Did you know that several students at UC Berkeley are once again in the midst of a hunger strike? True. This time they're protesting the erosion of the school's Ethnic Studies program. According to Berkeleyside, eight people are now "entering their eighth day without eating to protest the controversial consolidation of Ethnic Studies with other social science programs, resulting in staff reductions and the demotion of faculty to half-time." And despite their efforts and demands -- which, among other things, include staff reinstatement and for Cal to "publicly acknowledge the unfulfilled promise to create a Third World College at the university" -- protesters have yet to reach a deal with school administrators. more ›

In lieu of getting ready for graduation, some UC Berkeley students are starving themselves in an effort to get Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to "publicly denounce a recent Arizona immigration law," reports The Daily Californian. (Unlike your SFist Editor, who, weeks prior his UCSC graduation, had three reservations as Oswald's and two now-legendary graduation parties scheduled. Which: exhausting.) Horacio Corona and Alejandro Lara-Briseno, for example, "are enduring the hunger pangs of going without food for more than 168 hours." more ›

Dozens of students and staff at the University of California at Santa Cruz have gone on a hunger strike "in order to bring attention to $13 million in state funding being cut at the campus." This anti-digesting protest, it seems, was sparked by school wide cuts, which have affected the Latino Studies Department and the very-UCSC Community Studies program. Protest organizer Yvette Tran told KCBS, "“The hunger strikers will continue to not eat possibly for the week or until our demands are met." Said demands? Money. Anyway, those starving students are in for an even bigger shock. UCSC spokesman Jim Burns tells Mercury News, "We appreciate and share the frustration of students and others over continued reductions in state funding to UC. And in the wake of last week's election, we're bracing for even further cuts. In that environment, protecting every program is neither realistic nor possible." UC Santa Cruz, we should point out, is known for having a lily white vibe on campus, which only heightens the tension. more ›