Students plan hunger strike, saying USF should call out Gaza civilian deaths

As the Israel-Hamas war continues and the civilian death toll in Gaza increases, 18 students at the University of South Florida are planning a hunger strike in hopes of pushing the school to call for a ceasefire and divest from companies that support Israel.

The students on Monday plan to attend the university’s board of trustees meeting to request that USF publicize its investment portfolio and remove any investments with Hewlett Packard, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Caterpillar.

They also have called for student involvement in overseeing investments, and for USF President Rhea Law to publicly support a ceasefire in Gaza.

“The main thing for us right now is that they’re very complicit in a genocide in Palestine,” said Will Mleczko, a student who plans to participate in the strike. “Over 30,000 people have died and the numbers are steadily rising…. We don’t want our money going to these corporations that profit off of the mass murder of all of these innocent people.”

Zeyda Lynn, another student planning to participate said she too hoped the strike would force the university to reconsider its investments.

“They collect so much money from us per year that it really is our business where that’s going and should align with your values,” she said.

The hunger strike was initially organized by Students for Socialism, an organization that has held campus rallies and protests in support of Gaza.

When USF officials heard about the strike, they called a meeting with the group, along with university staff and Student Health Services. Following the meeting, the university sent the group a cease and desist letter

“You said that you had done the research, however you did not give any indication that you had put safeguards in place or an action plan to guard against unexpected harm to the members,” the letter said.

The group, it said, would “be seen as jeopardizing the health and safety of our community members” and would be in violation of student conduct rules, so the university would need to take action against the organization.

The students then decided go forward with a hunger strike as individuals. They said they will allow themselves water and electrolyte beverages, but plan to forgo all food. Some are additionally fasting for Ramadan, so will only consume liquid between sundown and sunrise.

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“The University of South Florida’s highest priority is the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff,” said USF spokesperson Althea Johnson. “It is our understanding that a second group of students, which includes some, or all, of the members of the original group, is still planning to move forward with a hunger strike. USF continues to have concerns about risks associated with this type of activity.”

Mleczko said each student has the autonomy to make the decision of when to stop striking, but they hope to continue as long as they can.

“We’ve taken all the necessary precautions we can to ensure that this is something that people go into feeling safe and knowing that there’s no pressure on them — that this is something that we can sort of control the situation,” he said.

Alina Atiq, another student participating, said she’s been training herself by eating smaller portions leading up to the strike. She said she doesn’t plan to stop until the group has their demands met. She said university representatives told the group that they don’t control investments but that they’d help connect them to the proper channels. She said it remained unclear whether they would follow through.

“It’s incredibly frustrating to feel like you’re halfway across the world and you can’t really do anything about it,” she said. “Also knowing that your institutions, your government are complicit. So I feel like this is one thing that I can do.”

The students have activities planned on the Tampa campus through the first week of the strike, including sit-ins and “die-ins” in the Marshall Student Center and a march and “power hour” at the Patel Center for Global Solutions, where Law’s office is.

Divya Kumar covers higher education for the Tampa Bay Times, working in partnership with Open Campus.