COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is outraged by a call for the University of Notre Dame to keep a Chick-fil-A restaurant off its campus, going so far as to say he'd "go to war" for the company's principles.
Graham tweeted Wednesday afternoon in response to an article detailing a push by some students to get the school to back off a plan to put a franchise of the fast-food chain at the school. Many universities across the nation have campus Chick-fil-A stores in their student unions.
Recently some students at the iconic school in Indiana started a petition to get the university's campus dining to stop their consideration of putting a campus Chick-fil-A at the school as part of a retail dining master plan. In a letter to the editor of the campus newspaper, the group said the chain has a long history of antagonism to LGBTQ+ groups.
Over the years, Chick-fil-A has received criticism from some for donations made by the company and its CEO, Dan Cathy, to several conservative groups that some say actively work against gay and transgender rights. But the company has publicly said it has stopped donating to the groups that were mentioned by some as being problematic.
However, the students at Notre Dame still says the school says having the chain on the campus would be wrong.
The controversy upset Graham, who's come to Chick-fil-A's defense before. In a thread on Twitter, Graham laid out his thoughts.
"It’s disappointing to hear some [Notre Dame] students and faculty want to ban Chick-fil-A from doing business on campus because they disagree with the values held by the Chick-fil-A founders," Graham wrote. "What a dangerous precedent to set."
"I want everyone in South Carolina and and across America to know I have Chick fil-A’s back. I hope we don’t have to, but I will go to war for the principles
"Chick fil-A stands for. Great food. Great service. Great values. God bless Chick fil-A!"
