The new tavern is set to open on Sept. 22, pending permitting and final inspections. It will be operated by Peak Beverage, a Colorado- and Texas-based catering company and liquor store.
An Auraria Campus press release said Quad Side Tavern will feature “themed seating areas such as a cozy scholar’s lounge, light-filled study zones, and intimate conversation nooks,” as well as programming like trivia nights and live music.
While the Tivoli Brewing Company will no longer be present on campus, the name of the Tivoli Student Union and the Tivoli Quad will stay the same. The two locations got their name from the original Tivoli Brewing Company, which first opened in the building that became the student union in 1864.
Meanwhile, it appears the Tivoli brand is being phased out. Instead, the brewery is focusing its efforts on its Outlaw Lager, an attempt to break into a domestic light beer market dominated by major brands like Coors and Budweiser.
The Denver City Council on Monday cleared the way for Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke to build new skyscrapers on the expanse of parking lots around Ball Arena where those teams play.
They also ensured the teams will stay on Kroenke-owned land in central Denver for another quarter century.
The ability to construct buildings as tall as 30 or 40 stories around the arena is a critical component of plans to greatly expand downtown Denver. That density will provide room for up to 6,000 new apartments and condos in a city desperate for more housing, according to Matt Mahoney, senior vice president for development at Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
“We are committed to downtown. Our company offices downtown. Our teams win championships downtown,” Mahoney told council members Monday night. “Our plan is a pedestrian-focused development, placing a priority on open space and people, not cars.”
View protections pierced
The first in a series of six bills related to the future of the 70-acre Ball property that the council voted on Monday amended the city code to provide an exemption to the Old City Hall view plane.
That view plane is essentially an invisible triangle the caps building heights on the properties that fall within it. It’s a legal mechanism to protect westward views from a specific point on the ground at the intersection of 14th and Larimer streets where the city’s original city hall once stood.
City planning and legal staff informed council members that the view plane is already largely defunct. The Auraria Higher Education Center campus buildings along Speer Boulevard — built by a state agency exempt from city rules — have already blocked it out.
That was reason enough for some council members to vote for the exemption Kroenke and company were seeking even if they had concerns about the broader impact on mountain views.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that I am going to vote yes on this exemption … because of the fact that this view plane no longer exists,” Councilman Kevin Flynn said. “I would have actually preferred the (Community Planning and Development) had come to us and just said repeal this view plane.”
Flynn voted with the majority in a 10-1 decision to allow properties with a specialized zoning to pierce the plane.
The council also approved rezoning the arena property. The land was already zoned for buildings as tall as eight stories in places, according to city planning staff, but the specialty zoning that the council unanimously signed off on Monday allows for buildings that are much taller in exchange for the inclusion of more affordable housing on site.
While the view plane vote allows Kroenke Sports and Entertainment and its namesake billionaire owner to move closer to its goals, some neighbors from the Lower Downtown neighborhood had their hopes of preserving their largely unobstructed views of the Rocky Mountains dashed.
Casey Pitinga was among the residents of the Larimer Place condo tower at 1551 Larimer St. that urged council members to vote no on the view plane changes. She argued that it was not just her building that would be impacted by the appearance of new skyscrapers west of downtown. Businesses that tout rooftop views — including the recently expanded Colorado Convention Center which added a terrace as part of its $233 million expansion completed last year — could also be hurt, she said.
“Most importantly, the unique beauty of Denver will be compromised forever,” Pitinga said.
Amanda Sawyer was the one council member who sided with those neighbors. She noted that residents of her eastern Denver district benefit from a view plane that protects westward views from Cranmer Park.
“It’s not a precedent I am willing to set,” she said of amending those legal protections even for a development she acknowledged may be something that could benefit the city.
Benefit agreements inked with community group and the city
An overwhelming majority of speakers who testified during a public hearing covering the rezoning spoke in favor of allowing dense development on the land and the new housing that it is expected to bring.
“It’s exactly the type of project we need as a city,” Denver resident Matthew Larsen said. “It’s dense. It’s infill development. We need projects like this to meet our greenhouse gas goals in the state.”
KSE last week signed a detailed community benefits agreement with a committee representing nearby neighborhoods and community organizations. That agreement, which was created with support from city leaders but independent of the authority of the city, includes a bundle of specific obligations that KSE must fulfill.
