Editor,
On behalf of the UNM Social Justice League, we’d like to address the contradictory nature of the University’s relationship with Chick-fil-A in the Student Union Building.
As some may know, Chick-fil-A’s president and chief operating officer has made frank, inflammatory remarks regarding his support of “the biblical definition of the family unit.” While we disagree with Mr. Cathy’s discriminatory and antiquated opinions, we do not fault him for exercising his right to speak freely. What we take issue with is the nature of his company’s investments that have had direct political influence over the rights and lives of LGBTQ people in the United States and worldwide (we cite the Family Research Council, which has been classified as an anti-gay hate group, and Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill).
Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, WinShape, has donated upwards of $5 million to anti-LGBTQ organizations in the past 10 years (almost $2 million of those donations were made in 2011 alone). These organizations notoriously slander the LGBTQ community with false information and even go so far as to sponsor “conversion” therapy clinics.
We refuse to sit idly by as our University (whose anti-discrimination policy lists sexual orientation and gender identity under its list of protected classes) continues its partnership with a company that so blatantly contradicts UNM’s supposed commitment to equality, inclusion and diversity — values that lie at the heart of our identity as students at the University of New Mexico.
As such, we call on the administration to not renew its contract with Chick-fil-A, and on our faculty, staff, administrators and peers to join us in boycotting the establishment.
Alyssa Hedrich and Austin Evans
UNM students
