Yale grad students' 'hunger strike' apparently involves eating when hungry

FILE - This Sept. 9, 2016 photo shows Harkness Tower on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Harvard University is taking new steps to confront its past ties to slavery. The Ivy League school is hosting a conference Friday, March 3, 2017, exploring the historical ties between slavery and early universities, including Harvard. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz, File) (The Associated Press)

A group of Yale University graduate students announced Tuesday evening that they would be undertaking a hunger strike to pressure the administration into granting them better union benefits. The strike is taking place in front of University President Peter Salovey’s home.

"Yale wants to make us wait and wait and wait … until we give up and go away," the eight members of the graduate student union Local 33 announced. "We have committed ourselves to waiting without eating."

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Yale doctoral students currently earn a stipend $30,000 a year, receive free health care, and have their $40,000 tuition paid in full, according to Yale News.  The university administration said in a statement that they understood the students concerns, but "strongly [urge] that students not put their health at risk or encourage others to do so."

As it turns out, the hunger strike might not put anyone's health in peril. According to a pamphlet posted on Twitter by a  former Yale student, the hunger strike is "symbolic" and protesters can leave and get food when they can no longer go on.

Local 33 posted a video about the strike on their Facebook page, including quotes endorsing their fast from co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association Dolores Huerta and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee Maria Elena Durazo.

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