Dartmouth students commence 'painful' hunger strike as 'last resort' to make school cut ties with Israel and Starbucks
Dartmouth students are participating in a hunger strike, saying they will 'starve for Palestine.'
The Dartmouth students demanded the university consider re-evaluating an Israeli exchange program and cutting ties with Starbucks
Students at Dartmouth College began a hunger strike and demanded that the institution take several anti-Israel measures, including re-evaluating an exchange program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Eight students began the hunger strike at noon on Monday and sent administrators a list of demands, calling for the university to support a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, according to The Dartmouth.
In a public statement, students participating in the hunger strike wrote that their action is a “painful and radical last-resort which can only take place in the most desperate of conditions.”
”Beginning now and continuing indefinitely into the future, we will be abstaining from eating,” the students wrote.
In addition to calling for the Hannover, New Hampshire to take a number of anti-Israel actions, the protesters are also calling for the college to call for charges to be dropped after two students, Roan Wade and Kevin Engel, were arrested for trespassing during a sit-in on campus.
”We believe that recent actions of the Beilock administration, in particular their ongoing prosecution of Kevin and Roan, their refusal to recognize the existence of Palestinian students, and their continued material support for apartheid, have created such conditions at Dartmouth,” the group wrote.
Students participating in the sit-in demanded that Dartmouth College:
1. Drop the charges against Roan Wade and Kevin Engel.
2. “Recognize and protect Palestinian students.”
3. “Divest from apartheid.”
4. Review and address the Dartmouth New Deal.
The Dartmouth New Deal calls for college administration to take a number of radical changes, which includes cutting ties “with Apartheid and war.”
The document, authored in November 2023, calls for Dartmouth College to end “College-sponsored alumni and birthright trips to Israel,” re-evaluating Dartmouth’s academic exchange with Israeli universities including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, divest from defense contractors that the “Israeli war machine,” and “broad divestment from companies which support Israeli apartheid.”
The Dartmouth New Deal also calls on the institution to “take steps toward achieving climate justice,” which includes funding “rent-controlled” housing on and off campus, as well as providing stipends to “working-class and marginalized students and community members to build climate resilience.”
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”Cover housing, food, and emergency costs with financial aid for students living on or near campus during off-terms,” another demand from the Dartmouth New Deal states. “Guarantee housing security, food security, and all privileges afforded to students taking leave terms.”
If the college doesn’t address and provide a timeline for implementing the Dartmouth New Deal, its authors wrote that “physical [non-violent] action” will be needed.
