On Friday, July 15, UF Student Government released a video via Facebook enthusiastically announcing an upcoming expansion to the Hub’s Chick-fil-A location. Under a cheery guise of “Moving Gators Forward,” SG seemed excited about the new breakfast options. As stated in the video’s caption, “Starting next year, UF students can finally ask, ‘Chick-n-Minis or Chicken Biscuit?’”
The problem? This isn’t the question we need to be asking.
I understand the popularity of Chick-fil-A. I used to eat there myself. I even fondly remember my grandfather trying their famous sandwich for the first time during UF Preview. Gradually, however, between the company president’s very public anti-LGBTQ+ viewpoints, suspicions about how their suppliers inhumanely treat their chickens and my desire to avoid heart disease so I can hopefully make it to my own grandkids’ Previews, I stopped eating there. The smell of the fryers have tempted me every time I’ve walked by, but I’ve always bypassed it for my favored Einstein Bros. Bagels instead.
I’m not going to tell anyone they don’t have the right to eat at Chick-fil-A. I’m not going to say Aramark doesn’t have the right to expand their service, especially when it seems like it’s going to make them big bucks from a financial standpoint. I’m not even saying we don’t have the right to rejoice in SG’s fried chicken fervor.
What I will say, however, is this: Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.
Two parties, Impact and Access, ran campaigns on Turlington Plaza during SG’s last election cycle. While most of us faked phone calls and avoided eye contact, a few students stopped to tell the candidates what they desired on the 2016-2017 SG platform. Impact noted a want for a Chick-fil-A breakfast. In contrast, Access noted a need for more “healthy and vegan options on campus.”
While Impact stands proud in having supposedly satisfied a grand wish of the UF Student Body, it’s clear the Access platform point would have served a much wider range of students. Virtually everyone can eat vegan food, but those who eat diets that are vegetarian, kosher, halal, gluten-sensitive or even just plain health-conscious will have issues with almost all of Chick-fil-A’s meals.
So, our question should be this: “Starting next year, can more UF students finally ask for meals that fit their dietary, religious and moral needs? Can more UF students feel included when dining at on-campus restaurants? Can more UF students have easier access to healthier food?”
This Chick-fil-A expansion was not the most innovative plan. Sure, a select group of students are thrilled with it. But does this help to give our school a more progressive, modern image? Is this a decision we can be proud of?
SG and Aramark’s next move should be to expand the vegetarian, vegan and healthy dining options on campus.
Their first step should involve sending out a survey asking about dining options to a representative random sample of students. Impact claims Chick-fil-A is what a large number wanted, but between not being able to back up this stance with statistics and the fact that Access had a very different plan on their platform, it’s clear something’s off.
Their second step, based partly on survey results, can be as simple as expanding hours for already existing restaurants with ample vegetarian, vegan and healthy options, such as Croutons or Einstein Bros. Bagels. Or, it can be as complex as creating a new place catered primarily toward vegetarian and vegan foods.
As Impact’s first listed platform point is to “make UF a more inclusive environment for students of all backgrounds,” adequately meeting the needs of more Gators must actively be its top priority.
Because nothing else will ever be truly “Moving Gators Forward.”
Valerie Berman is a 20-year-old UF health education junior.
