Local News
The strike started after the university removed political signs from his office window several times.
After Boston University repeatedly removed political signs—including one reading “Free Rumeysa” in support of a Tufts graduate student arrested by ICE—Professor Nathan Phillips reached a breaking point.
By 1 p.m. Tuesday, following the latest removal, he launched a hunger strike in protest.
“I’m calling for the immediate release of Rumeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Mahmoud Khalil,” Phillips said in a phone call to Boston.com. Also, for “BU to stop selectively removing signs of political speech on campus.”
Mahdawi, a Palestinian student protest leader from Columbia University, was arrested Monday at a Vermont immigration office. Khalil, a Columbia graduate, was detained by federal agents in March and is now fighting deportation in court.
As of Thursday afternoon, Phillips had been on a hunger strike for 48 hours.
Phillips says the administration has repeatedly and selectively removed signs of a political nature. Signs he posted on his office window, which overlooks Commonwealth Avenue, were taken down six to seven times.
“It’s a suppression of freedom of speech about an issue that I think should be shouted from the rooftops — unlawful, unconstitutional abductions of university students,” Phillips said. “How is anyone going to defend that? I’m not going to be silent about what’s happening.”
BU did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this issue.
Phillips, a physiological ecologist, spoke with the dean of the Arts and Sciences, who told him that removing political signs is the school’s policy.
He continues to have questions about the policy and hopes to have future conversations about his rights and students’ rights to post signs on campus.
While he was first motivated to go on a hunger strike due to his frustration and anger over his speech suppression, he said the real focus is on the students.
“The thing that is driving me forward is the love for these humans who have been denied their freedom of movement, they’ve been denied their freedom of speech, and they’ve been denied basic human decency,” Phillips said. “I don’t know how anyone can be comfortable or silent about the egregious treatment by the Trump administration.”
Phillips previously did two extended hunger strikes. The first was in 2020, when he protested a compressor station in Weymouth, and the second was a group hunger strike in 2022 against the construction of a gas power plant in Peabody.
As part of his hunger strike, Phillips is drinking water, electrolyte solutions, taking a vitamin supplement, and consuming unsweetened black coffee or tea to keep him going.
From his prior experience, Phillips says he can regulate his metabolism and go on with his daily activities, such as teaching and interacting with students. However, he does not encourage or recommend that others do it, because there are health risks involved.
“I happen to have the good fortune and privilege to be in good health, so I’m able to make this active solidarity and sacrifice and a gesture of love to those students,” he said.
Phillips says he is doing it for the named students from other universities, as well as the unnamed ones affected at BU. The school has announced that some students had their visas revoked but did not say how many.
Phillips said that more privileged people need to speak out, and he hopes this act will encourage more people to take action.
So far, he has had a resounding amount of support from the BU community.
“People have my back,” he said. “That makes all the difference.”
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
