Perhaps one test for a schools adherence to First Amendment principles is whether it has a Chick-Fil-A franchise.

Emory University recently closed theirs. However, despite student protests against their school’s store, administrators at one university voted to retain the restaurant.

The Elon University board of trustees voted last week to keep a Chick-fil-A on campus despite a vote from the school’s student government to remove the popular fast food chain for its president’s stance against gay marriage.

The movement to oust the chicken sandwich restaurant began last year when company president Truett Cathy stated his opposition to gay marriage.

The trustees made their decision after a school committee’s study found no evidence of discrimination by Chick-fil-A.

The 15-person Vendor Policy Study Committee, which included students, administrators, faculty, and alumni, was created specifically to address the controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A.

“The board believes Elon has benefitted from carefully considering these complicated and sometimes deeply personal issues,” said the board’s email. “Our community has resisted calls to make a quick and unilateral decision, studying the issues thoroughly, listening carefully to all opinions and insisting that every member of the community be treated with respect.”

Student reaction to the decision has been mixed.

Cameron Saucier, a sophomore at Elon, said he believes there are more important things for the board to worry about than a restaurant primarily known for its chicken sandwiches.

“We’ve had several public forums and committees to discuss whether to keep a fast food chain when we have tuition hikes coming up next year and other issues that need to be addressed,” Saucier stated. “It’s kind of ridiculous.”

He said he believes the entire Chick-fil-A controversy was a result of political correctness taking over his college campus and is representative of how opposing thoughts are not welcomed at Elon.

“Political correctness has just gone way too far on Elon’s campus and the whole incident should’ve never happened in the first place,” Saucier commented.

While Saucier seemed fine with the school’s decision, members of Elon’s LGBT community were offended that the school decided to keep the restaurant.

“The fact that Elon condones [Chick-fil-A] both surprises and upsets me,” Holly Brown, a member of the LGBT group Spectrum, told Elon Local News. “You would think preventing discrimination would be more important than a chicken sandwich.