Those include dedicating $3 million to programs, internships, and scholarships for young people who are from surrounding neighborhoods, are Indigenous or are from families that were displaced from the historic Auraria neighborhood that is now home to the arena and the neighboring higher education campus.
La Alma-Lincoln Park resident Simon Tafoya co-chaired the committee that brokered that deal with KSE. In comments Monday night, he delved into some of the specifics including a guranteed that 50 housing units built in the forthcoming neighborhood will be reserved for people making 30% of the area median income. That’s $27,000 per year for a single person and $39,100 for a family of four.
Councilwoman Jamie Torres is a descendant of people displaced from the Auraria neighborhood. She noted how important that agreement was to her constituents and her comfortability in supporting the package of bills.
“The city did not dipalce 900 residents in the 1970s for us to build a shiny neighborhood that was inaccessible to them,” she said. “I could not be a part of something like that.”
The council also approved a bill cementing the city’s own development agreement with KSE.
That sets requirements including mandating that 18% of all new housing built on the Ball lots been reserved as income-restricted affordable housing. That figure exceeds the city’s existing affordable housing requirements by at least 3% and could result in 1,080 new units of affordable housing, according to city planners and KSE officials.
The city ensured the agreement mandates that the affordable units be spread across the property instead of concentrated in one area, according to senior city planner Tony Lechuga.
Property tax plan leaves some council members uneasy
The council approved three other measures related to Kroenke’s ball arena plans before calling it a night on Monday.
The very last of those bills amend an existing arena agreement between the city and KSE tying the Nuggets and Avalanche to the property until 2050.
The chamber, largely filled with KSE staff members as the final was cast after 10 p.m., enrupted in applause when that passed unanimously.
Another bill approved at the meeting extended the timelines for a development agreement governing the neighboring River Mile property, also owned in part by Kroenke. That agreement also now runs until the middle of 2050, matching with the Ball Arena timeline.
The city agreed to vesting language that provides some zoning certainly for both properties for the next 26 years. Manhoney emphasized that KSE is approaching the combined 130 acres as one interconnected neighborhood.
He acknowledged that Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park will be moved as part of the company’s long-term development plans though a landing place for the park has not yet been determined.
Only one bill drew multiple no votes. That measure established five metro districts, special property-specific taxing entities with the power to take on $1.2 billion in debt to pay for the construction and upkeep of infrastructure around the arena. That included essential items like roads, sewers, parking structures and parks.
While the residents of affordable housing on the property would be shielded from some of associated taxes needed to pay back that debt, KSE estimates that the mill levy rate associated with those cost for market-rate residential and commercial property owners could reach as high as 70 mills.
Thatt was too steep for Councilwoman Sawyer. She voted no, as did council members Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez.
Council president Amanda Sandoval acknowledged those future taxes could be a burden on residents but metro districts are the mechanism the city relies on to build new infrastructure in many cases. She was the eight members who voted yes.
“We don’t have any other tools right now,” she said.
Men pray on the Tivoli Quad lawn on the Auraria Campus as activists begin a planned occupation there, protesting Israel’s war in Gaza and demanding the University of Colorado divest from corportations that invest in Israel and end their study abroad program in the country, among other things. April 25, 2024.
In late April, several dozen students who attended the Auraria campus’ three universities — the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver — set up camp on the Tivoli Quad. Alongside some local community members, the protesters joined a nationwide movement of college students protesting the war in Gaza, which began in October when Hamas killed more than 1,000 Israelis and abducted more than 200 others. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel’s counterattack.
Auraria Police officers arrest protesters advocating for the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, after they occupied the Tivoli Quad and refused to leave. April 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Students and professors are facing disciplinary actions
Alex Boodrookas, a professor who teaches Middle Eastern history, was one of the people police arrested. He was leaving a faculty meeting when he and other professors saw police at the camp.
“We freaked out. We were extremely concerned about student safety just because anytime you call the police to a peaceful situation, you risk escalation, you risk violence,” Boodrookas told Denverite. “So we were afraid for the safety of our students and three of us sat down with them and we were eventually arrested and we’re currently charged.”
Boodrookas, whose jury trial begins Wednesday, said prosecutors later added one charge of failure to obey a police officer. If found guilty, he may face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000.
