Columbia Students Call Off Hunger Strike Over Issues Related to Race

Two weeks ago, six students at Columbia University began a hunger strike to protest the university expansion into the surrounding Harlem neighborhood. The strikers also demanded changes in the core curriculum, expansion of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the hiring of additional faculty members at the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the Institute for Research in African American Studies.

After four days, one of the strikers fainted and was taken to the hospital. A week after the strike began, the university administration agreed to make the changes in the core curriculum the students sought, to hire three additional faculty members, to expand the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and not to discipline any of the hunger strikers. However, the university did not budge on its plan to expand into west Harlem and the hunger strike continued.

This past Thursday night, the students agreed to call off the hunger strike. On Friday, a joint statement was issued stating that both sides would work together to resolve their remaining differences and achieve their goals of building a better Columbia.

Readers who want more information on the hunger strike, click here.

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