John noted here on Friday that Columbia’s effort to placate its hunger strikers was likely to bring them “more protests and larger demands.” That’s exactly what seems promised in a triumphant editorial by Andrew Lyubursky, one of the hunger strikers, in the Columbia Spectator today:
The experience of the last two weeks has shown us, against the doubting words of many a naysayer, that the sleeping giant of student power has finally awoken. We have shown that the University is not an impenetrable monolith but rather a contested space in which students have the power to intervene if they have conviction and dedication. A $50-million commitment to the transformation of the Major Cultures requirement, a commitment to the expansion of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, a blue-ribbon panel to keep the administration accountable – these are all massive victories that will improve the experience of all students at Columbia. Yet, while we celebrate the substantial gains that have been made, we must not lose sight of the issue that the University stonewalled on – the proposed expansion into Manhattanville.
Given the university’s rapid capitulation to the hunger strike, it’s clearly now not a question of whether more stunts will happen, but when.
