Poultry religion

As the idea for this column sprung into my mind, I at first considered not writing it. I knew I would face possible persecution from not one, but two groups. The first is, as always, the right wing, both religious and economic, but it doesn't scare me. The second faction is the poultry-loving hungry college students. They, on the other hand, scare the bejesus out of me.\nSo I thought about it awhile longer and realized it would offend my journalistic sensitivity to practice self-censorship, so I'll just go ahead and say it: Chick-fil-A shouldn't be in the Library Commons.\nSure, sure, free market, blah blah blah and so forth. I understand Chick-fil-A has every right to exist. And it also has every right to evangelize and donate money to Christian organizations. Heck, it could start its own religion if it wanted to. But IU shouldn't be sponsoring it.\nConsider that company President Dan Cathy said the mission of the restaurant is "to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on other people who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." \nAlso consider that Chick-fil-A has a partnership with Focus on the Family to offer religion-themed kids' meal premiums such as "VeggieTales books, stories from The Book of Virtues and audiocassettes of Focus on the Family's 'Adventures in Odyssey.'" Chick-fil-A directly sponsors Focus on the Family's objectives and ideologies.\nAnd those ideologies don't bode well with IU's "One for Diversity" campaign. While IU is busy with the Kinsey Institute, religious diversity and domestic partner benefits, Focus on the Family advocates abstinence-only education, religious tyranny and protecting the world from (begin reading with extreme sarcastic paranoia) the vast "homosexual agenda."\nIt's like the United States contracting North Korea to make our nuclear weapons "in the name of the free market." Even if it were the cheapest option from an economic perspective, would we really want Kim Jong Il handling more nukes? Would IU offer a contract to a restaurant who donates to al-Qaida? I hope not.\nBefore the wolves come after me, let me reiterate: I have nothing against Chick-fil-A's business practices. Everyone has a right to religion, as guaranteed by the wonderful U.S. Constitution, and theoretically, our economy operates on a free market system. \nBut when IU sells restaurant space, it sells us with it. We are a relatively captive audience, especially those students without cars who eat solely on their Campus Access cards. This is a public university, and as such, IU has a certain responsibility to the whole public.\nI'm aware that Chick-fil-A does a lot of charitable giving, and that's a good thing, but quite frankly, so do all other big corporations. It's (thankfully) de rigueur these days for any Fortune 500 company. I also know that not one wholly "good" corporation exists, and any big chain to replace Chick-fil-A would have some moral objectors, thus, the choices really need to be weighed carefully.\nIn the meantime, if you don't support Focus on the Family's ideology, maybe you should find a new chicken sandwich.