Days ahead of Sunday's Colorado College commencement, pro-Palestinian protests on campus have come to a halt as students dismantled an encampment Wednesday afternoon.
The fenced-in encampment on the CC Tava Quad was more of a memory by Thursday afternoon, with only two empty tents remaining out of dozen or so that had been stood for the past two weeks on the north side of the campus green.
The peaceful end to the protest is in stark contrast with the ongoing situation in Denver, where tensions between protesters, campus officials and law enforcement have been high for weeks on the Auraria campus, home to the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Colorado Denver.
According to a social media announcement from the CC Liberation Zone on Instagram Thursday, an agreement was reached following a meeting between protesters and CC administration on Wednesday.
"It is official: After 13 days in winds, rain, sun and community, we have de-encamped after a generative second negotiation meeting with President L. Song Richardson and Interim President Elect Manya Whitaker. STAY TUNED for our official updates on the outcomes of our meeting," the announcement reads.
Those gathering on the Colorado College quad participated in a series of chants in support of a ceasefire in Palestine. @csgazette pic.twitter.com/Rz8pVV4nsY
— Abbey Soukup (@AbbeySoukup2) May 1, 2024
On Thursday, students and faculty received an open email from CC leadership regarding protests in support of Palestinians and the college's actions and stance on the continuing conflict in Gaza.
"At CC, we believe a liberal arts education must be grounded in humanity, at its core and as its outcome," the letter from Richardson and Whitaker reads.
The letter addresses several of the demands the encampment protesters and the Colorado College group Faculty for Palestine had made; among them, that the college leadership "publicly condemns the genocide in Gaza as well as Israeli settler-colonial practices."
"In the last eight months, our community has experienced intense grief and anguish as we bear witness to devastating losses of Palestinian, Israeli and other lives in Gaza, Palestine and Israel. The suffering is unbearable, and the death toll continues to rise. We have been asked by students, staff, faculty, alumni and parents to share our view on where we, the president and interim president-elect, stand on genocide, ethnic cleansing, terrorism, and human rights violations. We condemn all these acts," the letter states.
The letter also announces a partnership with the Scholars at Risk and the University in Exile programs "to identify a displaced scholar who (the college) could invite as a visiting faculty member." Additionally, the college is planning to leverage its HAVEN program for students affected by the war who wish to transfer to CC to finish their education.
The letter also included a promise to bring students' demands for divestment from companies linked to Israel or Israel-Hamas military suppliers to the college's Board of Trustees' Investment Committee, "the same process it followed to respond to requests to divest from fossil fuels."
The Instagram account Faculty for Palestine described the college leaders' letter as containing "some important wins!"
"Although this is not what we hoped for, this is a welcome first step," the social media post reads.
"(We want CC leadership to) take up the responsibility and and moral duty to LEAD rather than hesitantly respond to efforts toward justice in Palestine," the group's response post reads.
One of the protesters' demands was an expunging of the disciplinary records of all student activists involved in pro-Palestinian activism. While the leaders' letter seemed to stop short of that, it offered what the Faculty for Palestine characterized as "a good-faith path" to expunging charges, and an offer to include faculty in revising the college's conduct policies in the future.
Dialogue with administration
On May 1, a class walkout and teach-in at CC attracted hundreds of students, faculty, college alumni and members of the community to the Guava Quad in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, calling for the college to divest funds from all weapons manufacturers and businesses profiting from the Israeli-Hamas war.
The demonstration was peaceful. However, it did not elicit a response from college officials. A day later, roughly a dozen tents popped up on the campus green as an established liberation zone to continue demonstrators' call for action.
On May 2,an Instagram account under the name Colorado College Liberation Zone was created, posting a listof “demands and priorities,” calling for transparency of college funds, a divestment from all arms companies, companies profiting from the Israeli apartheid and occupation ... and for CC officials to “condemn the genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli and United States government,” according to the social media post.
Additionallyanencampment “packingsheet” was posted, telling students what to bring if they wanted to participate.Scheduled programming for those participatingwas publishedas wellfeaturinga plethora ofactivities, including morning yoga, potlucks, letter writing, poetry readings, open forums, and teach-ins regarding the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
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A post shared by Colorado College Liberation Zone (@cc_liberationzone)
The students' decision to take down the encampment Wednesday afternoon followed at least two meetings between student and faculty protesters and Whitaker.