“I’m baffled by being charged with trespassing when I was on my own campus in the middle of the day, on a school day, about a minute’s walk from my office,” he said.
Boodrookas did not join the protest full time, like many students and community members did. As a professor of modern history in the Middle East, he felt compelled to defend students seeking to raise awareness about the conditions in Gaza. He said he’s spent his career pushing back on misconceptions surrounding conflicts in the Middle East and the suppression of student protests only makes his job harder.
While Boodrookas said he isn’t facing repercussions from his current employer, but worries a criminal record would impact the future of his career.
“It’s been a McCarthy-esque environment in the Middle East studies [industry] the past 10 months,” he said.
Auraria Police carry an arrested protester, who refused to walk, to a bus as he and others advocate for the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza are cleared from the Tivoli Quad. April 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Auraria campus officials have said that they support free speech, but they have maintained the anti-war camp and those arrested were in violation of its longstanding camping ban, which was introduced shortly after a similar anti-war camp in 2003. A total of 80 individuals were arrested or issued summons for trespassing through the camp’s timeline.
“During the April and May 2024 encampment, protestors’ tactics escalated several times beyond peaceful protests with evidence of trespassing, biohazard threats, blocking city roads, and vandalism on the Auraria Campus,” a campus spokesperson said via email.
Khalid Hamu, a CU Denver student who was one of the primary organizers of the camp, is facing similar charges. He said in addition to facing similar charges as Boodrookas, his participation in the protest also triggered a “student disciplinary process,” which resulted in being put on probation.
“I think it’s a punishment for standing on the side of justice,” Hamu said. “I think it’s a punishment for being disgusted at the actions of university administration and stuff like that, and then clamping down on just the easiest targets and whatnot.”
Future protests at Auraria are possible, and are kicking off once again nationwide
Protesters demanded that university administrators from all three campuses and the University of Colorado system take several actions in relation to the ongoing war in Gaza, including issuing statements in opposition to violence against Palestinian people and severing financial ties to military contractors operating in Israel.
Protesters march from the Auraria Campus to publicly oppose the Jewish National Fund’s annual Global Conference for Israel at the Colorado Convention Center. Nov. 30, 2023.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Those demands went largely unmet. Protesters received minor concessions from MSU Denver, in the form of the university agreeing to disclose its investments, but the group’s largest demands were never acknowledged by governing bodies.
That lack of action from campus officials has some students feeling antsy. Auraria’s Students for a Democratic organized one pre-semester march last week, and more protests are planned.
“We have a rally [Wednesday], probably more rallies to come and stuff like that, but yeah, [we] still have a campaign ongoing and we’ll be taking positive actions to see change,” Hamu said.
Tivoli Quad at Auraria campus, after students and administration removed a protest encampment that lasted three weeks.
Auraria Higher Education Center
After more than three weeks, organizers at Auraria Campus protesting the war in Gaza officially announced they were ending their protest encampment Saturday.
The three weeks their tents were up made the encampment one of the longest running of the student-led antiwar protests that took off nationwide after police arrested students at Columbia University in April. The protests oppose the war in Gaza, which began in October when Hamas killed more than 1,000 Israelis and took another 200 hostage. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s counterattack.
On Friday, protesters scattered across the Auraria campus, moving the dozens of tents and public art pieces that had been set up on Tivoli Quad to new locations. On Saturday, Auraria Higher Education Center spokesperson Devra Ashby called the encampment “abandoned” and said staff have begun cleaning up the quad.
80 people have been arrested over the course of the Auraria protests, including 16 active students and three staff and faculty members
Protesters at the Auraria antiwar camp are moving their tents campus-wide. Friday, May 17, 2024.Rebecca Tauber/Denverite
In a statement Saturday, organizers with Students for a Democratic Society touted the encampment for raising awareness about the war.
“Since April 25, 2024, the Auraria Encampment for Palestine, organized by the Denver Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), has achieved significant milestones that have made clear the power of student organizing; have shown the strength of community solidarity, and have strengthened our movements for liberation,” SDS organizers wrote in a statement posted to their Instagram Saturday.
The statement pointed to Metropolitan State University’s agreement to provide information related to its investments as a concrete win from the protest, though MSU has not yet released that information. Organizers did not get any other clear concessions from MSU or the University of Colorado around investments, nor did the schools meet their other demands, which included issuing statements in opposition to the war and severing ties with companies that hold contracts with Israel and the U.S. military.
