California Students’ Hunger Strike for Gaza Spreads to Stanford

A group of at least 10 Stanford students and three staff members on Monday joined campus protesters across California in a hunger strike, pledging not to eat until the university agrees to divest from companies that they say are supporting Israel’s war in Gaza.

One of the strikers, Maryama Salam, said students have been pushed to use the “dangerous tactic” after more than a year of protesting hasn’t yielded any policy changes.

“We know what a hunger strike does to the body, and we have felt pressured after so much repression and lack of movement, or even listening from [the administration], to take such a drastic measure,” she told KQED. “We’re here because the people of Gaza have been starving, and we recognize our privilege as students in a very wealthy and elite institution, taking on this tactic.”

Over the weekend, the Stanford students sent a letter to campus administrators calling on the school to divest from companies that supply weapons and surveillance technology to Israel, including Chevron, big data analytics firm Palantir Technologies and military contractor Lockheed Martin.

The action comes days after students at four California State University schools began a unified hunger strike last week, later joined by activists at Cal State East Bay. They said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians who are at increasing risk of starvation as Israel’s blockade on food and aid entering Gaza stretches into its third month.

“We’re inspired by the CSU and we thought that what they were doing was super courageous … and saw this as a tactic we can take on as well,” Salam said. “We are talking to those organizers. We are in close work with those organizers … and we’re really proud of their work, and we want to bring that to our campus as well.”

In addition to divestment demands, Stanford students are also urging the school to roll back stricter protest regulations, call on the Santa Clara County district attorney to drop charges against a dozen students linked to a June demonstration, and denounce the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestinian student activists.

Salam said that as of Monday morning, the group had not heard back from university officials. Stanford did not respond to a request for comment by KQED.

Stanford students held one of the longest-standing pro-Palestinian encampments last fall and winter, which stood on the school’s central White Plaza for more than 100 days before it was taken down for violating overnight camping restrictions.

A second encampment emerged in the spring as the protest movement swept more U.S. campuses, but it was removed again after students occupied the university president’s office in June, leading to 13 arrests.

In the fall, Stanford administrators tightened a campus ban on overnight camping, began requiring registration for large demonstrations and designated zones where protests can occur.

Last month, 12 of the students arrested in June were charged with felony vandalism and conspiracy to trespass. (In March, the Santa Clara County district attorney declined to charge a student journalist who was also arrested while covering the demonstration.)

The strikers are demanding that the school repeal those protest limits and publicly oppose the charges brought by District Attorney Jeff Rosen.

“We want the school to recommit to their free expression in support of students protesting,” Salam said.

She pointed to campus protests in 1969 and 1977 that led to the end of classified military research at the university and the adoption of an ethical investment policy related to apartheid South Africa.

This time around, Salam said students feel like the university’s stance toward the charges against students “chills and represses political expression and Stanford’s rich history of sit-ins.”

The students are also asking Stanford President Jonathan Levin to sign an open letter released by the American Association of Colleges and Universities denouncing what it believes is government overreach by the Trump administration.

Since Trump took office, multiple international students studying in the U.S. have been detained by immigration officials, and they believe their outspoken support for Gaza made them targets.

In March, the Trump administration pulled back $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, one of 10 schools it said it is investigating for “failing to protect Jewish students.”

Salam said that while Stanford has not yet faced such funding cuts, she and other student activists feel that the school is trying to appease the Trump administration.

“They’ve already chosen what side they’re on, and we’re demanding that they reconsider and join this coalition of schools denouncing what’s happening rather than complying preemptively,” she told KQED.

Stanford President Jonathan Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez did release a statement in support of Harvard after it refused to make certain changes in the face of funding cuts, the Stanford Daily reported.

Beginning Monday, striking students and staff plan to gather each day from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. along with members of Stanford’s Muslim community and pro-Palestinian activist groups, who will be fasting in solidarity, according to Salam.

“We want Stanford to come to the table,” she said. “We want them to uphold the values that they always claimed to have, which is a commitment to open inquiry, a commitment to ethical investment.”