about the presence of Chick-fil-
A, a purveyor of Southern-style chicken sandwiches that has run afoul of some pr
oponents of same-sex marriage. But at a New York University cafeteria, the only
place in the city where a craving for Chick-fil-A can be sated, the squawking ha
s been limited.
Some N.Y.U. students have complained to the university’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, T
ransgender and Queer Student Center, said John Beckman, a university spokesman.
And a Facebook group Remove Chick-fil-A from NYU (and thus NYC!) is up and runni
ng.
But so far, the food court in Weinstein Hall continues to serve the chain’s fried-
chicken nuggets, sandwiches and waffle fries, he said.
Elsewhere, gay-rights advocates have stoked opposition to Chick-fil-A since one
of its outlets in Pennsylvania lent support to marriage seminars, scheduled for
next week, that were arranged by a group that has been outspoken against same-se
x marriage. At Indiana University’s campus in South Bend, a student group persuade
d the university to ban Chick-fil-A products briefly. On Monday, that university’s
chancellor invited Chick-fil-A to return to campus on Wednesday.
The president of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, has said that the company was not endor
sing the seminars, merely providing food at them.
At N.Y.U., JJ Bishop-Boros, a member and former officer of the university’s Queer
Union, said the group had decided against pressing a boycott “that focuses only on
Chick-fil-A and gay marriage.” Instead, he said, Queer Union hopes to meet with o
ther campus groups to examine the practices of each food distributor on campus,
from the wages they pay workers to environmental issues.
“If we only criticize Chick-fil-A, we’re almost justifying other businesses’ practices
,” he said. “It would be hypocritical.”
In the dining hall, students who were lined up for Chick-fil-A food said they we
re unaware of the controversy.
“Chick-fil-A’s great, and it’s the only one in New York City, which makes it even cool
er,” said Morgan Ingari, a sophomore, as she reached for a bag of waffle fries.
But behind her, J. P. Borum, a writing professor who was making her first foray
to Chick-fil-A, reversed course after hearing about the flap. “I’m gay and Episcopal
,” she said, opting instead for a salad from another station. She said she had “neve
r heard a peep about this from students.”
At N.Y.U., the complaints have not been brought to the university senate for dis
cussion, Mr. Beckman said. He said that the products of another Atlanta-based co
mpany, Coca-Cola, had been banned from campus for a few years after students pro
tested against the company’s labor practices.
The station serving Chick-fil-A’s food has been a popular part of a food court in
the dining hall on University Place in Manhattan since the fall of 2004, Mr. Bec
kman said. Chick-fil-A won out in a student taste test when the dining hall was
being revamped by its operator, Aramark, he said.
Mr. Beckman said the food court was open only to students and others with univer
sity identification cards, but as food bloggers have written, this policy does n
ot seem to be heavily enforced, and on some food-oriented Web sites like Yelp.co
m, outsiders have shared tales of their incursions spurred by serious cravings f
or fried chicken and pickles on a buttered bun.
“Thank God for this hidden treasure!” one reviewer wrote on Yelp. “Yes it’s in an N.Y.U.
dining hall. But if you feel too weird eating with students you can get plastic
bag and take it to Washington Square Park.”
Tyrone Beau, NYU The Chick-fil-A counter at the food court at Weinstein Hall at
New York University.
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