University Dean Quits After School Bans Chick-fil-A Over Christian Values

A university dean has just resigned from her job after her school refused to allow Chick-fil-A to open a location on campus because of the restaurant chain’s strong Christian values.

Fox News reported that though students at Rider University voted to bring Chick-fil-A to campus, school administrators vetoed the idea because of the brand’s “perceived opposition to the LGBTQ+ community.” Cynthia Newman, the dean of the College of Business at Rider University, found this so disturbing that she left her position, feeling that the university was actually taking a stand against Chick-fil-A’s Christian beliefs. As a proud Christian herself, Newman could not “in good conscience” continue working at a university that does not support her religious beliefs.

“I felt like I had been punched in the stomach when I read that statement,” Newman said. “I’m a very committed Christian and Chick-fil-A’s values — their corporate purpose statement is to glorify God and to be faithful stewards of all that’s entrusted to them and to have a positive influence on everyone who comes into contact with them — and I would say that that mirrors my personal beliefs perfectly. And so I really felt it very personally.”

Newman went on to explain that she did not originally plan to resign, and that she instead reached out to school officials asking if they would apologize for the wording they used in their initial email. Not only did university administrators refuse to apologize, they doubled down on their stance against Chick-fil-A by sending out another campus-wide email.

After her resignation, Newman was surprised by the support she got from her fellow staffers, saying that this shows that “no one group’s opinions, values, beliefs, should be elevated over anyone’s else’s…we should be able to respectfully disagree…we shouldn’t be putting down one person’s values because they don’t align with our personal values.”

“You’re the one who has to live in the world that’s around you,” she concluded, “and so if you feel something is not right in that world, you have an obligation to stand up and to say what your perspective is on that.”

We applaud Newman for courageously taking a stand for free speech and for Christianity as a whole. College campuses are becoming battle grounds where liberals are silencing anyone who disagrees with their political and religious beliefs. Liberals are constantly pushing the narrative that conservatives are closed-minded bigots, but incidents like this show that it is actually the other way around. In fact, liberals are the ones who can’t handle anyone who has beliefs that differ from their own.