There's sensitivity ... and then there's inanity.

Jim Gearhart says Rider University crossed the line into the latter when it barred Chick-fil-A from a survey asking students which restaurant franchises should come to campus.

"Chick-fil-A was removed as one of the options based on the company's record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community according to a letter to the Rider community from President Gregory G. Dell’Omo and Vice President for Student Affairs Leanna Fenneberg.

 The school says "We understand that some may view the decision as being just another form of exclusion" but "We want to be clear that this was not the spirit in which the decision was made."

The chain has a history of promoting Christian values — it's typically closed on Sundays, for instance. But it generated particular controversy in 2012 when its founder made a number of statements in opposition to same-sex marriage.

"It's not as if some employee ... they're not going to grab you by the collar, drag you into the back room to some baptismal font and baptize you," Jim Gearhart says in the the latest edition of the Jim Gearhart Show podcast, available here as well on iTunes and Google Play.

Jim's skeptical in general of the ideologies and purported morals advanced by companies. Starbucks is generally thought to be among the more liberal chains, but "I would bet the people running Starbucks are no more liberal ideologically than the people running Chick-fil-A. It's a marketing thing."

Actually, come to think of it, maybe this is all a situation Chick-fil-A engineered, Jim says. After the 2012 controversy, he says, "business boomed, once the public found out people were trying to shut down Chick-fil-A over this ideologically asininity."

That's just part of what Jim and Bob Williams take on in the latest installment of his podcast. Check out the full episode to hear the rest. And email Jim at Jim@NJ1015.com.

The Jim Gearhart Podcast is available every week on New Jersey 101.5 and in the New Jersey 101.5 app. You can also subscribe with your favorite podcasting app for iPhones, Android devices or your computer:

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