“No regent is offering any policy changes in response to the demands,” wrote the University of Colorado Board of Regents last week in response to the encampment.
The end of the encampment comes as some students across the country have begun to strike deals with colleges in exchange for ending the protests.
Last week, Harvard University agreed to discuss concerns around its endowment and reinstate students suspended during the protests. Other schools, like Brown University, have agreed to formally vote on divestment.
The pro-Palestine protest camp at Denver’s Auraria Campus. May 14, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
As the camp winds down, Auraria leadership said that Tivoli Quad and all other green spaces on campus will be closed until further notice as staff clean up the area and complete property repairs.
At the end of last week, all three schools at Auraria switched to remote learning because of the encampment. Ashby said the campus will remain restricted to “critical personnel and operations” for now, without a clear timeline for if or when that might change.
“Leaders have worked diligently towards finding a peaceful resolution,” Ashby wrote Saturday. “We hope this will end more than three weeks of unauthorized occupation that has increasingly escalated into dangerous activities, taken significant time, resources, and dialogue with student protesters to resolve, and has pulled us away from our academic mission and goals.”
Protesters at the Auraria antiwar camp are moving their tents campus-wide. Friday, May 17, 2024.
Rebecca Tauber/Denverite
The antiwar encampment at Auraria’s Tivoli Quad turned into an all-campus presence Friday night, as protesters scattered their tents and public art opposing the war in Gaza across different locations.
“This whole campus is now an encampment,” a protester shouted during a rally that preceded the move.
Organizers called the shift “a new iteration of exhibitions throughout campus” in a statement.
Dozen of tents still remained three weeks after students started camping out at Auraria Campus to protest the war in Gaza. It is one of the longest-running encampments nationwide.
“Our campus administration think that they can wait us out. Shame!” student organizer Khalid Hamu said during the rally. “Our campus admin think that they can keep sending us from meeting to meeting to meeting thinking we’re just gonna keep accepting these non-changes, shame! Our admin think that they can continue business as usual under a genocide.“
9News also reported Friday that the schools on the Auraria Campus would be moving to remote learning.
On Thursday, CU regents issued this statement about the protests:
“The University of Colorado Board of Regents is actively monitoring the protest on the Auraria Campus. We support the rights of our students, faculty, staff and campus visitors to exercise their First Amendment rights. We expect everyone to respect the learning, teaching and business environment that allows our university to function at its fullest extent. Those who engage in expressive conduct are expected to comply with relevant laws, policies and conduct codes that are intended to create a safe learning environment. Consequences will be imposed as applicable for those who don’t comply with these laws, policies and conduct codes.
No regent is offering any policy changes in response to the demand.
Auraria Campus protesters moved their encampment across the school grounds, scattering tents, couches and art piecesRebecca Tauber/Denverite
Campus police move some art and shade tents so they don’t block a garage, but do not dismantle it.Rebecca Tauber/Denverite
What’s happened so far?
Students at Auraria set up their antiwar camp on April 25, joining other student demonstrations nationwide protesting the war, which began in October when Hamas killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took another 200 hostage. Since then, Israel has killed around 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Stop, a narrow strip of land under blockade by Israel and Egypt.
Since the protests began, police have arrested hundreds of students across the country for violating school policies against camping. According to Auraria campus administration, 80 people have been arrested since the Denver encampment began, a figure that includes 16 active students, three staff and faculty members, and a number of other community members.
The pro-Palestine protest camp at Denver’s Auraria Campus on May 14, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The protesters, led by Students for a Democratic Society, are calling on leadership at University of Colorado and Metropolitan State University to put out a public statement condemning the war, divest from corporations operating in Israel and increase transparency around university investments in those companies, end any study abroad partnership programs in Israel, and sever ties with and refuse grants from companies that contract with Israel and the U.S. military.
Organizers and campus leadership have continued talks since the protests began, but have not reached a deal to end the encampment as some students have elsewhere in the country.
Earlier this week, Harvard University agreed to discuss student concerns about the endowment and process petitions to reinstate students who were suspended as part of the protest, in exchange for students ending the encampment.
