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Columbia Hunger Strike Update: Striker Passes Out
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 12, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 12, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The Columbia University students' hunger strike to protest Columbia's non-inclusive attitudes about redevelopment and curriculum continues with one less striker. Just after midnight on Sunday, a post went on up on the Columbia Hunger Strike website saying, "This evening, one hunger striker was admitted to St. Luke's hospital. She will not continue the strike for personal medical reasons." The student, Aretha Choi, who attends Barnard, later wrote:
...my disappointment increases as I remember the bitter tears that I forced down while being hauled out of the reading room in Butler library. That trip on the stretcher from room 209 to St. Luke's hospital was one of the longest rides of my life to say the least. Why? Because amidst the whispering voices of passersby, the asking of my date of birth and the flashing lights, I felt defeated. I felt utterly ashamed and I felt that I had let the four other strikers, the many supporters, and myself down. Only 4 days? Only 4 days? Only 4 days? That was the question plaguing me until I was laying with fluids running into my arm...
...Although I will not be able to be out at the tents right away, I do want to say that I will always be in Solidarity via thoughts and prayers until I go back to the tents as a supporter. And, I want everyone to know that although I am unsatisfied with 4 days, this is not the end. I want the adminstration to know that 4 days was obviously too long of a time for me to wait while they are on their little vacations to Cape Cod or wherever they go to escape their responsibilties. I want those students who taunt my fellow friends with nasty comments filled with disgusting ignorance, the member of the cava crew that mocked me and the entire hunger strike as I was hauled to the E.R, the unresponsive administration, and all those who just don't care because "it doesn't concern them" to know: I might have only made it to day 4 but WE, the students who care enough about Columbia University to want to change enough to starve and to hurt for it will remain strong....
The Sun reported that a counter-hunger strike protest group has emerged: "Why We Act, Why We Eat," who will "eat against a group that seems not to care for the well-being of its students or itself." (BWOG says the WWA, WWE group was "evidently intoxicated.")
And some faculty members are supporting the hunger strike, like Barnard professor of political science Dennis Dalton (even opting for an orange juice fast) and Columbia anthropology professor Nicholas De Genova. The Columbia Spectator thinks Dalton's decision to "join" the strike is bold, but "teachers should look for sustainable ways to express their solidarity in the classroom and on an academic level."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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