Cal Poly Corporation is proceeding with plans to bring a Chick-Fil-A restaurant to 1901 Marketplace next academic year, despite a vote passed by ASI urging the corporation to sever ties with the fast-food company.
Campus Dining posted a photo to their Instagram on June 3 announcing that the Chick-Fil-A pop-up in Poly Canyon Village will close after June 10 and a Taco Bell will take its place for the next school year.
In this post, they also promoted that a full Chick-Fil-A restaurant will be coming to the dining complex currently being renovated in the University Union neighborhood.
The post received several comments from students who questioned Campus Dining’s decision to promote this at the beginning of Pride Month. Psychology junior Carmen DeChain says that they felt personally attacked by this announcement.
“Campus Dining posting this at the beginning of Pride Month was just the biggest slap in the face,” DeChaine said. “This is the month where we celebrate and show pride. As somebody part of the LGBTQ-plus community, this is our month to show that we have fought to be here in our place.”
According to Cal Poly Corporation Communications Specialist Aaron Lambert, the purpose of the post was to inform students that the Chick-Fil-A venue would be closing a week earlier than the rest of the venues on campus.
In April, the ASI Board of Directors passed a vote encouraging the Cal Poly Corporation to sever ties with the restaurant. Students worked together across different campus communities to share their thoughts on Cal Poly Corporation’s decision to keep the restaurant on campus.
“There were so many people advocating to get rid of Chick-Fil-A because of the homophobic values that Chick-Fil-A has continued to show, yet Cal Poly deliberately went against the LGBTQ plus community by continuing to support Chick-Fil-A,” DeChaine said.
Lambert explained that plans to bring Chick-Fil-A to 1901 Marketplace were in place long before ASI made this vote in April.
“Chick-fil-A is one of the most popular venues on campus and it has been for years,” Lambert wrote in an email to Mustang News. “It is because of this popularity, and student feedback that it was included in the renovation of 1901 Marketplace since the early planning phase.”