WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue will stand by its plans to bring a Chick-fil-A fast food franchise to campus, despite protests from some faculty on the University Senate and Purdue’s student body president over the company CEO’s record on LGBT issues, according to a statement released from the university Friday morning.

The university, in its statement, cited “overwhelming demand for (Chick-fil-A’s) service from students, staff and faculty.”

Purdue said the franchise owner – described as a “young female franchisee, a Purdue graduate” – “has signed and observed a commitment of equal access and treatment in her employment and service practices.”

Rob Wynkoop, Purdue’s director of service enterprises, said the Chick-fil-A at Purdue will be tied to the one on South Street in Lafayette when the franchise’s chicken sandwich restaurants is installed in the Third Street Suites North residence hall when the building opens at 401 N. Russell St. in fall 2020. The Lafayette franchise is owned by Rachel DeYoung.

Purdue wasn’t moved by the complaints about Chick-fil-A – at least not moved enough to block the deal with the franchise.

THE PROTEST:Purdue faculty challenge promise of a Chick-fil-A on campus

REACTION:Dear Purdue profs, diversity goes both ways on Chick-fil-A

“While we respect and protect the rights of all to express their opinions at Purdue, this clarification is intended to reassure our students and others that this long-requested dining option will not be taken from them and to dispel any impression that Purdue would ever seriously consider such an action,” the statement from Purdue read.

“We would not be promoting choice and freedom by depriving thousands of people in our community of a choice they have long sought and are already taking advantage of in large numbers,” Purdue’s statement read. “And, we would not be practicing inclusion by excluding a completely legitimate business and its staff from our campus.”

Purdue’s renewed commitment to Chick-fil-A came after the University Senate’s Equity and Diversity Committee proposed a measure meant to pressure Purdue’s administration to make sure that commercial ventures on campus “uphold the same values and promote inclusivity with their policies, hiring practices and actions.”

The proposal, which will be up for a formal University Senate vote on Oct. 21, didn’t call out Chick-fil-A by name. But on Monday, when the measure was first discussed, Jo Boileau, Purdue’s student body president, said Chick-fil-A was an issue for the campus’ LGBT community.

“As student body president and as an openly gay student, this is something I’m confronting on a daily basis, in conversations I’m having every single day with students on this campus,” Boileau said during the University Senate meeting Monday.

Chick-fil-A has been a polarizing business along social grounds in the past decade. Critics have promoted boycotts of the business in response to Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s religious-based stances against same-sex marriage. Chick-fil-A also has been criticized for the company’s support for organizations that LGBT advocates viewed as hostile to gays and lesbians.

Since Monday’s University Senate meeting, news of the Purdue faculty proposal has fired up bloggers and social media debates on the left and the right, lining up for and against the polarizing company.

Linda Prokopy, a professor of in forestry and natural resources department, is a member of the University Senate’s Equity and Diversity Committee.

“I’m extremely disappointed that Purdue is not standing behind our diversity statement,” Prokopy said Friday. “While it’s freedom of speech for people to choose to eat where they like, and I would not object to a Chick-fil-A off campus, it is not OK for the university to so openly tell the LGBTQ community that we are OK hosting a business that will donate profits to groups that seek to hurt them.”

DeYoung, the owner and operator of Lafayette’s Chick-fil-A, was not immediately available for comment Friday.

Chick-fil-A’s corporate offices released this statement: “We are a restaurant company and have no political or social agenda. More than 145,000 people from different backgrounds and beliefs represent Chick-fil-A, and we are proud to partner with universities like Purdue across the United States. We look forward to serving everyone in our restaurants.”

LAFAYETTE PASTOR:The troubling case of Purdue faculty trying to kick out Chick-fil-A

MORE REACTION:A pastor, Purdue's Chick-fil-A and a case of discrimination masquerading as 'diversity'

At Purdue, students have pushed for the university to land a Chick-fil-A for several years. A 2018 petition drive to that effect pulled in more than 3,000 signatures. In 2018, Purdue gave Chick-fil-A space three nights a week for a pop-up restaurant in the Krach Leadership Center, which houses offices for student groups and student services at Third Street and Martin Jischke Drive.

On Monday, Wynkoop told the J&C he was sensitive to the faculty concerns, but that students had lobbied hard to get a Chick-fil-A – including runs for student body president built around platforms promoting the idea of landing the restaurant on campus.

Molly Bull, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s in agricultural education and is now working on a master’s degree at Purdue, was among the students who signed the petition to recruit Chick-fil-A to campus.

Bull said on Friday that she was happy Chick-fil-A was still coming to Purdue. She said she thought Lafayette and West Lafayette has needed more than one Chick-fil-A in the community “for a long time now.”

“I think it's unfortunate that the beliefs of the CEO are causing issues in the community,” Bull said. “While I don't share those same beliefs, I don't think it's fair to boycott the entire company that employs a lot of people. I don't eat there because of their political/religious views but because the food is good and the service is always the best in town compared to any other fast food restaurants.”

John Gates, Purdue’s vice provost for diversity and inclusion, weighed in Friday morning, too.

“We are fortunate to be a campus that embraces excellence through diversity and freedom of expression and choice for all people,” Gates said. “The Chick-fil-A operator on campus is bound by Purdue’s non-discrimination policy statement, and we look forward to them respecting our institutional core values of integrity, honor, respect, inclusion, innovation and growth.”

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.