Inside Higher Ed: Hunger strike at U of Florida
ive students have consumed only water for five days, and several others are on forms of hunger strikes at the University of Florida, as part of the Students for a Democratic Society push for changes in the institution’s investment policies. The students say that the university has failed to consider the ethical implications of its ownership of shares of companies. “Call Bernie Machen [the university’s president] himself and let him know what you think about his refusal to put UF’s money where its mouth is. Ask him if the possibility that our university is profiting off of war, environmental destruction, and human rights abuses is OK with him,” says the students’ Facebook group. Machen wrote the students last month, expressing admiration for their ideals and noting that there are circumstances in which the university would not invest in certain companies. But Machen said he didn’t favor the students’ demands for a campuswide committee to discuss investment choices because of the responsibilities of trustees for financial management and the difficulty of achieving consensus among the entire campus on such issues.
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