In recent weeks, protesters have also occupied administrative offices on campus in addition to camping on Tivoli Quad lawn. According to the administration, the protest has cost the Auraria campus around $290,000 in damages and canceled community events.
Rokhiya Ngom sorts through items in the medical supply tent on the Auraria campus on April 29, 2024.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
As students from the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State of Denver and Community College of Denver work through their final week of classes before graduation, dozens are still in tents on the Auraria campus’s Tivoli Quad.
Wind, snow and hail storms have battered the huddled polyester huts. Protests at universities in other states have turned violent, drawing condemnation from political leaders on both ends of the ideological spectrum.
Still, the group in Denver says it’s here to stay. The campers’ current demands include statements from the universities denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza and divestment from any companies doing business in the country.
For some activists, the current antiwar camp is reminiscent of a scene that unfolded nearly two decades ago.
What the camp and protests looked like in 2003
In March 2003, a group of Auraria students set up what was described as a “tent city” around the campus’s flagpole, an act of protest highlighted by Metropolitan State University of Denver on its history page.
Archival material in the Denver Public Library’s Western History Collection describes an eight-tent camp occupied by over a dozen protesters who handed out anti-war literature and promised to stay put until the Iraq War ended.
“We support our troops. Many are our age. We feel bad they have to be there,” then-22-year-old philosophy student Theresa Willis told The Denver Post. “But I see this war as a failure by the U.S. government at being diplomatic and a world player and instead going against the United Nations.”
Martin Chase, who was enrolled in a simultaneous undergraduate and masters program at CU Denver and MSU Denver in 2003, said the camp manifested spontaneously. He didn’t believe the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
“I was working a job, I was working a night shift at a restaurant, and I was going to school during the day. And so where was there time to protest?” Chase told Denverite. “We just started doing it all of our free time, and so we had to have tents, and so we just sort of stayed there and put up signs and in between classes came down and yelled for however long we had.”
The 2003 camp was preceded by months of antiwar demonstrations across Denver. In January, 19 protesters were arrested downtown after marching from Auraria to a Halliburton facility, where they blocked entrances to protest the use of fossil fuels in weapons.
In addition to protesting the Iraq War, students also erected signs protesting Israeli violence against Palestinians and Chinese violence in Tibet.
But unlike today’s antiwar camp, the 2003 protesters obtained a permit from the campus to set up their encampment.
“The administration was great,” Chase said. “We used the showers. The campus security would come walk by every now and then and chat with us. Our teachers were curious. They each had their own stance on the war. It wasn’t a united front of teachers in that regard, but they weren’t yelling at us about being on campus or anything.”
Chase doesn’t recall how the camp ended. He left it before it reached its conclusion because he was starting to fail his classes. Reporting at the time said the encampment was torn down after about three weeks to make room for a campus event, according to the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News.
About a year later, Auraria officials enacted an anti-camping policy, banning the use of overnight tents on campus grounds.
When asked about the camping ban, Auraria Higher Education Center CEO Colleen Walker said she wasn’t sure why the policy was enacted in the first place. She did not address whether the timing may have been related to the Iraq War protests.
“We’ve enforced the camping ban for 20 years, and it is to keep the campus environment safe and secure,” she said.
But longtime local activist Z Williams, who says they participated in Auraria’s 2003 Iraq War protests, said the timing of the camping ban’s introduction wasn’t a coincidence.
“This is very specifically an anti-protest policy,” Williams said, adding that students now are much more organized than their predecessors. “I’m very confident that these student leaders will continue to find ways to apply pressure to the campuses and to keep this movement growing.”
Chase no longer lives in Denver, but he’s read headlines about student protests across the country. He said students today face more hostility and violence than his generation.
“I was protesting 20 years ago and engaging with the campus and it felt healthy, and now it just feels so dysfunctional and there’s some sort of authoritarian bent to what’s going on,” he said.
What’s next for students camping today?
Auraria officials said its three campuses are united in a commitment to students’ free speech, but have also maintained that students are continually in violation of the anti-camping policy.
Lucia Feast, a student organizer in the current camp, said they weren’t aware of the history when they erected the encampment. However, the longer they’ve been entrenched on the quad, the more they’ve learned about their predecessors.
“We talked to people who have gone through these things, done these forms of protests before, we’re really wanting to learn as much as we can and grow from them as possible,” Feast said.
