UC Irvine Hunger Strikers Defying Deadline; 1 Reported Seriously Ill

With one of their lot apparently seriously ill, five student hunger strikers demanding that the University of California restore affirmative action vowed Friday to continue their protest in front of the UC Irvine administration building past a midnight deadline.

The strikers--four UC Irvine students and one from the Claremont Colleges participating in solidarity with the others--had signed an agreement with UC Irvine officials permitting them to camp out in front of the administration building for 10 days, but the accord expired at midnight. The strikers, who were consuming liquids only, could be arrested for illegal camping, though university officials have declined to comment on what action they would take if the deadline was not honored.

*

Neither university officials, who are monitoring the health of the strikers, nor the protesters would say which student is ill. UC Irvine Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez said the student fell seriously ill because of damage to his organs from not eating.

But the student refused to end his fast and remained huddled in a tent late Friday night with other strikers, who were discussing the possibility of taking their protest to Sacramento next week.

Earlier in the day, UC Irvine Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening denied a request to allow the hunger strikers to stay at their camp indefinitely, as they pledged to do until the UC Board of Regents restores and expands affirmative action at the 162,000-student system. The governing body voted in July to abolish affirmative action in admissions, hiring and contracting.

UC President Richard C. Atkinson fully supports Wilkening’s handling of the hunger strikers, said his spokesman, Mike Lassiter.

The Board of Regents has not responded to the strikers.

News of the showdown between the visibly weakened strikers and UC Irvine drew scores of students from other Southern California colleges and universities, some of whom erected tents nearby and joined in the fast. The students said they came to the quiet suburban campus to boost the morale of the strikers and to show support for affirmative action.

“The hunger strike has united us all,” said Hetzel Steve Mejia, 19, one of 30 students from Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys who caravaned to UC Irvine on Thursday night. “Affirmative action affects us all. We need it for future generations. . . . I’m fasting with my brothers until Monday.”

All five of the UC Irvine strikers show symptoms associated with starvation--headaches, stomach pains, low blood pressure and heart rate and extreme fatigue. The body’s major organs begin to fail after 30 to 50 days without food, medical experts say.

“My mother is here, and I don’t want to die,” said hunger striker Cesar Cruz, who, like his companions, has not attended classes during the fast. “But I’m prepared to go as long as it takes for social justice.”

The strikers viewed the regents’ decision on affirmative action as the final straw in a series of what they regard as racist assaults on minorities, especially Latinos. The strikers, all of whom are Latino, regularly have denounced Proposition 187 and the Republican Party’s “contract with America” during their nearly two-week strike.

At an afternoon rally that drew 300 people, dozens of speakers praised the hunger strikers and urged the spirited crowd to pressure the UC Regents and legislators to back affirmative action programs. Speakers included leaders from the Mexican-American Political Assn., the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“These folks have proven this is not a publicity stunt,” said Los Angeles artist Richard Montaya, 35. “They are willing to put their lives on the line. . . . They are fighting the good fight like Cesar Chavez [the late farm workers’ advocate].”

While the hunger strikers--four of them in wheelchairs apparently because of weakness--talked with Vice Chancellor Gomez on the fourth floor of UC Irvine’s administration building before the rally, more than 200 supporters chanted slogans like “No Justice, No Peace!” in the main lobby.

“All these people are what makes me feel good,” said Angel Cervantes, a hunger striker and student at the Claremont Colleges who celebrated his 23rd birthday Tuesday. “This really pumps me up. There’s a lot of love here today.”

*

“I guess I respect what they are doing,” said a white male UC Irvine student. “But I just wonder whether affirmative action is worth starving yourself to death over.”

Students have held hunger strikes on UC campuses over the years with mixed results.

In May and June, 1993, nine UCLA students fasted for 14 days, demanding that the university grant departmental status to its Chicano studies program. In a compromise, UCLA agreed to bolster the program.

About the same time at UC Irvine, 70 Asian American students were staging a “controlled fast,” in which groups of five would refuse to eat, in shifts of 24 hours. The monthlong protest, aimed at pressuring UC Irvine into accelerating the creation of an Asian American studies program, raised campus awareness but did little to move administrators.