Students at Brown University hold pro-Palestinian hunger strike

Rhode Island’s Brown University has become a hotbed of pro-Palestinian activism. Some students are on a hunger strike aimed at getting the school to divest from companies they say support the war.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

At Brown University, pro-Palestinian activism has become very visible on campus. Since November, more than 60 students have been arrested during sit-ins. Now students are taking even more drastic measures. For the last week, more than a dozen have been refusing food as part of a hunger strike. Olivia Ebertz from Rhode Island member station The Public’s Radio has been on campus in Providence this week talking with student activists. Hi there.

OLIVIA EBERTZ, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.

SHAPIRO: What are the striking students asking for?

EBERTZ: So throughout all of these protests at Brown University, the through line has always remained divestment. The students really want their universities endowment to be divested from companies that they say profit from human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories. So that could include companies like weapons manufacturers, aerospace and defense contractors. It also includes companies that make motors for construction equipment that could be used to build Israeli settlements.

I talked to one of the students who is on hunger strike, Nour Abaherah. She is a Palestinian American student. She’s at Brown’s School of Public Health. And her grandparents live here in Rhode Island, but they’re also Palestinian. And she says that they’ve been really proud to watch her through all of this.

NOUR ABAHERAH: They are, like, extremely happy to see that so many students that are not necessarily Palestinian are so dedicated to the Palestinian cause.

EBERTZ: And so besides all the students who are on hunger strike right now, there have also been hundreds of other campus community members who have been participating in rallies and events to kind of support these students. I’ve covered these…