A Threat Isn’t a Guarantee

The following article was originally published by Illinois Review.

“[T]o the organizer, compromise is a key and beautiful word… If you start with nothing, demand 100 per cent, then compromise for 30 per cent, you’re 30 per cent ahead.” That’s Saul Alinsky’s advice in Rules for Radicals.

Unfortunately for Leftists, sometimes when you start with nothing and demand everything, you end up with nothing. That’s what happened when the student chapter of the ACLU and other organizations tried to kick Chick-fil-A off of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

The first public sign that something was afoot was two articles published on February 10, 2011 in the Daily Illini, the dominant campus newspaper. In one article, a student opinion columnist roasted Chick-fil-A as a whole because a Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A franchise donated chicken to the Pennsylvania Family Institute: “I’m not a fan of sleeping with the enemy (or feeding the enemy), and that’s what Chick-fil-A virtually did. Just because you’re not Hitler doesn’t make it OK to supply ammo to the Germans.” She went on to call for a boycott and the removal of the campus Chick-fil-A: “We sometimes forget it, but our voice is pretty strong, and if we protest hard enough, we have the power to get certain food chains we find displeasing out of the Union.”

The second article showed a small metal crucifix embedded in a Chick-fil-A sandwich and stated, “University students may be biting into more than they can chew.” It gave no details on the infamous Philadelphia exchange, simply saying, “Chick-fil-A, an original Southern restaurant and fast food chain, has been openly criticized for its transparent Christian values and conservative religious ideals.” The leap in logic was that Christian values suppressed LGBT rights, though this was never explicitly stated. Two students quoted in the article not only supported a boycott of the campus Chick-fil-A, but called for it to be banned.

A week later action on the issue was reported in a third article, which featured a photo of the campus Chick-fil-A’s “Closed on Sundays” sign. Representatives from the student ACLU chapter and OUTlaw (a campus organization formed by LGBT law students) had written a letter against Chick-fil-A to the University President and Interim Chancellor. Interestingly, two students invited to comment on the developments did not lend personal support for Chick-fil-A, but affirmed a business’s right to do what it pleased: “The University isn’t forcing us to buy Chick-fil-A. They aren’t forcing us to eat Chick-fil-A.” A member of Building Bridges, a religious LGBT group said, “I don’t think that it is necessary to try and go close it down as some of the universities have tried to do and some movements on campus are doing,”

Thus, while campus activists pulled off the gloves, they didn’t necessarily have the support of the bulk of campus.

Four days later the Daily Illini editorial board weighed in, saying “Many companies make political and social donations, and if your convictions lead you to take your business away from a company – including Chick-fil-A – that is completely within your rights. But banishing the restaurant from campus based on its adherence to religious convictions would be true discrimination.”

While the students quoted by Daily Illini articles were either dead-set on removing Chick-fil-A from campus, or viewed Chick-fil-A as entitled to distasteful actions, a steady current of pro-Chick-fil-A sentiment ran through the campus news outlet’s comments section. The newspaper did not print any pro-Chick-fil-A Letters-to-the-Editor (though not for lack of trying), but at least in the comments sections students could share their thoughts, such as: “Since when is having ‘traditional Christian values’ a crime?” and “Don’t you believe in diversity of viewpoint and belief?” Two Facebook pages cropped up in support of the campus Chick-fil-A.

Beyond drumming up support among registered student organizations and writing letters to campus administrators, the next key step was to pass an anti-Chick-fil-A resolution in the student-run Illinois Student Senate. This organization has elected representatives of each college in the University. While its resolutions are not formally binding, they offer significant weight for campus activists who can use the ISS’s decision to advance their goals.

When the vote was moved back a week, the president of the campus ACLU wrote in to the campus newspaper. He affirmed Chick-fil-A’s right to donate where it wanted, but called students to protest it by boycotting and taking action to remove Chick-fil-A from campus. He said, “This is not an attenuated, symbolic movement by GLBT groups. This is about taking a pragmatic look at the causes of anti-gay oppression and attempting to directly address those causes. This is saying that we are against University space being used to facilitate the filtering of funds from students to groups that wish harm upon members of our campus community.”

His views, though passionately expressed, did not reflect the views of the campus as a whole. Ultimately, after heated debate, the Illinois Student Senate voted against the resolution.

Interestingly, the failure didn’t even get a headline: the decision was buried in the middle of another article. It deserves a headline, however. It shows what can happen when political activists put political correctness above others’ rights. They can be defeated.

This is important to remember as we consider what’s happening with Chick-fil-A now. As Mayor Emanuel and Alderman Moreno try to set aside Chick-fil-A-free zones, Equality Illinois has set its sights even higher. The largest LGBT organization in Illinois has called for all 19 Illinois Chick-fil-As to be removed.

For students who will be on campuses with Chick-fil-A this fall, prepare now. Bring up the issue with your campus representatives. Get involved in your campus newspaper, or start your own. Your circulation may not rival the established campus outlets, but you can give a place for people to openly voice their views. Start a petition showing your support of Chick-fil-A. Talk to your friends, so they know what’s happening. And keep in mind that even the Illinois ACLU supported the Chick-fil-A CEO’s freedom of speech!

There will be mixed feelings about Chick-fil-A. And there must be freedom to criticize or applaud this company accordingly. For now, that freedom is alive and well at the University of Illinois. Just this summer, one student publicly expressed his displeasure with the campus restaurant, and others started a Boycott Chick-fil-A UIUC Facebook page, but others made a special effort to show their support there on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day and support a Keep Chick-fil-A at UIUC Facebook page.

