Glenn Reynolds linked to a NRO blog post (which in turn linked to a NRO column by Frederick Hess also posted at AEI) about the Maryland Food Collective. The story was first covered in the Post in May by Marc Fisher, so I’m not really sure what caused it to be brought up again now.

The gist of the story is that a cashier at the Collective refused to ring up the purchases of a customer wearing a pro-Israel t-shirt because it was offensive. Another cashier rang up the order and a statement was issued from the collective later that “no one should have to have contact with people whose views they find hurtful.”

After the customer and her friends (apparently including members or leadership from the Pro-Israel Terrapin Alliance) met with the staff of the Collective, a compromise was reached that all customers would be served by someone but that a cashier offended by the politics of a customer could find another cashier to complete the sale. The university’s human rights code bans discrimination based on political belief. Members of the collective still don’t see what they did as wrong apparently since, after the compromise was worked out, they told the director of the student union that they if a customer walked in wearing a swastika, they would deny service to that customer.

It’s really not that surprising if you poke around the MFC’s website. Among the gems you will find there is a tagline that reads “Food for People, not for Profit.” They also are proud of the fact that they have no supervisors, only “workers” and they allow people to acquire food by volunteering for them instead of buying it.

The student who was shopping in the store is named Mia Lazarus. Her name also showed up in coverage of the housing shortage at College Park for this fall. Apparently, the university notified people who wouldn’t be able to live on campus in the middle of Passover – causing many Jewish students to not find out about the news until after Passover had ended. The situation is also discussed in the context that there are no synagogues within walking distance in College Park if you live off-campus (as opposed to Hillel on campus.)