Question

Factcheck this: There used to be a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in the union

Answer 1

There did indeed used to be a Chic-Fil-A restaurant in the union here at the University of Illinois. It was located in the basement of the building. The restaurant was removed because of student preference--not their public views on gay marriage as some suspected. The semester preceding the removal, students were surveyed regarding their favorite fast-food restaurants and Chic-Fil-A was not on the list. The list included: Five Guys, Wendy's, Mcdonalds, Steak and Shake, and Culvers. If Chic-Fil-A had been on the list, the contract to keep them would have been renewed. 

https://www.news-gazette.com/news/students-tastes-decide-chick-fil-a-leaving-ui/article_16eb2598-3311-54ed-9f83-8c0265bfbf46.html

Comments

Great work explaining your fact-check and stance and adding details as to why the restaurant closed.

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I remember it

Answer 2

This is an absolutely true statement. The chain restaurant used to be located in the basement of the union but was removed. There is some controversy as to why it was removed and some claim that it was because of the strong beliefs they had on gay marriage. Beware, these reasons are speculated and werent actually confirmed as the actual reason!

Here is the twitter account for the chick fil a that was located in the union. They confirm that they closed in 2013.

https://twitter.com/Chickfilaillini

Additionally, there is a source that confirms that the fast food chain closed down back and it delves on the reasons on why it did close down.

https://www.news-gazette.com/news/students-tastes-decide-chick-fil-a-leaving-ui/article_16eb2598-3311-54ed-9f83-8c0265bfbf46.html

There was even a petition created to close the union as well.

https://www.change.org/p/u-of-illinois-evict-chick-fil-a-from-the-illini-union

Answer 3

This claim is indeed true! There used to be a Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Illini Union until 2013. An article from The Daily Illini confirmed this. The article stated, "The franchise, with the new Champaign restaurant located on North Prospect Avenue in Champaign, has not been in the area since it was evicted from the Illini Union in 2013 after a petition was made supporting its removal." This shows the restaurant did exist at some point in the past in the Illini Union. The article explains that the reasoning for the removal of the restaurant was due to a response to homophobic policies that the chain was involved with by students. Representatives from the Union said, "It was a business decision based on student preference, not because of the controversy with Chick-fil-A." To conclude, yes there definitely was a Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Union. True!

Comments

Nice write up. It's clear and concise. Going forward, don't forget to add a hyperlink to your source as well as a rating (true, false, misleading, opinion, etc.).

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https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/2019/09/30/chick-fil-a-to-return-to-cu-area/

Answer 4

This is a true statement. There was a Chick-Fil-A in the union in the past, but it has since closed.

https://www.news-gazette.com/news/students-tastes-decide-chick-fil-a-leaving-ui/article_16eb2598-3311-54ed-9f83-8c0265bfbf46.html

This article goes on to explain how the franchise was closing due to students food preferences rather than because of their homophobic views.

Answer 5

This is a true statement. According to an article by The News Gazette, there was a Chick-fil-A in the basement of the University of Illinois Union that "had operated at the Union for four and a half years."  The article further states that the restaurant closed down midway through 2013. 

Students' tastes decide: Chick-fil-A leaving UI | News | news-gazette.com

Answer 6

This is true, and the restaurant closed due to lack of business. A survey was done asking students their top food picks and Chic-Fil-A was not among the top choices. The vendor contract was up so they decided to go a different route after conducting the surveys.

More from this article: https://www.news-gazette.com/news/students-tastes-decide-chick-fil-a-leaving-ui/article_16eb2598-3311-54ed-9f83-8c0265bfbf46.html

Answer 7

This is true. According to the Daily Illini, the Chick-Fil-A that was located in the Illini Union "was evicted from the Illini Union in 2013 after a petition was made supporting its removal." The petition was started to remove the homophobic policies Chick-Fil-A has from the Illini Union. The Daily Illini also stated, "representatives from the Union said it was a business decision based on student presence, not because of the controversy with Chick-Fil-A." A few years later, following the removal, a new Chick-Fil-A opened just outside of campus.  

Source: https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/2019/09/30/chick-fil-a-to-return-to-cu-area/

Rating: True

Answer 8

This is true. The news gazette reports that it was removed for student food preferences over the homophobia allegations. The union asked students to rank their top 5 food preferences that Chic-fil-a didn't make it. Their contract was also up.

https://www.news-gazette.com/news/students-tastes-decide-chick-fil-a-leaving-ui/article_16eb2598-3311-54ed-9f83-8c0265bfbf46.html

Answer 9

This is a true statement. According to WAND, when announcing the current Champaign-Urbana Chick-fil-A opening on Prospect Avenue in 2019, they noted the closure of the Illini Union Chick-fil-A in 2013.

"There are more than 40 Illinois Chick-fil-A locations. A former restaurant at the Illini Union in Urbana closed its doors in 2013."

https://www.wandtv.com/news/chick-fil-a-announces-october-opening-day-in-champaign/article_38368420-da86-11e9-8651-73d1755e8b1d.html#:~:text=There%20are%20more%20than%2040,closed%20its%20doors%20in%202013.

Comments

Nice work digging deeper and find a source that hadn't yet been used.

Answer 10

This is true. There was a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in the basement of the Union until 2013. According to a Daily Illini article there was a petition to have the restaurant removed due to homophobic policies. There is a twitter account that confirms the closure in 2013. The main reason for the removal was due to student preference.

https://twitter.com/Chickfilaillini