Lawrence KilliumA group of Yale grad students announced earlier this week that they were going to participate in a hunger strike until the school administration met their demands for better union benefits. They claimed they were committed to protesting in front of the University President’s home until their terms were agreed upon.
The pamphlets at the rally read, “What Yale could not stop, they are cynically trying to slow. Yale wants to make us wait and wait and wait … until we give up and go away. We have committed ourselves to waiting without eating.”
These grad students are already getting a $30,000 stipend every year, receive free healthcare, and even get their entire $40,000 tuition completely covered. Apparently, though, that’s not enough for them.
The school, of course, made sure to cover their own asses while their students pitched fits by saying that they understood the student’s concerns, but they “strongly [urge] that students not put their health at risk or encourage others to do so.”
But it turns out those concerns weren’t even needed. These students aren’t even actually doing a “hunger strike,” they claim it’s all “symbolic.”
Dimitri Halikias tweeted a photo of one of the pamphlets showing that it wasn’t actually a hunger strike, then tried to claim that it was still inspirational.
(He deleted the tweet, but he forgot one important thing… the internet is forever.)
Twitter then proceeded to tear him a new one:
@DHalikias I’m on strike from my job every day from 5 PM until 9 AM the next morning.
— neontaster (@neontaster) April 26, 2017
@DHalikias my life since I eat when I’m hungry too.
— Cen (@Censuring) April 27, 2017
@DHalikias just ran a symbolic charity 5K in my mind
— nick (@nickmirto) April 26, 2017
@DHalikias This is EXACTLY how I quit drinking
— Bill Dean (@CanaDean) April 26, 2017
@DHalikias In inspiring solidarity with the snowflakes, I too vow to eat only when I’m hungry.
— Chris DeMuth Jr (@ChrisDeMuthJr) April 26, 2017
@DHalikias This has triggered me. Going out for sushi. Fight on, whoever is taking my place. I will rejoin the struggle after lunch.
— Harry Godwyn (@harrygod) April 26, 2017
@DHalikias Yale Grad Students prepare for their hunger strike. pic.twitter.com/Pr7qo04L1F
— It’s Only Words (@itsonlywords) April 26, 2017
yeah that’s not really how hunger strikes work https://t.co/8z297qZp5W
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) April 27, 2017
@blakehounshell @jaketapper Sorry, @dhalikias, there’s nothing inspirational about a fake hunger strike by ivy league university graduate students. 🙄
— Maria Langer 🚁 (@mlanger) April 27, 2017
Reminds me of when the progressive group at my undergrad held a “sleep out” for the homeless night — but moved inside when it rained. https://t.co/tWDmwOYDc4
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) April 26, 2017
I’m a vegetarian. But I also eat chicken, beef, and pork. https://t.co/8vOHbddK1y
— Ian Tuttle (@iptuttle) April 26, 2017
What’s really sad is Local 33’s video about the event, which includes endorsements from the co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, Dolores Huerta, and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, Maria Elena Durazo.
These grad students honestly just need to see how good they really have it and stop complaining. If they don’t like being in expensive school programs, they’re more than able to get out there and work in the real world (that is, unless their degree is completely useless, which begs the question as to why they’re getting all this free money in the first place.)
