Accepting Chick-Fil-A against our own non-discrimination policies
Letter to the Editor
Published: Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Updated: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:03
By allowing Chick-fil-A to be on campus, FGCU may be violating its own non-discrimination and anti-harassment regulation.
(a) Discrimination. For the purpose of this regulation, discrimination is defined as the intentional or unintentional treatment of any member of the University community differently than those who are similarly situated, OR any unfair treatment solely based upon race, color, religion, age, disability (or handicap), sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation and/or veteran status.
The key word here is OR.
Chick-Fil-A, because of its charities, donations, and public statements, cannot hire on campus in accordance with FGCU's non-discrimination and anti-harassment regulation. The employment to the Chick-Fil-A corporation, regardless of whether Aramark determines hiring practices, is considered by a reasonable person to be intimidating, which is in violation of FGCU's non-discrimination and anti-harassment regulation, and results in the treatment of a protected class differently than from other members of the university community, whether it is intentional or unintentional.
Chick-fil-A is a restaurant where franchises frequently donate to anti-gay organizations such as the Pennsylvania Family Institute, Focus on the Family and others. The restaurant's charitable arm, WinShape, holds conferences for opponents of gay marriage and praises their work. And this charitable arm's Retreat program puts a blanket ban on gay couples using their facilities, because they "do not accept homosexual couples."
(b) Harassment. For the purposes of this regulation, harassment is UNWELCOME CONDUCT that is based upon race, color, religion, age, disability (or handicap), sex, national origin, marital status, SEXUAL ORIENTAION and/or veteran status. Harassment occurs when: (1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment or educational participation, or (2) the conduct is severe or PERVASIVE ENOUGH to create a work or EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT that a reasonable person would consider INTIMIDATING, hostile, or abusive.
The keywords here are PERVASIVE ENOUGH, EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT, and INTIMIDATING. Unwelcomed conduct can be the "practices" or "goals" of the corporation that affects employment and the surrounding educational environment of the FGCU community.
Chick-Fil-A's main charity, the one they created, is WinShape. WinShape clearly violates FGCU policy, if it were on-campus.
"WinShape Retreat defines marriage from the Biblical standard as being between one man and one woman. Groups/Individuals are welcome who offer wholesome, educational conferences and programs that are compatible with Biblical values and WinShape's purpose," WinShape wrote back.
..."We do not accept homosexual couples because of the statement in our contract.""
Therefore, the conduct of the Chick-Fil-A Corporation is in violation of FGCU's non-discrimination and anti-harassment regulation.
Chick-Fil-A's public statements, charities and donations create an intimidating atmosphere and disruptive educational environment based upon a reasonable person for employees and students solely based on their sexual orientation, a protected class listed in FGCU's non-discrimination and anti-harassment regulation.
15 comments
I'm going to Chick Fil-A Friday, anyone want anything from the menu?
"Often termed 'statistical discrimination,' unintentional discrimination occurs when when an employer's neutral selection process yields groups with a substantial disparity between them." --Did Chick-fil-A do this? No, Winshape did. Chick-fil-A =/= Winshape. Why? Because they are two separate companies. A does not equal B. Don't know how else to explain that....Examples:
"For instance, an employer in a warehouse can choose to not hire a person who is unable to lift a certain amount of weight, because they will be useless for the task at hand."
"standardized tests which often disadvantage minority applicants and height requirements in the hiring process, which likely create hardships for women and some ethic groups"
"For example, a fire department may have a physical fitness or weight requirement. These requirements would likely be deemed acceptable even though they exclude some otherwise qualified applicants because fire fighters must be physically fit to properly perform their duties."
^^^ Chick-fil-A did not go against a single FGCU policy. Now, let's say FGCU refused Chick-fil-A and this whole "CFA is homophobic" thing was never brought up (too late now, there's evidence of it online, like right here), then FGCU is not risking lawsuit. But if FGCU refused Chick-Fil-A because they sponsor/support a group that happens to hold beliefs--on the side, might I add--that go against Bradshaw or whoever, then guess what that does? It puts FGCU in LEGAL HOT WATER--not Chick-Fil-A, not Winshape because Winshape has nothing to do with it. This school has had too many sexual harassment allegations, and too much other negative media attention, for another lawsuit--yes, a discrimination lawsuit, and FGCU would not win. Once again, let's learn what we're talking about before spewing information like that. Watch the news, read the newspaper. Cases like this happen all the time. FGCU doesn't need to be one of those cases. It's one thing if they refused them for other reasons, but saying "We won't accept you because you sponsor Winshape" IS illegal.Also, a lot of us go to the gas station about once a week and give them our money. Where does that money go to? It goes to organizations that want nothing more than to see us dead, yet we still do it. Does that make us "unintentional" terrorists? No, so DUH right back at you.
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