S.F. State Hunger Striker Hospitalized, Then Returns to Protest

One of the four San Francisco State University students who launched a hunger strike last week to demand increased funding for the College of Ethnic Studies has returned to the protest after being hospitalized Monday night.

The students have vowed to fast until the university meets activists' demands, including an $8 million annual budget and the hiring of faculty for two vacant positions in the college's Department of Africana Studies.

Julia Retzlaff, 19, was released around midnight Monday after receiving treatment. Retzlaff reportedly complained of chest pains. American Indian Studies Department Chair Andrew Jolivette said she was dehydrated and fatigued.

Tuesday marked the hunger strike's ninth day.

Jolivette said he he and members of San Francisco State President Leslie Wong's cabinet have been working to resolve the Ethnic Studies dispute.

The hunger strike got some high-profile support Monday from actor Danny Glover, an S.F. State alum and veteran of the 1968 student protests that led to creation of the College of Ethnic Studies.

Glover told a crowd of hundreds that the hunger strikers are heirs to the cause he fought for.

"These courageous students have come out here to make the same sacrifice that thousands of students" made during earlier actions, Glover said.

"I'm privileged to come out here," the actor said, adding that students should be prepared to shut the campus down to get their demands met.

"Business will not be done as usual," he said to cheers from the crowd.