Feast and other student protesters said they’re hoping to keep the camp going longer than their 2003 predecessors. She knows the camp will soon face significant challenges, though, as summer break and a familiar wave of campus events approach.
Surrounded by Palestinian flags, Steph Wittstruck, of Students for a Democratic Society, urges a passerby to attend a walkout on the Auraria campus on Monday afternoon.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Auraria campus authorities detained and issued citations to 14 pro-Palestinian protesters on Tuesday after students briefly occupied a campus building during finals and graduation week.
A release from the Auraria Higher Education said several dozen protesters entered Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Aerospace, Engineering, and Sciences Building Tuesday around 5 p.m.
Officials said the protesters were preventing students from accessing classrooms for finals, and “chanted, pounded drums and used amplified sound,” which breaks campus policies.
Auraria Campus police issued summonses for trespass and failure to obey lawful orders to 14 of those protesters, though it’s unclear how many others participated in the demonstration. Those citations are the first police action taken against antiwar protesters on Auraria since over 40 people were arrested a day after the antiwar camp was erected on the Tivoli Quad.
Denver Police officers attempt to push past protesters who are trying to surround one of their patrol cars after officers arrested people advocating for the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza by occupying the Auraria Campus’ Tivoli Quad. April 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“We continue to balance the legal right to free speech with the need to keep our community safe and the campus focused on teaching and learning,” a campus release said. “However, this is the latest example of how the Tivoli Quad protest has escalated on campus, similar to how other protests have escalated on college campuses around the country.”
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, protesters entered the Tivoli Student Union during a meeting between student organizers and Colorado Department of Higher Education Executive Director Angie Paccione.
Protesters had briefly occupied Auraria Campus executive offices in the Tivoli Student Union on Monday. They only left after law enforcement and campus officials agreed to meet at a future time.
Heightened demonstrations come as summer vacation — and a likely campus exodus — draws near.
Students enrolled at the Auraria campus’ three universities — MSU Denver, the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver — are currently taking finals, with the spring semester set to end this week.
Graduation commencements are scheduled between Thursday and Saturday, with all three schools planning off-campus ceremonies.
That means the normally bustling Tivoli Quad is likely to become quieter, and the antiwar camp could lose some of the two to three dozen tents pitched on campus.
“We definitely know that this week is really critical for us because of that, but we also are very prepared to continue our protest, continue our actions until we’re heard,” student organizer Lucia Feast told Denverite.
The pro-Palestine protest camp on Denver’s Auraria Campus, six days after it was first erected. May 1, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Summer classes are set to start in late May, and the Auraria campus commonly holds non-academic events on university grounds during that time.
Still, Feast said they’re confident Auraria will be busier than most campuses despite summer break.
The pro-Palestinian demonstrators have demanded that the University of Colorado and MSU Denver release statements denouncing the Israeli government and divest from companies that operate in Israel.
Student organizers have asked MSU Denver and CU Denver to denounce the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
The pro-Palestinian protest camp on Denver’s Auraria Campus, six days after it was first erected. May 1, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
As the Auraria antiwar camp enters its second full week, student organizers say they’re seeing progress in getting their demands met by university leaders.
On Friday, Metropolitan State University of Denver leadership met with organizers with the Students for a Democratic Society. Shortly afterwards, MSU Denver President Janine Davidson wrote to the campus saying the university has agreed to provide “financial information related to the University’s investments and industry relationships,” as well as brokering a meeting between the protesters and MSU Denver’s Board of Trustees.
“I’m optimistic that based on today’s productive conversation, as well as earlier meetings, we can find common ground,” Davidson wrote in the letter.
Davidson added that the university and its endowment have “no significant investment” in companies operating in Israel.
SDS protesters extended their list of demands to MSU Denver last week. The demands were near identical to the ones they posed to the University of Colorado system, which include a request for the system to denounce the actions of the Israeli government, terminate contracts and relationships with companies operating in Israel, as well as divestment from those companies.
The University of Colorado Board of Regents have not publicly commented on the ongoing protests, however they have met behind closed doors to discuss legal advice on the encampment.
What’s happened so far
Auraria students erected the antiwar camp on April 25 to protest Israel’s ongoing military action in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry there. Israel began the war after Hamas killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took 200 hostages in a surprise attack on October 7, 2023.
