Student Ends Week-Long Hunger Strike

"I have forgotten how good food tastes!" exclaimed Donald C. MacDonald, Jr. '61 after sipping a spoonful of tomato soup, the first food he has had in seven days. MacDonald ended his week-long fast protesting the jailing of Mrs. Olga Ivinskaya, the woman believed to have been the inspiration for Lara in Dr. Zhivago, just before midnight yesterday.

Calm, a little baggard, but "glad to have it over," the Government concentrator smiled broadly for photographers and a TV cameraman as he quickly ate a bowl of soup, a glass of milk, and a few cookies. Doctors have advised him to eat liquids for a while, to give his body a chance to get used to digesting food.

MacDonald remarked that the ordeal "was surprisingly easy." He lost 15 pounds during the week, most of them during the first two days, when he did not drink any water.

"After the first two days, I had no craving for food," he commented. "I guess it was similar to the way an ascetic looks at a woman."

In addition to studying Russian affairs, MacDonald has spent considerable time working for a Russian underground resistance group called the NTS, which in Russian stands for the "People's Labor Union." He originally received the idea for the strike from a NTS pamphlet.

Although uncertain of the ultimate good that his effort will bring, MacDonald said he thought his protest had helped to focus attention on the issue and might lead to bigger protests.