COLUMBIA, Mo. – Because someone disgustingly formed a swastika out of feces on the campus of the University of Missouri, Jonathan L. Butler is refusing to eat.

But not because the poop caused him to lose his appetite.

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The stool swastika was the last straw for the graduate student and he won’t eat another morsel until university president Tim Wolfe resigns.

“My body feels like it’s on fire,” Butler tells the Washington Post about his four-day old protest. “I have pain all over. I’m exhausted. Of course, I’m hungry. I’ve got an ongoing headache.”

The smelly swastika was discovered October 24 on a “dorm’s brand new white wall.” Butler wants Wolfe gone for what he considers to be an inadequate response to “a flurry of racist incidents in recent months,” in the Post’s words.

“I already feel like campus is an unlivable space,” Butler says. “So it’s worth sacrificing something of this grave amount, because I’m already not wanted here. I’m already not treated like I’m a human.”

University Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin issued a statement after Butler’s hunger strike was announced, saying in part:

Mr. Butler is a person of principle who is dedicated to raising awareness of and finding solutions for the pernicious problems of racism, discrimination and bias. While I cannot encourage him to put his health at risk, I support his right to peaceful protest and his efforts to raise awareness of the injustice that he and other people of color face in their everyday lives and at the university.

Racism has deep roots at our university. Racism shapes the current climate for and educational experience of all of our students. We must create a better future. I, together with our students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters, commit to working each day to find solutions, to define new pathways for culture change and to strive to make our university an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. (emphasis added)

We continue to actively seek out and be informed by the voices of anyone who has experienced hate, discrimination and marginalization because of their race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability or other protected status or – as happens all too frequently – based on the intersection of these identities. We are working to implement an inclusive process to improve the climate at MU and welcome ideas from members of the community to advance our goal of systemic and cultural change that truly moves Mizzou to a better place.

 Some students fought back against the “flurry of racist incidents” — by putting sticky notes on a statue of Thomas Jefferson with words like “racist,” “rapist” and “murder” scrawled on them.

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“It’s just a very hostile environment for black students,” Butler says.

“We are facing a lot of negativity and oppression on a daily basis,” he claims. “And then you students go to a diversity forums, you see them write letters, you see them write emails and send tweets and do all these things, we bare our souls and tell very painful stories but… our lives are still not valued. At some point, after spending all that energy telling people that I deserve to be recognized as a human, like my existence matters, at a certain point you are putting people in a corner and you keep poking them with a stick, things escalate until people feel like they are hurt.”