On campus a day after the Auraria protests began, Denver and Auraria police officers moved to disperse the camp, arresting over 40 people in the process. Auraria campus officials told Denverite that about half of those arrested weren’t students enrolled at any of its three universities. Protesters quickly reestablished the camp, and Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas has claimed that his department has refused a second request to disperse the camp, although it isn’t clear when that request was made.
Nearly a week following the arrests, Auraria Higher Education Center CEO Colleen Walker told Denverite that calling the police on protesters is a “last resort,” claiming that the campus and its three universities are committed to an open dialogue with students.
Students are protesting the war in Gaza, as well as calling on the University of Colorado’s to divest from corporations that operate in Israel.
Tents set up by students on Tivoli Quad at the Auraria Campus in Denver. April 28, 2024.
Paolo Zialcita/CPR News
Students protesting the war in Gaza are still camped out on the Auraria campus Sunday — even after 40 were arrested on Friday and an unexpected weekend snowstorm.
On Sunday morning, over 100 people were gathered around dozens of tents set up on the Auraria Campus’ Tivoli Quad. Since it formed on Thursday, the camp has expanded — campers have laid down tarps and torn-up cardboard to create makeshift paths over the mud brought by Saturday’s rain and snow, and a makeshift bathroom using privacy tents, buckets and cat litter has appeared on the perimeter.
Khalid Hamu, an organizer with the Students for a Democratic Society, said the camp has only grown stronger since Friday.
“We were able to get a lot of support from the campus and the surrounding community, and we’re still going strong,” he told Denverite Sunday. “We have systems in place that are solidifying a little bit. We have a lot more of a solid plan now.”
Spirits were lifted Saturday, when longtime political activist, professor and author Angela Davis, who rose to prominence in the 1960’s for her involvement in civil rights and antiwar movements, visited the camp. Davis was in town for a private event at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.
“We were really happy for such a legendary civil rights activist to come and speak and talk about how there’s parallels between what’s happening today and what she did in the past,” Hamu said.
Students said they’re not going to budge until university leaders meet their demands
Following a spring snowstorm, protesters laid cardboard to create paths over a muddy Auraria Campus in Denver. April 28, 2024.Paolo Zialcita/CPR News
The student organizers sent a list of demands to the University of Colorado on Thursday which included: a statement from the CU system “condemning the genocidal actions of Israel,” a meeting with CU Denver Chancellor Michelle Marks, divestment from any corporations operating in Israel, transparency around investments, and an end to University of Colorado study abroad programs in Israel.
The organizers also want CU’s administration to sever ties with and refuse grants from companies that contract with the U.S. military.
According to federal data, the University of Colorado Denver has accepted nearly $3 million in contracts with Israel since 2016.
Student organizers said they haven’t heard from university officials as of Sunday morning. CU system officials have not responded to multiple requests for comment from CPR News and Denverite.
Harriet Falconetti, a CU student protestor who was arrested on Friday, said she’s prepared to camp out for as long as it takes.
“The only way that this is going to end is when CU and the Auraria campus meet our demands,” she said.
In a statement, the Auraria campus said it supported the free speech of students, however campus policy prohibited camping on premises due to health, safety and security considerations.
“While those who gathered at the onset of Thursday’s protest did so peacefully, some participants established an encampment as the demonstration progressed, which violates those policies,” another statement from campus officials said. “Campus administrators spoke with numerous protestors and advised them of our policy, including providing written copies.”
Auraria students are joining a nationwide movement among college campuses
Similar scenes are playing out across the United States, where students at other colleges are camping out to protest the war in Gaza. The camp-style protests first started in New York City’s Columbia University and quickly spread to campuses like the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California.
The Auraria campus — home to the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver — is so far the only Colorado campus to see students set up camps in protest of the war in Gaza. Hamu called on students at other campuses to start their own.
“I’m not exactly sure of the conditions of the other campuses in the state,” he said . “We’ve been able to see some wins and I just hope we can inspire other campuses to do the same because Columbia made the call nationwide and maybe we can make the call statewide.”
Denverite reporters Kevin Beaty and Rebecca Tauber contributed to this report.