According to social media posts by the group Colorado College Faculty for Palestine, 30 faculty members and 150 members of the student body attended an open forum regarding the protesters' demands with Whitaker and Richardson on May 10.
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A post shared by Colorado College Liberation Zone (@cc_liberationzone)
"Over the past three weeks, we have urged you repeatedly to do the necessary and courageous work to urgently and publicly align the administration’s stance on the genocide of Palestinians with the college’s stated commitment to becoming an anti-racist institution. Might we all remember that it is the college’s antiracist initiatives that are to be credited at least in part, for the positions that many of us, including you as current and incoming presidents, hold at this institution," the faculty letter to administration reads.
"As individuals in the highest administrative positions at CC, and as scholars whose work centers questions of justice, equity, and inclusion, your silence and suppression on a matter of such grave moral and historical significance, not only directly contradicts the college’s antiracist commitment and its pillars of “courageous conversations,” “bold actions,” and “student transformation,” but has left a moral vacuum at this institution."
In response to both the faculty and student letters sent to the administration, Song said, "I can not respond to your letter (or demands) because I have not had a chance to read it," according to post online.
Demonstrators responded to this claim, saying the most recent letter sent to administration was the fifth of its kind since March.
While the post by the faculty organizers following the May 10 forumstates Whitaker agreed in a smaller previous forum to "take minor steps" toward some of the stated demands by protesters, she claimed frustration at the May 10 forum, saying, "I met with students and 3 faculty members and said what I have to say. Now it just feels like people want conflict, not resolution."
In response, the group replied saying, "Whitaker was too frustrated to repeat words that she uttered a day ago to students for the first time, to a room full of faculty who have their own separate concerns and demands. Faculty have sent five unanswered letters and participated in several dead end meetings over the month, but she maligned our requests for further dialogue as seeking conflict."
However, social media posts from the protesting groups indicate talks resumed on May 15, leading to the May 16 letter, and the subsequent encampment closure.
CC Dean Pedro de Araujo told The Gazette in an email Friday morning that the college is unaware of any planned demonstrations scheduled during the CC commencement ceremony Sunday, but is prepared.
"We communicate our conduct policy to our students in the days leading up to commencement, which includes our freedom of expression policy and code of conduct violations. Whether we are made aware of protest plans or not, we prepare for any scenario at any time," Araujo said.
Additionally, Aruajo said, "there were no plans to cancel or change the Class of 2024 commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 19, or any of the weekend events leading up to it regardless of the protest (encampment)."
Campus chaos continues
The student protests over the past months come a year after a student demonstration at CC's commencement over commencement speaker and CC alumna Liz Cheney.
As the former Wyoming congresswoman was introduced at the ceremony, roughly half of the graduating class turned their chairs and sat with their backs to Cheney for the entirety of her speech.
CC Dean Pedro de Araujo told The Gazette in an email Friday that the college is unaware of any planned demonstrations scheduled during this Sunday's commencement, but that it is prepared.
"We communicate our conduct policy to our students in the days leading up to commencement, which includes our freedom of expression policy and code of conduct violations. Whether we are made aware of protest plans or not, we prepare for any scenario at any time," Araujo said.
While the local demonstration at Colorado College has come to an end, student demonstrations and encampments continue throughout multiple academic institutions and universities around the country.
At the University of California, Irvine, police ejected student protesters on-campus Thursday from a university lecture hall after demonstrators occupied the space for hours, resulting in, "minimal arrests," reports state.
Additionally, approximately 50 pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted Colorado University Denver's commencement ceremony on May 11, for roughly five minutes, according to a report by The Gazette.
Meanwhile, the protests at the Auraria Campus —home to the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Colorado Denver — continue to escalate.
Reportedly costing the campus nearly $300,000 in damages thus far, dozens of student protestors set up tents inside the Tivoli Student Union building Tuesday, despite law enforcement threats of trespassing citations, a report by The Gazette states.
Campus officials at Aurariahave described escalating health and safety conditions arising out of the encampment, noting that feces and drug paraphernalia now litter the area.
