Cambridge union president is rushed to hospital more than three weeks after he started a hunger strike to protest against ‘corruption’ and ‘nepotism’ at university
The postgraduate president of Cambridge Student Union was carried into an ambulance by paramedics 24 days after he started a hunger strike to protest against ‘corruption’ at the university.
Vareesh Pratap was seen semi-conscious, surrounded by four paramedics, barely responding in a lounger in front of a ‘Stop Killing Democracy’ poster just outside Senate House.
Paramedics took his temperature and blood pressure before carrying him into an ambulance and rushing him to hospital, according to a student witness at the scene.
It comes 24 days after Pratap started dry fasting to protest alleged ‘corruption’ and ‘nepotism’ within the University of Cambridge Student Association.
In a scathing letter titled ‘Stop Killing Democracy’, which was published online on May 14, Pratap alleged that the Student Union had become a ‘quasi-family business’ characterized by nepotism.
Cambridge Student Union postgraduate president Vareesh Pratap has been rushed to hospital more than three weeks after beginning his hunger strike in protest against ‘corruption’ and ‘nepotism’ at the university
The letter, addressed to University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice, lists five demands, including the ‘nullification of the recently held election of Student Trustees’.
His demands also include annulling appointments of staff hired for jobs without proper advertising, holding by-elections to replace the sabbatical positions recently vacated, and increasing transparency of SU finances.
In the letter, Pratap also accused the university and the student union of racial bullying, alleging that there had been “incidents of targeted harassment against sabbatical officials – especially those of color.”
Pratap’s hunger strike came just a week after the resignation of SU welfare and community officer Harvey Brown, who resigned over the university’s position on the Israel-Gaza war.
In a statement, Brown said he could not work for an organization that does not “express public opposition to Israel’s continued bombing of Gaza.”
Brown was the fourth sabbatical officer to resign this year.
In his open letter – which currently has 279 signatures – Pratap claims that there are other officers who are seriously considering quitting their jobs as well.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline last month, Pratap described the hunger strike as a ‘test of my own patience’ and claimed he was determined to continue until all his ‘demands were met’.
In a scathing letter titled ‘Stop Killing Democracy’, published online on May 14, Pratap alleged that the Student Union had become a ‘quasi-family business’ characterized by cronyism.
On June 1, Cambridge SU convened a student membership meeting, scheduled for June 10, to discuss Pratap’s demands after his petition received the necessary threshold of 200 signatures needed to trigger a meeting.
An email sent to all students acknowledged that the SU was aware of ‘issues and concerns about the effectiveness of the SU (…) as well as concerns about the overall welfare of students.’
Cambridge SU had recently posted a democracy review form on its website after its annual Student Members Meeting was postponed due to low attendance.
The row comes amid a new wave of hunger strikes on the campuses of British and American universities to protest Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
An unknown number of Edinburgh University students have claimed they are on hunger strike.
Meanwhile, in America, more than a dozen Princeton University students began hunger strikes in May to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
The Cambridge Student Union and the University of Cambridge have been contacted for comment.
