Williams Students Stage Hunger Strike

After a four-day hunger strike to protest the vacancy of a U.S.-Latino studies tenure-track position at Williams College, 31 students reached a compromise with faculty and administrators late last night.

Students said many of their demands had not been satisfied, but would not disclose the nature of the agreement reached after a three-hour meeting that ended at 11:15 p.m. The details of the compromise will be officially released today by noon, at which time the students, who have consumed only water since Saturday, will end their hunger strike.

"What we've asked for has in no way been met, but we have established that there's no more need for a hunger strike to continue the dialogue...and the struggle," said Tanya Nunoz, a senior who has been on a hunger strike since Saturday.

The group, which is composed of both Latino and non-Latino students, wants Williams to fill a tenure-track position in U.S.-Latino studies, created in 1991, with active student participation in the search. The students also want Williams to invite a visiting professor to teach courses in U.S.-Latino studies next fall.

Williams Dean of the Faculty Suzanne Graver was not available for comment yesterday.

Charlotte E. Neuhaus, a senior from Puerto Rico, said the students had originally wanted the post to be filled in the history department, but were now willing to accept the appointment in another field. Neuhaus is one of the approximately ten students who supports the group but is not participating in the strike.

The students' long-term goal is to establish an interdisciplinary program in U.S.-Latino studies which would span the history, political science, anthropology-sociology and romance languages departments. Williams already has similar Afro-American and Asian-American programs.

"The group decided this [hunger strike] was the only way we could be taken seriously," said junior Anim W. Steel, who is participating in the hunger strike.

But in an official letter distributed to the campus on Monday, Williams' President Francis Oakley called the strike an "extraordinary action," and affirmed the school's "significant efforts to introduce valuable new courses in this area into the curriculum."

Although the protesters' original demands called for students to make up one-third of the search committee and cast one-third of the vote on the appointment, the group agreed yesterday afternoon to have one student on the search committee, according to Steel.

In 1991, three students at Williams went on a hunger strike to create the tenure-track post. And although two visiting professors have been teaching U.S.-Latino courses since then, the position has never been filled

"The group decided this [hunger strike] was the only way we could be taken seriously," said junior Anim W. Steel, who is participating in the hunger strike.

But in an official letter distributed to the campus on Monday, Williams' President Francis Oakley called the strike an "extraordinary action," and affirmed the school's "significant efforts to introduce valuable new courses in this area into the curriculum."

Although the protesters' original demands called for students to make up one-third of the search committee and cast one-third of the vote on the appointment, the group agreed yesterday afternoon to have one student on the search committee, according to Steel.

In 1991, three students at Williams went on a hunger strike to create the tenure-track post. And although two visiting professors have been teaching U.S.-Latino courses since then, the position has never been filled