An announcement from the world’s largest Christian Baptist university in terms of on-campus enrollment faced swift blowback after a program that was quietly launched in October of 2025 made frontpage news thanks to a social media post from the account Libs of TikTok. Houston’s Baylor University, which has an estimated 20,000 students on campus and identifies as a school with a Christian focus, nonetheless rolled out a new meal program in the name of accommodating ‘growing diversity’ that featured halal chicken.
For context, halal meat is derived through a ritualistic killing that requires the cutting of an animals throat and then allowing all of the blood to drain out. Critics of the practice suggest that animals experience significant pain, as the most stringent observation of the practice does not allow for pre-stunning, an industry term used to describe incapacitation before slaughter. The time between the throat slitting and bleeding out is thought to be painful.
Still, even if halal were quick and painless, the larger issue for vocal opponents of the new dietary program is that as a self-proclaimed Christian Baptist university, offering food that caters only to Muslim students runs counter to their beliefs. If Muslim students choose to go there, that’s one thing, but for them to be served food in the student dining area is quite another, particularly as the explicit reason was to respond to campus diversity.
News of the new hala chicken offering first circulated in October of 2025. “To better support growing diversity on campus, East Village Dining Commons will offer Halal chicken beginning Tuesday, October 7, 2025. All whole muscle chicken – including chicken thighs, chicken breasts, chicken meatballs, and bone-in chicken – served at East Village Dining Commons will be sourced from Sanderson Farms, who’s [sic] poultry products have received Halal certifications by Halalco’s on site Muslim inspector,” the message began. Worth noting is that a college student or employee couldn’t even tell the difference between a contraction or a possessive.
“Please note that breaded chicken items, such as chicken tenders and paddies, are not Halal-certified, however we are actively working on a solution for these items. If you have any questions concerning Halal options available on campus, please reach out to our campus dietitian, Kirsten Hancock, RDN, LDN, M.S. for support,” the message concluded.
The X account belonging to the famed Libs of TikTok took a screen shot of the message and shared it to her large audience. “YIKES. @Baylor, the largest Christian Baptist university in the world, introduced a ‘halal dining program” to cater to Muslims students and “support growing diversity on campus,’” she wrote. “We are being taken over.”
Most comments sided with the conservative social media influencer. “Maybe it’s just me but when a so called Christian Baptist university starts catering to Muslims they are no longer a Christian Baptist university. At a minimum they become just another Woke university,” one user wrote.
“Horrific animal cruelty. Why would Muslim students attend a Baptist school? They deny the Divinity of Jesus. Why would a Christian school serve dead animals that have been sacrificed to Satan?” commented another.