Students at Brown go on hunger strike to demand divestments from Israel

Brown University students in Providence, Rhode Island have started a hunger strike to compel their school to divest from companies with connections to Israel.

19 students are engaged in a hunger strike organized by the Palestine Solidarity Caucus and Jews for Ceasefire Now, saying they will continue until the school agrees to introduce a resolution supporting divestment from Israel, as reported by Middle East Eye. The students are demanding that the resolution be discussed in the Feb. 8-9 meeting of the Brown Corporation this week, according to ABC 6. 

The hunger strike is not indefinite, as the students have said that they will end the strike after Feb. 9, the second and last day of the corporation meeting, even if a divestment resolution is not placed on the agenda, according to The Providence Journal. 

[RELATED: At least 19 colleges under federal investigation for discrimination against Jewish students]

The strikers wish to sever economic ties between Brown and corporations with ties to Israel, including Boeing, General Electric, Motorola, and Raytheon, among others, said Middle East Eye. 

The students declared that “[g]iven the escalating violence in Gaza, this hunger strike emphasises [sic] the urgency of passing a divestment resolution in this meeting rather than delaying the process any further.”  

One student who is participating in the hunger strike, Ariela Rosenzweig, condemned what she called “the university’s unwillingness to heed my calls as a Jewish student to divest from the ongoing genocide being carried out in my name,” as well as what she termed Israel’s “crimes against humanity,” as noted by Middle East Eye. 

The students will also refrain from going to class while the strike is ongoing, The Brown Daily Herald has reported.

Brown spokesperson Brian Clark addressed the matter of the investments that the students are protesting, saying they are conducted “through external specialist investment managers, all with the highest level of ethics and all of whom we believe share the values of the Brown community,” according to The Providence Journal. 

[RELATED: 41 anti-Israel student activists arrested in latest Brown divestment ‘sit-in’]

The statement that included the students’ demands twice referred to Israel’s actions as constituting “genocide,” and also demanded that “[t]he administration must permit representatives from the Brown Divest Coalition to present the case for divestment to the Corporation.”  

As Campus Reform previously reported, 41 Brown students were arrested in December for hosting a divestment protest in a closed building on campus. 

Campus Reform has contacted Brown University, the Palestine Solidarity Caucus, and Jews for Ceasefire Now for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.