[box] In the Oct. 3 edition of the newspaper, The Pendulum published an editorial arguing that Chick-fil-a should not be removed from Elon's campus based on the beliefs or spending practices of it's owner. The following letters to the editor were submitted in response.
Letters can be submitted to pendulum@elon.edu and must include the name of the author. [/box]
Submitted by Geoffrey Claussen, assistant professor of religious studies, and Nancy Luberoff, director of Hillel
We write as members of Elon’s Jewish community in support of ending the relationship between Chick-Fil-A and Elon University.
As Jews, we are familiar with being the victims of discrimination, and we are grateful that Elon has no tolerance for anti-Semitism on campus. We love working at Elon in part because of Elon’s strong commitment to diversity and respect for minority groups. And we are confident that Elon would not tolerate the presence of a vendor on campus that used its profits to fund anti-Semitic causes.
We ask that Elon show the same respect for its LGBTQ community that it shows for its Jewish community. Just as Elon would not invite an anti-Semitic company to campus, we do not think that it should welcome a company which has worked for the marginalization of LGBTQ people.
A prominent theme in the Jewish tradition is that the desire for tasty food should not trump our moral obligations to treat others with love and respect. We are obligated to consider the moral consequences of our food choices. When the production of food leads to the oppression of others, our Jewish values lead us to question whether such food is sufficiently “kosher” to have a place at the center of Elon’s campus. Indeed, Elon’s own institutional values demand no less.
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Submitted by Ken Hassell, associate professor of art
There are three benchmark concepts, missions if you will, that are espoused by every pore of Elon University and they are global thinking, diversity and critical thinking. However, when it comes down to the palpable oppression right within and without our community, it seems that those ideals suffer at the hands of commerce, things as usual and the politics of politeness. I am referring to Chick-fil-A's presence on this campus and the lack of substantive thinking and research apparent in two editorials in the most recent Pendulum and the unwillingness of the institution, i.e. the administration, to take a stance on an issue that concerns basic human rights and inclusiveness.
The Pendulum editorial approaches the issue as ostensibly one of free speech and that Dan Cathy's over 2 million dollar support of anti-LGBTQ organizations are protected by the First Amendment. Certainly, the American Civil Liberties Union supports that as an admirable position as do I, a long-standing member of the ACLU. Chick-fil-A as an individual entity has the right to espouse and support whatever it wishes.
Their presence here on our campus must be seen as in a different context with different purposes. The context is that of a private institution of higher education that stands for and espouses certain values that are an integral part of a liberal education, meaning learning that at every moment encourages free thinking simultaneously with inclusiveness and consideration of the wellbeing of others. The concept that as thinkers and doers, we must be aware of and reflect on the consequences of our thoughts and subsequent actions. By inviting, and I use this word advisedly, Chick-fil-A on campus, we are tacitly supporting those explicitly discriminatory and oppressive causes with our money and their presence. And this matter does not just end with speech, Kathy' money supports 'conversion camps' that physically and psychologically demean people who are forever scarred by their tactics. Do we really wish to be complicit in such supremest tactics, and by we, I mean faculty, staff, students and administrators? That is tantamount to negating all of those important and ethical concepts mentioned earlier in this letter that we profess every day in our classes, in meetings and as the paramount raison d'etre of the entire institution.
The suppression of human rights are not negotiable, nor are they up for vote by a majority. This is a critical moment when the administration and the entire University must stand in support of what is right, what is human and what is decent.