UBCO students join hunger strike demanding divestment

Students join hunger strike

Photo: Contributed

Ashley (left) and Nour (right) are joining a hunger strike at UBCO.

A small group of UBC Okanagan students say they are on a hunger strike to demand the university divest from companies “complicit in violations of international human rights law.”

The students are joining an existing hunger strike that started at the Vancouver campus on March 17.

The students are calling on the university to sell any investments related to Israel’s war efforts and occupations. The demands are similar to those made during a protest encampment at UBCO last year.

“I’m hunger striking because I have had enough,” said UBCO student Nour, in a news release. Her last name was not provided.

“We have tried every possible means of getting through to our administration — letter writing, petition signing, weekly rallies on our campus, email writing, camping on our courtyard for seven weeks — and no action, big or small, has resulted in any meaningful acknowledgement of our demands for divestment.”

At the time of last year’s encampment, UBC Okanagan says the companies targeted by the protestors are a part of "pooled funds and managed by external investment managers," making up 0.28 per cent of the endowment fund UBC says is worth about $2.8 billion.

The hunger strikers say they will be meeting daily between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the UBC Okanagan campus. Locations will be shared on social media.