A university in New Jersey backtracked on the possibility of bringing a Chick-fil-A to campus over the fast food company’s stance on LGBTQ rights.
Rider University asked students in a poll last semester to select a new restaurant to bring to campus.
Though the poll results showed a campus-wide preference for Chick-fil-A, the university decided to offer the survey again, without the chicken franchise as an option.
{mosads}School administrators said in a letter to students that they made the decision to remove Chick-fil-A as an choice due to the company being “widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community,” according to NBC News.
“We sought to be thoughtful and fair in balancing the desire to provide satisfying options for a new on-campus restaurant while also being faithful to our values of inclusion,” the letter read.
Chick-fil-A has been under fire for years over the president’s 2012 public comments that the company supports “the biblical definition of the family unit.” Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm has also reportedly donated to a number of anti-LGBTQ groups.
A spokesperson for Chick-fil-A told NBC News that the restaurants welcome all guests.
“We have no policy of discrimination against any group, and we do not have a political or social agenda,” the spokesperson said. “More than 120,000 people from all different backgrounds and beliefs represent the Chick-fil-A brand.”