If activists try to close down your Chick-fil-A, remember that the Left is making it up as they go along, and wanting something isn’t the same as getting it. A threat carries no guarantee of inevitability.

Prolife, Proactive

This interview was originally published by The Orange and Blue Observer.

Robert Black is a junior here at the U of I, and the new president of the registered student organization Illini Collegians for Life. We here at the OBO recently had the pleasure of talking with Robert about being involved on campus–especially on the prolife issue.

031011 Prolife Proactive - ICFL President Robert Black

What is the absolutely best thing about the U of I?

The amount of opportunities we have. Faculty and staff allow us to do so much with our four years here.

What are you studying?

I’m studying communications/pre-med.

So you’re planning on going on to med school?

Yes–I’m studying for the MCAT right now; I’ll be taking that in April.

What do you want to do in medicine?

I’m thinking about pediatrics or neonatology, which is especially appropriate for the club I’m now president of (Illini Collegians for Life).

Lately there’s been a lot of buzz on campus about abortion and Planned Parenthood. I know some people first hear about abortion through news coverage. How did you first hear about it?

When I was 7 or so, maybe even 6, I went with my mother and grandmother to a hospital that performed abortions. Of course, it was years later that I fully understood all of what that meant.

What are your views on abortion?

It should be illegal. It’s 100% equivalent to putting a gun to the head of my brother or sister and pulling the trigger. And the thing is, from a federal standpoint, you don’t need to cling to religion or faith to say abortion is wrong. Look at the facts. Despite the [economic or emotional] position a woman is in, it [her unborn child] is a human life. Any scientist who’s worth his lab coat can tell you that from the moment of conception that’s a human life.

What does it mean to be “prolife”?

Being adamantly opposed to abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, and any other infringement on the human being’s right to live. I think a lot of people who call themselves prolife don’t realize that to be prolife means to be proactive in defending these rights.

It doesn’t have to mean picketing, going on March for Life in Washington, D.C., but when it comes up in conversation, [being prolife means] defending it; it doesn’t mean backing down.

It really does cover all aspects: physician-assisted suicide, abortion, early abortion (contraception).

Does abortion really matter on a college campus?

Yeah, of course! I think it really matters everywhere, because it happens everywhere. The sad reality is that we have a Planned Parenthood on our campus. I don’t care what percentage of their business is abortion: they’re targeting young women who are infinitely stressed out. They have school to worry about, work to worry about; they have their whole lives ahead of them.

Here is where we need it most. Other places it matters, and yet here’s where we’re constantly bombarded with what we do with our bodies. We’re told if we want to do it, do it. It’s easy to pull from all this that abortion is OK.

It matters here very, very much, and I think it’s up to myself and others to be active on this. The future of America and the future of academia is here. Our future politicians, teachers, and engineers are all here. It’s a cultural thing, and this is where it all starts, on a college campus.

Does abortion ever come up in your classes or casual conversations? If so, how do other students or your professors view it?

To a certain extent. It came up in a class once. It was Philosophy 214–Introduction to Bioethics; it was on the syllabus. The professor seemed to have a view toward the prolife side, but was very hesitant to present his own view, possibly because of the department he was in, or the students.

It’s very polarizing to a certain extent. We have this false sense of freedom instilled in us: we think her body is hers, which is true, but it’s a unique child inside of her.

As far as casual conversations, I am an RA in Newman, the Catholic dorm on campus. It comes up pretty often. We want to know how to reason through the questions that come up. Practicing being a devil’s advocate really helps solidify my own position. A large majority of them [the other Newman students] are prolife, so we can help each other in this.

How did you decide to get involved in the prolife movement here at the U of I?

Through Newman, I have had many opportunities. John Paul Deddens, the director Students for Life of Illinois–freshman year I got to know him, and my roommate and good friend Mike Hamoy, who coordinated March for Life for the past three years. He was definitely an inspiration for getting involved in ICFL. This year they were looking for people to be officers. I decided to step up to the plate, because it’s something I’ve always held dear.

To a certain extent, being prolife means being proactive. This, to me, is about giving back.

You mentioned Illini Collegians for Life. What is it, and what kinds of things does it do?

We are the prolife group here on campus that coordinates with Students for Life of Illinois. The cornerstone of our work is putting together the March for Life every year. We also help out with Students for Life of Illinois activism days each month, and we do roundtable discussions every week. We’re prolife and we want to learn more and be able to defend it publicly.

We want to do a little bit more of pregnancy resources. Also, we have a couple events coming up: general meetings, speakers, film showings (for example, Blood Money, a documentary on the business aspect of abortion).

How can interested students learn more about this?

Definitely contact myself (illiniforlife@gmail.com), and visit us on our website (www.illiniforlife.com) or on Facebook. We also have a general meeting coming up–look for fliers around campus.

As an upperclassman and now club president, do you have any parting words of advice for freshmen and others looking to become more involved on campus?

Go to Quad Day, go around, sign up for as many clubs as you think you’d ever go to. When you get all the emails, do something you could see yourself being in for four years, something you could be an officer in during your junior or senior year. Go to meetings.

Your first year, ask the officers, “How do I get more involved?” You really want to take ownership of your passion in college. Get involved, and by your senior year, you’ll be happy.