A group of University of B.C. students ended their five-day hunger strike on Friday after reaching an agreement with the school on fossil-fuel divestment.
The strikers were demanding the UBC board of governors make a public commitment to sell all fossil-fuel company stocks in UBC’s $1.71 billion main endowment pool. Related Extinction Rebellion said the board wasn’t moving fast enough to commit itself to divestment, so launched the hunger strike. The eight students participating in the action, ranging in age from 19 to 22, occupied an area outside the Alumni Centre and in the lobby each day from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. all week long. For 97 hours, their intake consisted of just water and vitamins.
“The board is clear: UBC is committed to full divestment as soon as possible, and we are taking the necessary steps to realize this now,” said a note posted on a university website. “The university shares and understands the community’s concerns regarding the climate crisis and that the continued operation of the fossil fuel industry is discordant with a climate safe future.”
Let them starve.
I just had a pizza and some chicken strips. It was magic.