A group of University of South Florida students led a march on campus Monday chanting "Free, free Palestine." Later this month, they say they will participate in a hunger strike to protest the ongoing war in Gaza.
The idea took root with the group Students for Socialism calling for the strike on their social media.
They demanded four things:
- USF President Rhea Law publicly calls for a cease-fire in Gaza,
- the university releases a list of what the SFS calls its "concealed investments,"
- the university creates a student oversight committee that looks at how the university invests its money in the future,
- USF divests from five companies that support Israel — Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Caterpillar.
SFS President Will Mleczko said it was "all or nothing" — the strike wouldn't end until all of the demands were met.
But shortly after announcing their plans, USF officials spoke with leaders of the group, telling them they had concerns about the health of participants.
And then they shut it down with a cease and desist letter.
The letter cited two USF code of conduct regulations and said the university "cannot allow any organization to promote an activity that may cause harm to its members or other community members."
Mleczko said the school likened the hunger strike to hazing.
"Everybody that was interested in the strike did it of their own volition and it was through a community... it was completely voluntary," he said.
But still, the student group complied with the school's demands and scrubbed the group's official social media pages of any mention of a strike.
“They were trying to make compromises. Like, 'We'll help you get a meeting with (President) Rhea Law,'” Mleczko said.
But that meeting still hasn't happened.
Now, a coalition of more than 16 students will go without food until their original demands are met.
The group of students, who are not affiliated with any campus organization, have started an Instagram account called USF Hunger Strike.
On Monday, over two dozen students and community members met at the school's library in Tampa.
Junior Alina Atiq said the university hasn’t done enough to support its Palestinian students during the conflict in the Middle East.
"This hunger strike is a necessary escalation. It's not coming out of nowhere. And we don't want to do it. We just have to," she said to the crowd at the library.
Senior Nabil Shariff also spoke, saying the clock is ticking for the university to meet their demands.
“The hunger strikers will put their lives on the line and face tribulation that is but a fraction of what Israel and all its complicit co-conspirators have put the people of Palestine through,” he said.
“We will not rest and the hunger strikers shall not break their strike. Because USF must divest,” Shariff added.
After a few other students also shared why they are joining the strike, the protesters marched through campus, with a sign at the front of the group reading "Hunger Strike for Palestine."
The march ended outside the Marshall Student Center, while a few police officers and school administrators looked on.
“So now, USF students, we're putting our own lives on the line,” Mleczko said. "And it's a decision for (the students) to make, but we view this as the sort of strongest escalation we can reasonably make."
The strike is scheduled to begin on March 18.
USF officials responded to a request for comment from WUSF with the following statement on Tuesday:
"USF’s highest priority is the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff. It is our understanding that this second group of students includes some, or all, of the members of the original group that the university met with last month. We continue to have the same concerns about risks associated with this type of activity and the well-being of participants.
"There is not a meeting scheduled with President Law, nor was any such meeting promised."
USF gather outside the Tampa campus library to rally for a hunger strike. They're asking USF administrators to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East and to divest from all interests in Israel and companies supporting it. pic.twitter.com/PpKmltGQG1
— WUSF (@wusf) March 5, 2024
