Students are willing to die to get USF to take action in supporting Palestine in the Israel-Palestine war.

Four students at the Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting on Monday demanded that USF divest in companies that support Israel. These four are a part of The Hunger Strike coalition, originally a group of 18 students starving themselves until USF meets their demands. One student withdrew from striking due to “health issues“, leaving 17 students remaining.

“We will starve ourselves. We will die if that’s what it takes to reaffirm the belief and the truth that there is blood on your hands,” Will Mleczko said. 

The students are passionate about change, but the way they’re going about it is all wrong, especially since they had to be escorted out of the BOT meeting after yelling and shouting.

Starving yourself in honor of the starving people of Gaza to gain attention won’t stop the Israel-Palestine war. And making a dramatic scene in a professional meeting isn’t how productive change is gonna happen. 

Related: USF pro-Palestine hunger strikers removed from BOT meeting

If students actually want change, they need to advocate for people who are doing something: organizations like Umma Relief and Feed Israel that help feed the starving children.

The four students had the chance to speak and have a civic engagement during the public comment section of the BOT meeting – but they blew it.

Students laughed and yelled “shame” during the meeting, leaving no room for them to be taken seriously by the BOT members. 

Once the yelling got louder, they were escorted out of the meeting.

“USF doesn’t give a f— about their students,” Mleczko said during his opportunity to speak.

Yet, USF has clearly shown they care about their students.

After hearing about students going on a hunger strike, the USF Dean of Student Office sent an email to The Hunger Strike coalition saying it is significantly concerned for students’ well being. 

The office warned students about the risks of starving and told them to cease immediately, USF spokesperson Althea Johnson said in a March 6 article with The Oracle.

The students hunger strike in honor of the people starving in Gaza. They won’t stop until USF stops investing in companies that support Israel such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing. 

But, USF doesn’t have that power –it doesn’t even invest in those companies. 

“We don’t invest in any of those companies that were mentioned,” Board Chair Will Weatherford said at the meeting.  

Althea Johnson, one of the students advocating at the meeting, said USF does not select individual companies or stocks to invest in. It invests through fund “managers” and students want USF to alter its process. 

Students have also been demanding that Rhea Law call for a ceasefire during a protest on Tuesday, according to The Hunger Strike’s Instagram post. 

But, what is a public university president saying “ceasefire” to an international war actually going to do?

USF is a university, not a governmental power. 

A university’s job is to educate and a place for different perspectives and opinions.

If a university takes a political stance, it no longer becomes a place where ideas are freely exchanged, but a place for division to stand. 

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“Each one of us is entitled to our own opinion,” Weatherford said. “You have the right to come here and speak before this group.”

“It’s possible for people to have the belief that Israel has the right to defend itself while also having compassion for the Palestinian people,” he said.

USF should have a right to stay neutral on the ongoing political war and students should respect that right. 

If students want to be proactive about helping the starving children in Gaza, then they should seek to have mature conversations instead of yelling, cussing and making false accusations. 

“If you want your words to be respected and opinions to be respected by this board and university, then treat other people with respect,” Weatherford said. 

“I don’t appreciate people calling us liars and the thought that we can do something we can’t actually do,” he said.

USF does not have the power and authority to do anything on the international level, and it’s silly to protest to the USF administration. 

If students actually want change, they need to put their energy toward impacting the people actually suffering. Students should donate to organizations like the Umma Relief and Feed Israel that help feed the malnourished, directly impacting the people affected by the Israel-Palestine war. 

Starving yourself doesn’t help feed the starving children of Gaza.