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UVA Students Go On Hunger Strike for Higher Wages

UVA Students Go On Hunger Strike for Higher Wages
2/29/2012
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Suada Kolovic

After a decade of dialogue with administration, marches, rallies and petitions, the Living Wage Campaign decided enough was enough: The student group that has pushed for higher pay for low-level employees at the University of Virginia (UVA) is entering the 11th day of a hunger strike with more than a dozen students continuing their protest.

Organizers are demanding UVA pay its employees at least $13 an hour with benefits and wages that are indexed to inflation. “Our university seeks to distinguish itself as a caring community and prides itself on traditions of honor and student self-governance. However, in our ‘caring community,’ hundreds of contract employees may make as little as $7.25 an hour while six out of the top ten highest paid state employees in Virginia hold administrative positions at the university,” wrote Joseph Williams, a hunger striker and football player at UVA, on Michael Moore’s website. On Monday, protestors met with UVA President Teresa Sullivan and other officials but declared it unsuccessful and said they would remain on a hunger strike until their demands were met. University officials insist they have no say over how much contractors pay their employees. (For more on this story, click here.)

What do you think of the extreme strategies the protestors are taking? Do you support their efforts? Would you participate in a hunger strike for a cause you believed in?

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