About 25 students attending Spelman and Morehouse Colleges have been on a hunger strike since November 2, Crossroads News reports. The students are taking action to raise awareness about food insecurity within the student body. They aim to change the schools' current policies to make it easier for hungry students to get meals on campus.
Their aim: to get the colleges and their campus food provider Aramark to set up a way for students with paid college meal plans to donate unused meals to needy students who can’t afford the plans.
It is happening at universities elsewhere, spearheaded by the Swipe Out Hunger program that started at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2009, and which partners with colleges and campus food providers nationwide.
Programs vary depending on the institutions involved, but at their core they allow students to donate from their paid meal plans to needy students or homeless community members.
Food insecurity is a serious problem at schools across the country. A 2016 report by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness found 48 percent of respondents at 34 different schools reporting food insecurity in the past 30 days. They found that black students are at a higher risk with 57 percent reporting food insecurity.
A spokesperson for Spelman told Crossroads that they will be meeting with the striking students soon.