I agree, it's nice to see that people of our generation standing up for something. It gets frustrating to see so many stoic people on campus, who don't care about the social injustices of the world.

Now, let me bring up a point: I am all for consciousness raising and strikes and such - but how will these people make the world a better place? Who with political power is going to give a damn about college students starving themselves? This is nice for unity and such, but other than that, I don't think it's really effective.

When it comes to social justice, true work is done on individual-to-individual basis, and to seize political power and changing the system in accordance with our values and convictions ...

I am sorry if I sound like a pessimist.

I've done the whole hunger strike thing to, and looking back, it seemed we accomplished nothing.

I organized a hunger strike / campus sit-in to stop the war my freshman year in college. It totally worked. You're welcome!

Now, let me bring up a point: I am all for consciousness raising and strikes and such - but how will these people make the world a better place? Who with political power is going to give a damn about college students starving themselves? This is nice for unity and such, but other than that, I don't think it's really effective.

When it comes to social justice, true work is done on individual-to-individual basis, and to seize political power and changing the system in accordance with our values and convictions ...

I agree.

You know, I do think the strike is a GREAT starting point for raising awareness within the college community. But my question would be, what's next step?

Hey, I'm a Barnard alum too!

In general, I'm opposed to hunger strikes. I don't think protests should be about destroying oneself, and they seem to have an impact only when there's no other option. I've also always thought that the idea of privileged people who've rarely had to go hungry choosing to starve in solidarity with people who have no choice and would probably love to get the chance to eat the kind of food that the strikers are giving up was kind of...off.

In the article cited, you'll notice that the students involved in the strike have tried other actions. They've addressed university officials with personal testimonies and reports and made their needs known.

The article also quotes another Columbia student calling the protest "asenine". In some senses I think many students could have this reaction and not be moved by the protest at all. But I have seen actions on college campuses make effective changes. When I was in college just a few years ago, student groups advocated for better protocol in dealing with sexual assault on our campus. They also started a successful campaign for a living wage for our janitorial, maintenance and food service staff.

As far as the privilege of the protesters vs. the underprivilege of the those they are in solidarity with, a few thoughts: Firstly, the article interviews one protester who comes from communities affected by the gentrification that is under protest. So it is not 100% privileged kids with no concept of real struggle. Secondly, who's to say that privileged students don't have sufficient empathy to be in solidarity with people of a different background? I get that these students get to go back to their meal plans or full pantries in the end (which is good, no one should be hungry), but I don't think they are unaware of this difference in circumstance. They sound well-spoken in the article.