Yale College Republicans taunt hunger strikers with BBQ

Members of a Yale College graduate student union are holding an indefinite hunger strike next to University President Peter Salovey's home in protest against the university's decision not to negotiate a contract with its graduate teachers.

Yale doctoral students are currently given a stipend of US$30,000 a year, as well as receiving free health care, and have their US$40,000 tuition paid in full, Yale News reports.

"What Yale could not stop, they are cynically trying to slow," the Local 33 leader read as their fast began, in an attempt to force Yale to begin collective bargaining.

"Yale wants to make us wait and wait and wait … until we give up and go away. We have committed ourselves to waiting without eating."

But their plans have been jeopardized by campus Republicans, who have set up a BBQ to taunt the hungry protestors.

"It'll taste (and smell) delicious!" their event description said on Facebook.

Community members were then treated to a delicious meal of beef, baked beans, and corn on the cob.

But as the tasty smell wafted across the campus, the hungry activists refused to be broken.

"We weren't focused on it," Local 33 chair Aaron Greenberg told Yale Daily News.

"We're really focused on making sure we're drinking enough water and getting enough rest. We're focused on getting the University's attention."

Newshub.