Virginia Cavaliers safety Joseph Williams just ended one of the more controversial weight-loss regimens a college football player has ever undertaken. On Monday, he ended an eight-day hunger strike "to protest the economic and social injustices perpetrated by the UVa administration against the vast majority of the University's service-sector employees."
Virginia’s Joseph Williams Ends Hunger Strike After Eight Days
Williams, a political and social thought major, says he lost about twelve pounds during the strike. His first post-strike meal? Miso soup and sushi.
And then he quoted Ghandi:
“I can’t remember the exact quote from Gandhi, but he said that it actually takes more discipline in breaking a fast than it does in maintaining a fast. As many days as you’re on a fast, that’s how long you have to be careful what you’re eating after you return to your normal diet.”
Williams ended the strike in order to focus on schoolwork before spending spring break on a service trip to Belize.
Despite the fact that Williams’s efforts were to help others, some of his football coaches and teammates were not on board with the move.
“They said I had an obligation to my team and I wasn’t necessarily fulfilling that...They also expressed some disappointment in my involvement to a certain level.”
Every day we hear about college athletes that willfully participate in activities detrimental not only to the team but also the world around them. For Virginia coaches to make Williams feel like he’s not doing a good thing here, that just seems like misplaced priorities.
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