A number of hunger strikers at Purdue University enter their 20th day without solid food today. Jesse Russell reports:

Mark Franciose was one of the first students to hunger strike at Purdue. On Tuesday he told the Workers Independent News that he was starting to feel the effects:

[Franciose 1]: It’s definitely taking its toll, I have pains - I’m hoping to see a doctor when I have time.

The 15 students at Purdue who have been joined by hundreds of supporters both nationally and internationally are demanding that the university require Purdue apparel providers to practice fair labor standards - including letting workers unionize and demand living wages. Wednesday morning workers who had recently been fired from apparel plant in Kenya for trying to form a union called the office of Purdue’s President and received a chilly reception.

[Franciose 2]: In true Purdue fashion, the office of the President hung up on them, but its been really amazing to see the support that we’ve gotten.