The College of William and Mary should immediately divest from Roark Capital Group, a private equity company connected to horrific animal cruelty. Roark Capital Group has failed to ensure that all the restaurant companies it invests in have publicly committed to comprehensive animal welfare policies that ban some of the worst abuses inflicted upon chickens raised for meat in their supply chains. As a Roark Capital Group investor, the College of William and Mary is connected to this unthinkable animal abuse.

Without committing to such policies, Roark Capital Group’s portfolio companies allow suppliers to breed chickens to grow so unnaturally fast that they often collapse under their own weight. Many may suffer from constant leg pain so severe they spend nearly all their time sitting in their own waste. Continual contact with wet litter causes extreme feather loss and painful sores on the chickens’ bodies and feet. The noxious air, filled with the stench of waste and acrid ammonia, makes breathing difficult.

To prevent chickens from burning calories by walking around and to promote weight gain, many farmers keep the chickens in near darkness all day long. Most birds will not see the sun until the day they are killed. Many die from organ failure. And the lives of those who do survive these houses of horrors end the same way: The birds are shackled upside down by their feet, are painfully shocked with electricity, have their throats cut open, and bleed to death, often while still fully conscious. Many are scalded alive in hot water feather-removal tanks.

Numerous companies have publicly committed to policies that prevent these abuses, including Burger King, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Subway, Boston Market, Qdoba, Chipotle, Panera Bread, Pret A Manger, Starbucks, Aramark, Bon Appétit Management Company, Compass Group, Sodexo, Centerplate, and Delaware North.

Please sign this petition calling on the College of William and Mary to take a stand against animal cruelty by divesting from Roark Capital Group unless Roark agrees to ensure that all its portfolio companies adopt comprehensive animal welfare policies with aggressive timelines for implementation.