More than 20 students and faculty are participating in a hunger strike that has been ongoing since May 12, aiming to bring attention to the risk of famine in Gaza after a 70-day Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid. On Tuesday, Vice Provost of Student Affairs (VPSA) Michele Rasmussen declined to meet with strike participants in an email sent on behalf of University president Jonathan Levin ’94 and Provost Jenny Martinez.

“There is no new ground to cover in a meeting with university leadership, so your request for further engagement on these topics as a condition of ending your hunger strike will not be granted,” Rasmussen wrote in an email sent to strike participants on Tuesday afternoon. 

A strike participant, Sameeha ’25, who requested to be identified only by her first name for fear of personal retaliation, said it was “demoralizing and dehumanizing” that Rasmussen referred to the on-campus hunger strike and recent developments in Gaza as “no new ground to cover.” On Tuesday morning, the U.N. reported that 14,000 children were at risk of malnutrition in Gaza as a result of the Israeli aid blockade.

Activists at Stanford have previously demanded that the University take a stand on the Israel-Palestine war, staging a 120-day sit-in last year. In October, the Board of Trustees rejected a petition by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to divest from defense companies tied to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Sameeha said that the University’s recent “nonresponse” was “shocking but not surprising… considering their response to the sit-in last year.”

“[The strike participants’] health conditions are deteriorating [and] their bodies are on the line here,” Sameeha said. “The question is, how many people’s health has to deteriorate to the point where the University will actually respond?”

According to strike organizers, some participants have lost over 10% of their body weight and are experiencing blood glucose levels at half the levels typical during fasting. Other health effects have included fatigue and feeling dizzy when standing up. 

One member of SJP, one of the organizations affiliated with organizing the strike, has been striking since May 12. The student said that their parents have supported them throughout the protest, having participated in pro-Palestine protests in China in the 1970s themselves. “It felt like the right thing to do,” the student said. They requested anonymity due to fear of personal retaliation.

The SJP member said that they had prepared for the hunger strike nearly two weeks in advance. They partially fasted for 13 days prior to beginning, so that they no longer felt hunger by the beginning of the strike. Still, they reported feeling joint pain and extreme exhaustion around the fourth day of the strike, when they were “falling asleep every five minutes.”

Rasmussen wrote that the University’s “denial does not mean that [they] are not concerned about [strike participants’] physical wellbeing.” She wrote that the VPSA office will continue to check in with strike participants on their health. In an email sent on the first day of the strike, Rasmussen attached a link to Vaden Health Care services as a resource for students.

Sameeha said that administrators from VPSA had not spoken to strike participants during daily advocacy events in White Plaza from 6 to 8 p.m. “There is no invitation to actually continue these conversations and engage us beyond superficial acts of care for their students,” she said.

Rasmussen wrote that the administration respects “the right to peaceably express your views on Gaza but again [urges] you to consider forms of protest that do not endanger your health.”

Sara ’26, a student organizer who wished to only be identified by their first name, said that the University’s request that students attempt other methods of advocacy was “ridiculous” and said that the strike participants ultimately wanted the same goal as the administration — for Stanford to be better.

“There’s been two years of advocating every other way,” Sara said. “It’s clear that we’re desperate for our University to show morality. We don’t want our money to invest in genocide.  We want to see Stanford be moral and be good. That’s why we came here.”

Another strike participant who requested anonymity due to their status as an international student said that the hunger strike was only a “last resort.”

“We obviously don’t want to be doing this. We’re not enjoying starving ourselves. It’s not fun. We have classes, we have papers, we have exams,” they said.

Strike participant Sadia Orpa ’27 said that most of her learning in history coursework was rooted in “theory in a way that is not conducive for making any actual impact on the world,” which she said she had formerly expected from a Stanford education.

“As a history student, I don’t want to see Palestine just become another page, another paragraph in the history books for us to lament and mourn in the future, when we are currently sitting in the present,” Orpa said. “Theory deserves to be applied, and actually become visual, physical change. That is why I am hunger striking.”

Orpa said that support for the strike has been growing in the past week, with 10 new participants joining the 12 original strikers on Monday. Organizations including the Native Action Coalition, Muslim Student Union (MSU), Stanford Asian American Action Committee (SAAAC), ethnic theme dorms and the Black Action Contingent have offered supplies and support. Some days, religious and spiritual services are delivered from local mosques and churches during the evening programming. Some medical students and doctors have also volunteered to check on strike participants’ vitals. 

“We’ve been blessed to see an increasing amount of community support every single day,” Orpa said. “The crowds are getting bigger. People are not relenting, regardless of the flippant remarks of the administration. More and more people are showing up every day, and we will continue to do so as long as it is necessary for the children and the families of Palestine.” 

Sameeha said that members of the Native American Coalition made necklaces for the strike participants. “Their kindness filled me with so much joy, I don’t even feel hungry,” she said. “It is the community care that brings me the energy to keep going.”

Orpa said that the strike participants plan to continue until the University agrees to meet with them. However, their main motivation is to bring awareness to the famine faced by those in Palestine. 

“Yes, we’re focused on and concerned about the University’s active choice to ignore what is happening. We are troubled with that,” Orpa said. “But ultimately, our efforts and our soul are with those in Gaza and Palestine, and they are our motivation, and they are why all of us show up every day.”

This article has been updated to reflect that the UN updated their claim regarding risk of childhood malnutrition in Gaza as a result of the Israeli aid blockade.