A group of Princeton University hunger strikers voiced great concern about their state of health and said the school was trying to “physically weaken” them while they demonstrated against divesting from Israel. This assertion was made in response to an October 7 Hamas assault on Israel, which increased tensions and sparked similar activities on college campuses around the country.
Participants in the hunger strike demanded last Friday that the institution talk to them about possible divestiture and remove the charges against other students who were part of similar demonstrations. Tents were set up and an academic hall was commandeered as part of these demonstrations, which resulted in the detention of fifteen students.
In a since-viral video, a demonstrator expressed her annoyance over a megaphone, saying, “My peers and I, we are starving.” Our bodies are worn out. You can tell that I am really shaking right now. Rather of attending to the requests of the demonstrators, she said that the university administration was using its meetings to further weaken the demonstrators physically.
The protester’s dedication to the cause is shown by the film, which shows her admitting that the hunger strike was a voluntary activity and that she was spending her birthday engaging in it. She was physically weak, but she and the other protesters were bolstered by their solidarity.
As of Sunday night, at least 15 students were allegedly taking part in the hunger strike; but, as the week went on, that number may change. President Christopher Eisgruber and other members of the university administration have had direct conversations with the demonstrators. By email, Eisgruber said that the university is willing to take the students’ concerns into account and emphasized that no organization is able to circumvent or unduly influence these procedures.
This current predicament at Princeton is a mirror of larger national and international discussions about ethical investing and the role of academic institutions in geopolitical conflicts that take place on college campuses.