NYU Cuts Ties With Chick-fil-A
NYU Campus Services has told student leaders that the dining provider Chartwells will cut ties with Chick-fil-A following Spring 2021.
Ever since the company’s support of homophobic organizations and lack of support for the LGBTQ+ community was made public, NYU students have criticized the inclusion of Chick-fil-A at NYU’s Upstein dining hall. In a Feb. 10 email, Kathrina O’ Mahony, Senior Director of Campus Services, stated that NYU has requested that Chartwells not extend their licensing agreement with Chick-fil-A beyond Spring 2021.
“After evaluating the University’s dining plans for FY22 and beyond and the results from our Fall 2020 dining survey, NYU’s Campus Services office has concluded that the long-term space, brand, and capital requirements presented to us by Chick-Fil-A do not work,” the email said.
Furthermore, the email explained NYU Dining’s intention to consult students and the Dining Advisory board in order to determine a “culinary culinary concept for the space in the Weinstein Food Court (Upstein) to open in Fall 2021.” The email urged students interested in participating to send their names and email addresses to Diningadvisory@nyu.edu in order to join the process.
This email was reportedly further discussed at the Dining Advisory Board meeting later that night, along with a hypothetical plan for the soon-to-be-empty Upstein location.
At this meeting, further conversations were held regarding the “ethics of Chick-fil-A as an organization” and how, when searching for a new vendor to replace it, students should “keep in mind the ethics of future partners as this is important to students.”
All of this has been the result of student activism beginning in early Fall of 2020. Following a previous student-led resolution to remove Chick-fil-A from NYU property in 2012, another resolution was formally presented to the Student Senate Council (SSC) by the Inter-Residence Hall Council (IRHC) on Dec. 10, written by the current IRHC President Samantha Santana.
The resolution passed, meaning it would go on to the next stage of voting after the winter break. It was then presented and passed through the Student General Assembly (SGA) on Feb. 4, and the following round of voting was scheduled to go through the University Senate on Feb. 18. The resolution will not be presented on this date as planned and has instead been streamlined to Campus Services.
No word has been said as to how this update will be announced to the student body, but many student leaders have speculated that NYU will not say anything publicly. Either way, it looks like the on-campus Chick-fil-A is gone for good.
