First of all, I would like to clarify that Students for a Democratic Society hasn't been asking the administration for transparency since September of last year. What we've been pushing for the past seven months is a socially responsible investment policy with limited transparency to a committee, which will not reduce competitiveness, as Steve Orlando likes to claim.
Second, hunger strikers have been sitting around campus for several days with signs reading, "Ask me why I haven't eaten in ___ days," and talking to students one on one in an attempt to reach out and broaden our base of support. Furthermore, we are planning another rally for 2:30 pm on Tuesday, April 22, at Tigert Hall.
Next, you say that if we really cared, we'd be lobbying Student Government. Well we've done that. We slated a number of candidates with the Orange and Blue Party and took two seats, as well as gained a large number of allies. SDS members and Senators Tina Steiger and Brandon Sack, along with close Orange and Blue Party allies such as Ben Dictor, have been working tirelessly on this issue. An SG resolution will be voted on soon, and the senators are also working on gaining the support of Ryan Moseley.
So why are we on a hunger strike? We have presented to the Board of Trustees and Bernie Machen a few times now, and each time we have been met with condescending disregard for our proposal. Each time, they have refused to look critically at their own policy. We are desperate to have actual dialogue with them instead of being callously ignored.
Nothing we've done so far has worked, so we thought that maybe if we put ourselves in a position of risk, they would understand how serious we were about this issue and have a legitimate discussion about the pros and cons of both our policy and theirs.
