Protesters End Fast, Declare Victory : Activism: UCI hunger strikers cite health reasons and pledge by 3 regents to seek new vote on affirmative action.

Four college students called off their dramatic 15-day hunger strike Wednesday, citing health reasons and claiming assurances from three University of California regents that they would seek reconsideration of the board’s ban against affirmative action.

At a news conference at UC Irvine where the liquid-only fast started, the four Latino students declared victory, even though their demand for affirmative action programs at the 162,000-student university system was not met.

“Our bodies and our minds do not allow us to continue with this hunger strike any longer,” said UCI student Cesar Cruz, 21, seated in a wheelchair.

Still, he said, “it’s a major victory. This is Orange County, the home of Disneyland, of Proposition 187, of apathy . . . yet today it has become a fundamental seed of social justice.”

But a spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson said Wednesday that a move to place affirmative action back on the regents’ agenda on Nov. 16 would fail, because it takes a clear majority to do so.

“It doesn’t surprise me that a few regents want to have it reconsidered,” said Paul Kranhold, Wilson’s spokesman. “It takes more than three.”

The regents voted 15 to 10 in July to abolish affirmative action programs.

According to the hunger strikers, UC Regents Ralph Carmona of Sacramento and Judith Levin of Los Angeles and student Regent Ed Gomez from UC Riverside promised to try to put the subject on the agenda.

But Carmona, who voted to retain affirmative action programs, said he never spoke to the strikers. Levin, who was in Oregon, and Gomez, a vocal critic of the regents’ vote, could not be reached.

The hunger strikers, who broke ceremonial bread during the news conference, said they will recuperate for a few days and then emerge with details about a “new student movement” aimed, Cruz said, at “social justice.”

Earlier in the day, about 100 students rallied in support of the UCI hunger strikers at Cal State Fullerton.

“It’s OK they stopped,” said 21-year-old Carolina Garcia, who organized the rally. “Their message has been very, very clear and they have started a wave of awareness. They’ve really made an impact.”

Activists at Cal State Fullerton said they are considering launching their own fast to protest a proposal being considered by the Board of Trustees of the California State University system that would limit remedial instruction.

All of the strikers looked gaunt and weak from the fast, but one striker, Juan Cazarez, apparently has entered the early stages of a condition that could permanently damage his kidneys, said the hunger strikers. UCI student Cazarez, 21, who lost more than 25 pounds from his 350-pound frame, might have required hospitalization this week if he did not start eating, according to medical tests by UCI physicians.

The three other hunger strikers, who complained of headaches, stomach pains and extreme fatigue, said the health risk outweighed whatever would be gained by continuing the strike.

“We publicly stated we were willing to die for the movement,” said Angel Cervantes, a graduate student at Claremont Colleges who joined the UCI students in a gesture of solidarity. “But we aren’t stupid enough to die for no reason.”

The UCI hunger strike suffered its first major setback Monday when UCI biology major Manuel Galvan, 21, dropped out citing “family and health” reasons.

On Tuesday, the Latino strikers, all in wheelchairs, took their protest to Sacramento, but did little to sway the opposition. The strikers delivered written demands to Gov. Pete Wilson’s office, but Wilson was out of town.

Kranhold said Wilson would not be “held hostage” by the hunger strike, and reaffirmed support for ending affirmative action programs.

“We are glad they came to their senses and ended this fruitless effort,” Kranhold said Wednesday.

Less sympathetic was UC Regent Ward Connerly, an African American who led efforts to eliminate race and gender as factors in admission. Ward likened the students’ protest to a “temper tantrum.”

The students began drawing national attention to their protest last week when they refused to honor an agreement to dismantle their tent encampment in front of UCI’s administration building. Finally, campus police clad in riot gear arrested the strikers for failing to obey a police order to shut down the encampment on Sunday. They were taken to Orange County Jail and released the same day.

The students began the hunger strike Oct. 17, demanding both the return of affirmative action and substantially reduced student fees. The students regarded the regents’ July vote as the final insult in a series of what they consider racist attacks on minorities, particularly Latinos. The strikers regularly condemned Proposition 187 and the Republican Party’s “contract with America.”

UCI administrators were relieved that the hunger strike on their quiet campus was over.

“I’m pleased they made the decision to stop,” said UCI Vice Chancellor Manuel N. Gomez. “We’ve been very concerned about their health. Now, I hope they will focus on succeeding academically again.”

But most UCI students, as they had during the entire hunger strike, seemed to ignore the protest.

“People just don’t care. They picked the wrong school for this,” said Greg Piedlow, a freshman psychology major at UCI. “They should have done it outside Pete Wilson’s house.”

The other hunger striker is Enrique Valencia, 21, a business and Spanish major at UC Irvine.

Times staff writer Ken Ellingwood contributed to this story.