ESC Statement on the Hunger Strike
November 17, 2007 11:48
Posted by Stephen Robinson
A hunger strike is a drastic measure usually reserved for the most extreme causes; it is currently being used on our campus in a manner that is inappropriate and self-defeating. Regardless of the merit of the demands made by the strikers, the tactics being employed have completely overshadowed the issues that they have sought to resolve. Not only have these actions undermined any progress that could have been made towards these goals, they have endangered the health and well-being of several members of our community. Although we have nothing but the best wishes for the individual members of our community and their prompt return to normal collegiate life, we cannot support institutional change based upon intimidation.
Had the strikers approached the administration in a spirit of cooperation, they would have discovered that many of their demands were already being addressed. Furthermore, the current protest has thus far failed to produce any results beyond meetings. The faculty hiring actions that have been announced within the past week were part of a cluster hire that had already been planned. Many resources are available to promote and facilitate student interaction with the administration, including the undergraduate Student Councils and the University Senate Student Affairs Committee, none of which were approached before the hunger strike began.
Institutional change takes time. The most recent hunger strike that took place on our campus in 1996 resulted in the creation of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, reforms to both of which are among the list of the current strikers’ demands. If this original protest had truly been successful, issues concerning these two centers would not still be in need of repair and drastic actions such as these. Sensational activism results in band-aid solutions that eventually prove inadequate and ill-formed, and in many cases the four-year span of an undergraduate’s time at this University is not enough to see change happen. The recent reforms made to Columbia’s advising system have been many years in the making and were made with the full support of the student body. The students who began the conversation that resulted in these reforms as well as the students who continued those conversations had long been graduates when the changes began, and yet the full change is still not complete. Meaningful change in the university requires purposeful, direct, and continued actions toward well-defined goals, not overly broad and general demands rushed to completion.
The hunger strikers have taken our community hostage in a show of sensationalism. They have chosen self-harm to promote their agenda instead of working with their fellow students, the faculty, and the administration towards mutually beneficial and agreed upon change. These fallacious arguments have not allowed for dissent in an open forum that facilitates a fair, equal, and respectful discussion. The ESC calls for an immediate end to the hunger strike and requests that interested parties proceed through legitimate and proven University channels to motivate institutional change. At that time, the ESC will gladly support the dialogue surrounding any and all issues on our campus.