New Brunswick, New Jersey) Rutgers University has banned the "Fat Dyke" and the "Fat Bitch". Both were the names of sandwiches listed in the menus on the sides of food trucks that park along the College Avenue campus.
Students from the school's gay organization and several female students complained to the administration that the sandwich names were homophobic and sexist.
The independent food trucks are licensed by Rutgers. Following the complaints the university ordered that the offending names be removed.
The vendors' contractual obligations include "showing respect to all students, faculty and staff, and operating in a professional, courteous manner," Rutgers spokeswoman Sandra Lanman said in a statement.
By Wednesday afternoon, they were covered up with duct tape or magic marker.
"It's not like it's a bad thing. I'm not trying to discriminate or anything," Sam Algar owner of one truck told The Star-Ledger of Newark. "It's extraordinary. It's funny."
But, Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, a statewide gay and lesbian political organization, isn't laughing.
"These sandwich businesses manage to be sexist, homophobic and offensive all in one grand slam," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "This is how hate crimes start, when people feel it's OK to make biased comments publicly."
Students from the school's gay organization and several female students complained to the administration that the sandwich names were homophobic and sexist.
The independent food trucks are licensed by Rutgers. Following the complaints the university ordered that the offending names be removed.
The vendors' contractual obligations include "showing respect to all students, faculty and staff, and operating in a professional, courteous manner," Rutgers spokeswoman Sandra Lanman said in a statement.
By Wednesday afternoon, they were covered up with duct tape or magic marker.
"It's not like it's a bad thing. I'm not trying to discriminate or anything," Sam Algar owner of one truck told The Star-Ledger of Newark. "It's extraordinary. It's funny."
But, Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, a statewide gay and lesbian political organization, isn't laughing.
"These sandwich businesses manage to be sexist, homophobic and offensive all in one grand slam," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "This is how hate crimes start, when people feel it's OK to make biased comments publicly."
