Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Hunger strikers want end to UC-Berkeley nuclear work
By Tamara Bartlett
Daily Californian (UC-Berkeley)
05/14/2007

(U-WIRE) BERKELEY, Calif. — Several University of California-Berkeley students and alumni have refused to eat since last Wednesday in an effort to demand that the university sever ties with laboratories conducting nuclear research.

The protesters, who are camped out in front of Wheeler Hall with a banner stating, "Fasting for a Nuclear Free UC," are scheduled to end the fast Thursday after the UC Board of Regents meeting in San Francisco, said Chelsea Collonge, a UC Berkeley alumni who is participating in the fast.

As of Sunday, 10 students and alumni had joined the fast on the UC Berkeley campus.

The fast began the day after it was announced that a UC-led group would manage the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a nuclear research and development lab, for the next seven years.

Collonge said the eight-day fast serves as an symbol of support for a university-wide hunger strike in which over 40 protesters across the UC system have chosen to stop eating indefinitely until the university separates itself from nuclear research.

"(Education) is the most powerful, positive thing you can do as humans. (But) nuclear weapons are the most destructive, negative thing I can think of," said UC Berkeley junior Amanda Cocking, who is a conservation and resource studies major participating in the fast.

Collonge said the UC Berkeley protesters plan to attend the Thursday regents' meeting, where several said they hope to speak during the public comment period against the university's involvement with nuclear laboratories.

Protesters also said they plan to rally outside the meeting.

UC spokesperson Chris Harrington said the protesters need to understand the effect the fast would have on them physically and advised the students to consult with campus health professionals if they decide to stop eating.

"We urge them to eat. This is not a constructive way to open dialogue on a critical issue," Harrington said. "We urge them to be mindful of the health consequences."

Francisco Ramos Stierle, a graduate student in the astronomy department, said he feels "phenomenal" after fasting for four days.

"I convert the anxiety of eating into a spiritual energy," Ramos Stierle said. "That's an awesome feeling."

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