Four hunger strikers — Hassani Bell, Ahkeel Andres Mestayer, Julia Retzlaff and Sachiel Fredric Rosen — together with the Third World Liberation Front 2016, all students at San Francisco State University, declared victory May 11 after they signed an agreement with the SFSU administration which included funding of $482,806. (This is in addition to an already previously conceded $250,000 for the 2016/17 academic year.)
Ten student demands were originally presented to the administration on Feb. 25. After an active campaign to press the demands was ignored, the four students began their hunger strike on May 2, pitching tents on a grassy area in the center of the campus. Negotiations leading to the settlement finally moved quickly after one of the strikers was hospitalized and SFSU President Les Wong agreed to meet with them.
Highlights of the agreement include:
Bell, an Africana Studies major, talked about the strike to this reporter as they were celebrating their victory. Asked why he joined the hunger strike, he said, “The budget cut would have eliminated about 40 percent of the faculty and most of the graduate programs.” His thoughts on the victory? “It’s bittersweet. I know the work is not over; we didn’t get all the demands that we wanted. There’s still a lot of work to do. I am happy that we were able to advance the college, but the fight never stops.”
The students involved in this campaign named themselves the Third World Liberation Front 2016 in honor of the original students who fought for and won the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies in 1968. Actor Danny Glover was a member of the Black Student Union and one of the students who went on strike at that time. He came and spoke in support of the strikers on May 9.
More information about the students’ demands and the strike can be found on their Facebook page, “Defend and Advance Ethnic Studies at SF State.”
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