As Liberty Speaks reported yesterday, the University of New Mexico Board held a vote to determine the fate of a Chik-fil-A franchise on their campus.  The results of the vote are in: 8-3, Chik-fil-A stays.

The student paper, The Daily Lobo, has more, emphasis added:

After postponing its vote last semester, the SUB Board decided Wednesday to let Chick-fil-A retain its spot in the SUB.

Eight board members voted to keep the controversial restaurant while three voted to replace Chick-fil-A with another restaurant.

Rebecca Vanucci, a GPSA representative to the SUB Board and its president, said the board was supposed to vote on the issue in October, but postponed it until this semester to better assess student reaction to Chick-fil-A. She said she was overwhelmed by the amount of student participation in the survey.

“In my four years on the SUB Board, this has never happened,” she said. “We’re talking about an issue, and we’re getting taped, and we’re getting a lot of audience.”

Further down, emphasis added:

On Wednesday, the ASUNM Senate voted 15-3 in favor of a resolution that urged the University to replace Chick-fil-A. The student government passed the resolution after conducting a survey last month. The results showed that 85 percent of those surveyed were in favor of keeping Chick-fil-A on campus, while 15 percent were in favor of kicking it out.

The SUB Board did a similar survey in cooperation with ASUNM and GPSA that ran from Jan. 28 to Feb. 11. According to a presentation by the SUB Board, 3,755 respondents composed of undergraduates, graduates and faculty members participated in the survey. Results indicated that 44 percent of respondents said Chick-fil-A’s principles are positive overall, while 41 percent said they are negative overall.

Vanucci, who voted to kick out Chick-fil-A, said she was disappointed about the results of the vote. She said that because students who complained to the board about the restaurant during recent months, the issue surrounding Chick-fil-A is a safety and a moral issue.

“My main concern as SUB Board president is to keep the SUB as safe and accessible for everyone,” she said. “No matter how many people say, ‘just don’t buy the chicken,’ if someone told me that they feel unsafe … I should respect that feeling.”

Seems like their SUNM Senate has a lot of chicken haters on it. I’m wondering exactly how a chain chicken restaurant makes anyone feel ‘unsafe’? Perhaps they watched Not Without My Chicken and thought it was a documentary?  I submit that Ms. Vanucci is a first-rate moron, but in a more mild and pandering fashion than renowned Chik-fil-A rager, Adam Smith.

Luckily, logic and common sense prevailed, from the same Daily Lobo piece, emphasis added:

UNM student Steven Ybarra said the board made the right decision to keep Chick-fil-A. He said the restaurant does not threaten the safety of LGBTQ students. He said that because 85 percent of students want to keep Chick-fil-A on campus, according to a recent ASUNM survey, the decision was good for the majority of the University community.

“If they feel unsafe, it’s because … they created a symbol of oppression that they feel they need to protect themselves from,” he said. “Nobody is in imminent danger in this campus because of chicken. The majority of students do want to keep Chick-fil-A here on campus.”

Thank you, Mr. Ybarra.

The other chicken haters joining Vanucci in their fear of delicious nuggets and waffle fries were Debbie Morris and Priscila Poliana.

At any rate — Freedom of speech and chicken eating were defended and the results are delicious.