Nathaniel Rosenberg photo
At Tuesday's hunger strike.
(Updated) A group of six Yale University affiliates abstained from eating for a fourth day Tuesday as part of a hunger strike in support of Palestinians at risk of famine in Gaza.
The group, which includes five current undergraduate students and one alumnus, is calling on the university to meet a number of demands, including divesting its $41 billion endowment from weapons manufacturers and other companies that violate international human rights law, ending fellowships that fund student travel to Israel, and changing campus regulations around protest and free speech.
The hunger strikers, whose numbers rose to seven with the addition of a Yale staff member Tuesday morning, have been gathering outside of Yale President Maurie McInnis’s office on the steps of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall at the corner of Prospect Street and Grove Street every day since Saturday morning, seeking a meeting with McInnis and University trustees.
“We are striking to stand in solidarity with Palestinians who are being starved by Israel’s blockade, and to demand that Yale end all financial and ideological support for Israel’s genocide,” one hunger striker is quoted as saying in a press release sent out Tuesday. “We are tired of waiting for the Yale administration to listen to us, so we will go on a hunger strike until they listen.”
According to that same press release, the hunger strikers are “withholding their names and requesting amnesty from the university due to fears of administrative retaliation.”
Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in early March, Israel has blocked aid, including food and medication, from entering Gaza for 70 days, claiming it is putting pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages. A UN-backed assessment released on Monday found that close to half a million people are facing starvation in Gaza.
Click here to read about a hunger strike that a group of Yale graduate students held last year in an effort to pressure the university to divest from weapons manufacturers involved in Israel’s war in Gaza.
So far, McInnis and the University trustees have not met with the hunger strikers, who say they have been told they won’t get a meeting because administrators had previously met with members of Yalies4Palestine.
In a comment provided to the Independent, Yale spokesperson Karen Peart confirmed exactly that: that university leaders have previously met with students from Yalies4Palestine to hear their concerns, and that “the university does not intend to hold additional meetings.”
Peart said that the university is “deeply committed to upholding the right to free expression, and participating in a hunger strike as a peaceful form of protest is not itself a violation of university policy.”
She said that the strikers did violate university policy on Tuesday, however, by bringing their protest inside Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall. “This activity was in violation of university policy, which requires students who wish to hold an event or gathering on campus to be part of a recognized student organization that requests and is granted permission for use of the space. The students were informed of the policy violation, at which point they left the building without incident. The university will continue to offer access to medical care to the individuals participating in the hunger strike.”
When this reporter stopped by the protest on Tuesday afternoon, the energy was subdued. The hunger strikers sat on the steps of the building, while a small group of approximately a dozen keffiyeh-clad protesters milled around nearby, talking and painting a banner.
The hunger strikers had recently been kicked out of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, where they had been protesting, and one of them cited the move as an example of Yale’s disrespect for student protest.
“We got kicked out of the building, despite our blood sugar being dangerously low,” the hunger striker, who did not provide their name, said. “They threatened to arrest us unless we left the building, even though the building wasn’t closed and we weren’t breaking any of their rules…They clearly didn’t care about the safety of their students.”
In their public communications, the strikers have emphasized the symptoms they are experiencing from the hunger strike. Yalies4Palestine posted a photo on Instagram of a striker holding a sign reading “My blood Sugar is DANGEROUSLY LOW Putting me at risk for fainting, Seizures and a COMA.” In Tuesday’s press release, protesters wrote that the strikers have “become hypoglycemic, are experiencing dizziness, faintness, extreme fatigue, inability to regulate their temperatures.”
Two medical professionals present at Tuesday afternoon’s protest said the current health risks to the hunger strikers are minimal. Phil Brewer, a retired emergency physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital, said that because hunger strikers are drinking water and taking electrolytes, they could likely continue without food for several weeks.
“As long as they stay hydrated, this can go on for a long time,” Brewer, who is involved in several pro-Palestine New Haven groups, said. “Anyone who is young and basically healthy, who quits consuming calories almost totally but continues to drink water, and water with electrolytes, they’re going to feel tired, queasy and irritable, but it would be weeks before they’re likely to have any serious complications.”
Sarah Aly, an emergency medical physician and instructor at the Yale School of Medicine, was also on hand at the protest, still wearing black scrubs from her shift earlier in the day. She agreed with Brewer’s assessment, adding that there are likely some differences in how the hunger strikers’ bodies are reacting to the lack of food.
Aly said that strikers had been measuring their own blood sugar levels and sharing them with the doctors, and that the readings had not been overly concerning so far.
Both agreed that protesters were not at imminent risk of fainting, seizures, or a coma.
“The real question is, will the administration meet with [the hunger strikers] because they haven’t so far,” Aly said. “Food hasn’t entered Gaza for close to 70 days, it’s an ever-changing situation and the fact it’s evolving means [administrators] can’t say they don’t need to meet with them because they met months ago.”
This article has been updated with comments from a Yale University spokesperson.