At a Palestine Solidarity Coalition rally today at noon, six students began a hunger strike. Most of the students were masked and unidentifiable.
According to hunger strike spokesperson and participant Greyson Xiao ’25, the strikers are calling for the Board of Trustees to approve the Dartmouth Divest for Palestine divestment proposal, which calls for the College to divest from six weapons manufacturers. Dartmouth’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility unanimously voted against advancing the divestment proposal to the Board two weeks ago.
The strikers are also calling for the College to lift student activist Roan Wade ’25’s suspension.
There has been a resurgence of pro-Palestinian activism at Dartmouth over the past month. Most recently, on May 28, approximately 15 protesters staged a sit-in in the reception area of College President Sian Leah Beilock’s office in Parkhurst Hall.
Following the announcement of the strike in front of Parkhurst, the protesters walked to the lobby of Baker Library and set up a strike area on one of the couches. This resembled a previous hunger strike initiated by eight students in February of last year.
All hunger strikers except Xiao declined to speak on the record.
Safety and Security director Keiselim Montás, who was already present in the lobby of Baker Library when the protesters entered, sat across from the protesters alongside other Safety and Security officers. He declined to comment.
Xiao said the protesters are beginning a hunger strike to protest the “extreme conditions” in Palestine, including the recent blockade of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
“We’re taking this radical action now to stand in solidarity with Palestinians,” Xiao said.
Xiao added that the protesters believe that the College’s responses to recent pro-Palestinian actions “keeps escalating and escalating.” The hunger strikers hope to bring attention to their cause as alumni and family come to campus for Commencement later this month, Xiao said.
“Our only choices left are to take more extreme actions,” Xiao said. “And we know the College is panicking because they’re worried about their image and the political environment with [President Donald] Trump and everything, so we want to hit them where it hurts.”
College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth that the “safety and well-being of all Dartmouth students is our top priority, and we are deeply concerned about reports that a small group of students will engage in a hunger strike.”
“Dartmouth will offer assistance and resources to any student who is participating,” she wrote.
Update Appended (June 3, 2:55 p.m.): This article has been updated to include a statement from a College spokesperson.
Kelsey Wang is a reporter and editor for The Dartmouth from the greater Seattle area, majoring in history and government. Outside of The D, she likes to crochet, do jigsaw puzzles and paint.
