Last Wednesday, the Trinitonian co-hosted a discussion on Chick-fil-A’s presence on campus with the Dean of Students Office. We wanted to continue the conversation that’s been taking place on campus, largely over social media, over the implications of having Chick-fil-A on Trinity’s campus and what that means for our community.

If you’re unfamiliar with the controversy behind Chick-fil-A, you can check out our article from the last issue of the Trinitonian, “Students react to Chick-fil-A’s presence in Revolve,” written by Kathleen Creedon. The topic of concern is that Chick-fil-A has donated to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations that promote discriminatory practices like conversion therapy. While Chick-fil-A stated in 2016 that they would stop donating to these organizations, their 2017 tax filings revealed that they had not. This controversy came to light recently. On top of that, the San Antonio City Council voted six to four and one abstention to remove the Chick-fil-A from the San Antonio airport.

So on April 20, close to 100 students and a few faculty and staff showed up to discuss the Chick-fil-A at Trinity. Some came to defend, others came to argue for its removal and many came just to listen. While the opposing sides were not necessarily equally represented, we heard arguments, opinions and suggestions from a variety of perspectives.

While we did not intend to reach a particular conclusion to this event, we were interested to see where the conversation would go. Several representatives from the Student Government Association (SGA) attended so that they could get a feel for what the student body was thinking about this issue.

So why did the Trinitonian get involved with chicken?

One of our missions is to be a public forum where students can have their voices heard. We want to be an open space where people from all different types of backgrounds can find themselves represented. We like to encourage campus discourse and discussion, especially on topics that affect the livelihood of students.

Next Wednesday at their weekly meeting, SGA will present a resolution to remove Chick-fil-A from Revolve.

We want to encourage you all to stay active about issues that you’re passionate about. If you feel this is an important issue, don’t let the conversation stop here. You have the power to either bring about change, one way or another.