Students pitching their tents in front of the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus say they’re not going away anytime soon after joining the nationwide movement of student-organized protests calling for universities to divest from Israeli companies. Campus officials have so far rejected the demands of the protesting students. On May 2, a group of donors offered to gift $15,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross to end the standoff. Demonstrators declined the proposal.
Despite demands by the administrations of Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Colorado Denver, as well as Auraria Campus Police, Denver Police Department and Mayor Mike Johnston to vacate the Tivoli Quad, the cluster of tents has only expanded since it went up on April 25.
“We’re answering a call to see an end to a genocide, a very urgent one, a very serious one,” said Khalid Hamu, a CU Denver student and member of Students for a Democratic Society. “These are some of the worst crimes against humanity that we’ve seen, and we can recognize that we have more in common with the Palestinian people than even our own administration.”
The demonstrators were a mix of Denver-area university and community college students, local members of national organizations like Democratic Socialists of America and the Party of Socialism and Liberation and community members.
With the support of the Denver police, Auraria Campus Police raided the encampment early afternoon on April 26, arresting 44 demonstrators including 22 students and three faculty members. The arrests and treatment of protestors drew condemnation from the DU chapter of the Association of American Professors, who called the arrests “disproportionate and wrong-headed” and said they “threaten to chill the exercise of academic freedom and democracy itself.”
“I think [the police] targeted the smaller [protesters],” said MSU Denver student Laurel Champlin. “They definitely used force to get through. It was intense.”
“I got knocked down twice,” said DSA member Fernanda Teixeira, who said she was “shoved” by police while trying to photograph badge numbers. Later, while trying to prevent a chain of protestors from getting knocked over by police, Teixeira said someone—she assumed the police—pushed the line of protestors into her. Several people fell on her, and she hit her head.
“I expected it to be rough,” Teixeira said. “I didn’t expect it to be that rough.”
Protestors eventually pushed police back across Tivoli Square, and they have not forcibly intervened since. Auraria Campus Police said in an email that no injuries were reported during the protest and that, “Auraria institutions and law enforcement agencies continue to closely monitor the event, with the health and safety of our students, employees, and visitors as the top priority.”
Organized by Students for a Democratic Society, the Auraria encampment was constructed in support of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University. Demonstrators are demanding that the CU system and MSU Denver refuse funding from corporations that contract with the U.S. military. MSU Denver has a close relationship with nearby defense contractors including Booze Allen Hamilton, Ball Aerospace, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin—which helped fund the school’s Aerospace and Engineering Sciences Building with a $1 million gift—and York Space Systems, headquartered on the campus since 2017.
The protestors also want written statements from the universities “condemning the genocidal actions of Israel,” full divestment from “any corporations that operate in Israel,” termination of study abroad programs to Israel, and meetings with CU Denver Chancellor Michelle Marks and MSU Denver President Janine Davidson to implement the demands. In addition, CU Denver students are demanding an end to all U.S. government aid to Israel and that all charges against protestors arrested on April 26 be dropped.
Lately, Hamu said, the energy around the encampment has been geared toward education and community. The encampment has a “homework” tent and a well-stocked snack tent supplied entirely by community donations. Angela Davis, the renowned scholar known for her activism in Black, feminist and Palestinian liberation movements and works like “Freedom is a Constant Struggle,” visited the encampment last April 27 to meet with demonstrators. Hamu called the experience “magical.”
“It was like, woah, is this real?” Hamu said, smiling.
The initial encampment at Columbia, established on April 17, came as the Israeli military’s brutal assault on Gaza nears its eighth month. While Israel claims it is only fighting Hamas in response to the armed group’s Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel, its continued targeting of civilians, journalists, children and humanitarian aid has drawn international condemnation and accusations of genocide in the International Court of Justice. So far, the Israeli military’s assault on people, hospitals and infrastructure in Gaza has killed at least 34,000 Palestinians, more than 73% of whom are women and children. The Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 killed approximately 1,200 Israelis.
“Students are targeting universities as one of several major players and types of institutions that are supporting the sending of arms and funding to Israel,” explained Alice Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Denver who researches youth movements in Latin America. “We see the encampment as a strategy of occupying space and using that to create community to bring students together.”
For many students, the encampments demonstrate yet another point of divergence between politicians and the young people whose vote they are supposedly seeking. For President Joe Biden and Democratic members of Congress, young voters have historically constituted a significant chunk of their voting block. According to exit polls, an estimated 65% of Gen Z voters supported Biden in 2020; in Colorado, that figure was 70% for voters under 30. As the 2024 general election approaches, many young voters say they are re-evaluating.
“The people in power right now are supporting the oppression of Palestine and the Israeli apartheid state. [Both Democrats and Republicans] have no interest in not doing that,” said Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design student Michael Watson. “If you ask me, between the two prime candidates, neither are getting my vote.”
Conservative politicians like House Speaker Mike Johnson have strongly criticized the encampment movement for making some Jewish students and community members feel unsafe. But at the Auraria encampment organizers said that’s not the case. Teixeira and Hamu emphasized the distinction between anti-Zionism, or criticism of the Israeli state and Zionist ideology, and antisemitism, which refers to hatred and bigotry towards Jews.
“Anybody at these protests who are making antisemitic statements or threatening students do not belong here, and we don’t claim them,” Teixeira emphasized.
Even as negotiations with the administration and Auraria officials have stalled, Hamu saw the encampment’s importance in the context of the global movement sparked by Columbia.
“I’m glad we’re able to join in on the historical legacy of students rising up against injustice,” he said, referencing student movements against South African apartheid and the Vietnam War.
“It’s countering a lot of public perception that young people are apathetic, that they don’t care, that they’re not involved, that they don’t vote,” Taylor pointed out. “We’re seeing that they care a lot, that they can be very highly organized and sophisticated with the types of demands and organizing strategies.”
Hamu said students are prepared to camp into the summer if demands go unmet. The school remains open through the end of classes on May 4 and final exams on May 11. In a statement, Auraria Campus officials told Bucket List Community News that negotiations with protestors will continue “to move forward peacefully and amicably.”
