Thin Blue Line backer Big City Coffee seeks millions from Boise State over campus closure
A downtown Boise coffee shop is taking legal action against Boise State University after the closure of its location on BSU’s campus last year.
Claiming breach of contract, Big City Coffee filed a tort claim Wednesday seeking an excess of $10 million from Boise State and multiple campus officials. A tort claim is not a lawsuit but often precedes one; it is a legal document that outlines claims and potential damages.
Big City alleges that the university illegally ended its contract after complaints about the owner’s display of Thin Blue Line flags that show support for police and made untrue statements that defamed the business.
On Friday, a Boise State spokesperson told the Statesman that the university has received the tort claim but does not comment on potential or pending litigation. Last year, BSU said Big City was in no way forced to close and leave campus.
Last May, Boise State began soliciting offers to replace a Starbucks location in the Albertsons Library with a local coffee shop, and Big City was chosen as the new vendor. The coffee shop, owned by Sarah Fendley, started in downtown Boise, where it has operated for roughly two decades.
Fendley started displaying her support for police and first responders in July 2016 after the shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers, according to the tort claim. This included displaying the flags at the downtown coffee shop.
Months after that shooting, Boise Police Department Cpl. Kevin Holtry was shot and paralyzed by a fugitive on the Boise Bench. The gunfire between police and the suspect left the suspect dead and also fatally wounded a police K-9 dog. Holtry, who was shot five times, and another officer were injured.
Holtry and Fendley began dating after the Boise shooting and were engaged in 2020.
The claim says that Fendley voiced concerns over a past dispute with a Boise State faculty member who took issue with her display of Thin Blue Line merchandise at the downtown shop, but was told by a campus official that it would not be an issue for her campus location.
Thin Blue Line flags emerged prominently last year in counterprotests to the Black Lives Matter movement, after those groups began calling for defunding police forces nationwide, including in Boise. Some BLM protests last year occurred on BSU’s campus.
According to the tort claim, Fendley borrowed $150,000 to equip the campus location and train staff, all while maintaining the downtown shop. Big City Coffee later signed a contract for food and beverage service through Aramark — which handles such services on the BSU campus — on Aug. 17, and the shop opened in September 2020. Big City asserts that Thin Blue Line flags and other law enforcement-related materials were not displayed at the campus coffee shop.
Big City Coffee’s attorneys say they obtained emails showing that some campus officials were discussing “the potential for controversy” between campus groups and the coffee shop as early as July 2020. If Fendley or others had been made aware of this or known that a student group began to raise concerns, Fendley might not have not opened the location, according to the tort claim.
In October, Fendley became aware of a social media message that called for a protest of Big City Coffee for displaying Thin Blue Line messaging at the downtown location. Fendley responded on Oct. 21 by posting on social media. The claim says the post “outraged” a student group, which “complained loudly” to campus administrators.
A day later, Fendley was called to a meeting with several campus administrators and was told that Big City Coffee’s presence at the university started a “firestorm.” The tort claim says that a “small but vocal minority was demanding that BSU remove (Big City Coffee) from campus.”
Fendley asked the university whether it would support her business despite the criticism, and Boise State Vice President for Student Affairs Leslie Webb said that would not happen, according to the tort claim.
A representative from Aramark suggested Fendley close the store until January, but Vice President for University Affairs and Chief of Staff Alicia Estey reportedly said it would be best to “part ways.” Big City Coffee moved its equipment off the Boise State campus on Oct. 26.
“To make clear, (Big City Coffee) was forced off the BSU campus by the Administration,” according to the tort claim. It also alleges that the university tried twice to have Fendley sign a statement saying the departure was mutual.
The depiction of the Oct. 22 meeting made in Big City’s tort claim differs from a statement released by Boise State last Oct. 28. Boise State said Big City “requested to be let out of the contract” and the university did not ask the coffee shop to compromise Fendley’s First Amendment rights.
“At no time did the administration at Boise State ask Big City Coffee to leave campus,” the university said.
Big City Coffee is seeking monetary damages in excess of $10 million. The figure is based on the loss of income from the coffee shop’s closure and “reputational and emotional damages suffered due to being wrongfully and maliciously labeled as a racist and a white supremacist,” according to the claim.
Boise State has been under scrutiny in recent months. The university suspended some core curriculum classes after allegations that a student was “degraded” in a class because of their beliefs. Boise State hired an outside law firm to investigate and later brought back the classes.
Republican legislators cut over $400,000 from the university’s budget during the 2021 legislative session. Many members of the party have taken issue with the university for a while, claiming that BSU uses tax dollars to purse a social justice agenda.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 3:10 PM.
