Citing Gandhian Tradition, Dalton Joins Protest

In joining the hunger strike, Dennis Dalton is bringing the ideas he teaches to life.

The 69-year-old Barnard political science professor, who is an expert on Gandhi, decided to join the strike on Thursday after he met with some of the protesters and heard their demands, which include Core Curriculum reform, revocation of Columbia’s 197-c rezoning plan for Manhattanville, and greater resources for the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.

“I want the core curriculum supplemented by writings on Gandhi, King, Malcolm X. I want a change,” said Dalton, who is retiring after this year. “I have been arguing with the people in the administration since 1969 about this and have been met by indifference. I would like some acknowledgement of non-violence in the Core.”

To those critical of Barnard’s participation in the Columbia-centric hunger strike, he added: “My sons are both alums at Columbia, and I taught as many students as most Columbia instructors.”

Dalton has fasted in protest several times. He participated in the 1985 hunger strike which resulted in Columbia’s divestment from companies operating in apartheid South Africa.

He added that he sympathizes with Harlem residents’ qualms about Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion.

Dalton will continue to teach classes as he lives on water and orange juice, which he said he prefers to Gatorade, which the other protesters are drinking.

“Fasting is a way of self-verification, examining what the self is. I don’t intend to miss class now,” Dalton said. “Classes are sacred to me.”

Fasting should not be a means of self-injury, Dalton stressed. “I have fasted in protest movements many times before, so there is no reason to be concerned on my account,” he said. “I also have the significant advantage of my wife, Sharron, being a professor of nutrition and registered dietitian at NYU, so she is able to monitor my condition closely.”

Dalton has been spending a lot of time by the strikers’ tents in the cold, but unlike in 1985, he will not relocate there just yet.

Dalton said that the administrative response is not as important as the act itself. “Plato says first, we must determine whether the standard is right, then through education we might tackle it. Right now I’m much more concerned about whether our ideas are right, and I feel that they are,” he said.

“All the words I’ve heard have been civil. They have used the language Gandhi would want. They are reaching out passionately. I wouldn’t support the movement for a moment if I heard uncivil expressions or any suggestion of violence,” he added.

Two students in Dalton’s class, Aretha Choi, BC ’10, and Samantha Barron, BC ’10, are among the original five strikers. (He was quick to add that they both performed extremely well on his midterm.) As of Saturday night, Choi is no longer fasting due to medical concerns.

“The four demands the hunger strike has set forth have all inspired my enthusiasm and approval, and therefore I believe that I should act non-violently to achieve them,” Dalton said. “Simple as that.”