Around 30 students were escorted out of the Marshall Student Center (MSC) Ballroom by University Police (UP) for disrupting the Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting on Monday. 

The pro-Palestine students are striking until USF divests from companies that “fund genocide.” Monday was day one of the coalition’s hunger strike schedule, according to its Instagram page. 

Related: USF students go on hunger strike for Palestine: ‘Putting our lives on the line.’

Students leaned quietly against the back wall of the ballroom, facing eight trustees with multiple signs. Some of the signs read “Free Palestine” and “USF you’re letting us starve.”

Protesters were silent until public comments opened. All students who signed up to speak were strikers and were met with applause each time they approached or left the podium.

Due to the amount of people registered for public comment – six names but only five students present – the speaking time was limited to two minutes.

Junior Alina Atiq sped through her speech, getting choked up when recalling the “horrifically brutal deaths” of children in Gaza. BOT chairman Will Weatherford started the meeting by addressing the protesters and stating how their demands couldn’t be met. Atiq referenced his statement during her speech. 

“You said you can’t divest while multiple universities have,” Atiq said. “The ‘It is not based on politics’ thing is a flimsy excuse. This is a matter of human lives.”

After the second striker commented on USF’s investment in companies such as Hewlett Packard (HP), Boeing and Caterpillar, Weatherford clarified that they do not “directly” invest in such companies. 

“So please, do not go on hunger strike for that because you would be waiting for a long time,” Weatherford said.

Althea Johnson, USF spokesperson, said USF does not select individual companies or stocks to invest in. Instead, it invests through fund “managers.”

“USF will not divest investments or alter its investment policy or process based on requests from individuals or groups,” Johnson told the Oracle.  

Weatherford said he was concerned with those who were starving, and urged those in the audience who knew the strikers to remind them of the dangers.

Will Mleczko, a striker, was interrupted by Weatherford before his two minutes ended for yelling “We all know USF doesn’t give a f— about their students.”

After the five strikers finished speaking, Weatherford told the crowd of protestors they had a right as students to be at the meeting.

Students audibly laughed and yelled “shame” when Weatherford said the university does care about their students and various opinions regarding the “Middle Eastern conflict” are allowed on campus. 

The final straw, however, was called by Cindy DeLuca, vice-president of Student Success, once the yelling increased.

DeLuca and other administrators got up from their seats to signal for UP to escort students out of the room. UP prohibited protesters from reentering until 4 p.m., when the meeting was “officially over.”

UP spokesman Michael Lavelle said that due to “safety concerns in operational planning” he could not share the headcount of officers dispatched at the MSC. 

Although the last full board meeting was scheduled to end at 4 p.m., Weatherford ended the meeting around 2:30 p.m. 

The reason why the meeting ended early was unknown at the time of publication.

The Hunger Strike Coalition members held flags and banners in the second and fourth floor of the MSC around 30 minutes before the meeting, overlooking the rest of protesters sitting on the first floor. 

Three counter protesters held an Israel flag on the third floor. 

Sophomore Leroy Jennings said the coalition attending the BOT meeting was necessary as this would be one of the only opportunities to be in front of the trustees. 

“We have to directly speak to them to get our demands met on campus,“ Jennings said. “So that we can be proud of what the university is doing.” 

Weatherford said USF will not divest from any companies as the institution abides to federal and state regulations of investment.