Auraria Police arrest protesters advocating for the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza after they occupied the Tivoli Quad and refused to leave. April 26, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Updated at 4:05 p.m. on Friday, April 26, 2024
Denver law enforcement removed and arrested protesters Friday afternoon on the Auraria Campus.
At about noon, Denver and Auraria Campus Police officers and Denver sheriff’s deputies parked about a dozen police vehicles at the scene and surrounded the camp. Some officers then began attempting to remove the two dozen or so people who refused to clear out of the camp.
As students started to get arrested, other protesters surrounded the ring of police officers in an attempt to keep people away from those lined up for arrest. Some protesters tried to push police officers out of the Tivoli Quad, and surrounded a cop car to try and stop it from leaving.
Rally-goers shouted “Free Palestine” in the background.
A protester’s hands are cuffed as they’re arrested.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A protester’s shoes drag across the lawn as they’re arrested.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Sean Burns, a student government leader with the University of Colorado Denver, said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the response from all three institutions and police.
“This has been nothing but a peaceful protest,” he said. “I really think it’s a shame. It’s only escalated the situation and I hope to see everything be resolved peacefully.”
Denver City Council member Sarah Parady was at the protest in support of the students organizing. She said students removed the tents so it was unclear to her why some were arrested.
“There is a line of students sitting in the grass. No one has done anything violent, disruptive, damaging,” she said. “They are being arrested for trespassing on their own campus, nothing more, nothing less, on the orders of the Auraria Higher Education Campus, and I think that’s very unfortunate.”
Yelling protesters seen in the reflection of a Denver Police officer assisting in the arrests of protesters advocating for the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, by occupying the Auraria Campus’ Tivoli Quad. April 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
What had officials Auraria Campus said about the protesters?
A statement issued by the Auraria Higher Education Center earlier in the day on Friday read:
“We fully support the right of students to assemble peacefully. Still, it’s essential to note that Auraria Campus policy prohibits camping on the premises because of health, safety, and security considerations.”
Denver Police officers rush past protesters, many who were actively blocking their exit, after they arrested people advocating for the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza by erecting a campsite in the Tivoli Quad and refused to leave. April 26, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The Auraria Campus was committed to listening and collaborating with students and protecting their right to free speech, the statement continued. However, campus policy prohibited camping on the premises because of health, safety, and security considerations.
“While those who gathered at the onset of Thursday’s protest did so peacefully, some participants established an encampment as the demonstration progressed, which violates those policies,” another statement from officials at the Auraria Campus said. “Campus administrators spoke with numerous protestors and advised them of our policy, including providing written copies.”
The statement also said about 40 people were arrested and face trespassing charges.
Since then, police have arrested student protesters across the country, with some campuses switching to remote classes through the end of the semester over security concerns.
What did the student organizers on Auraria Campus demand?
The student organizers at the Auraria Campus had sent a list of demands on Thursday which included: a statement from the University of Colorado “condemning the genocidal actions of Israel,” a meeting with CU Denver Chancellor Michelle Marks, divestment from any corporations operating in Israel, transparency around investments, and an end to University of Colorado study abroad programs in Israel.
The organizers also want CU’s administration to sever ties with and refuse grants from companies that contract with the U.S. military. That could affect programs like CU’s aerospace engineering department, which works with companies like Lockheed Martin.
Student leaders said Thursday: “We will not be leaving until our demands are met.”
According to federal data, the University of Colorado Denver has accepted nearly $3 million in contracts with Israel since 2016.
A Denver Sheriff Department bus, for transporting prisoners.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Men pray while police arrest protesters nearby.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Response from some local Jewish organizations
In response to the demonstration, a coalition of organizations dedicated to fighting antisemitism in Colorado called upon university leadership Friday to “take bold action” before violence ensues.
“This is not about peaceful protest or the First Amendment, this is about keeping Jewish students safe while they pursue higher education,” said Matt Most, the Acting Director of Colorado Jewish Community Relations Council.
“When Jewish students fear leaving their dorms, are locked in classrooms, or worse, told to leave campus entirely because their community cannot protect them, antisemitism is clearly present and we need university leaders who will be brave and lead.”
CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to clarify which agencies different officers belonged to.
They join dozens of other protests on college campuses around the country that are asking universities to divest from Israel because of its war in Gaza.
Activists gather on the Tivoli Quad lawn on the Auraria Campus, beginning a planned occupation protesting Israel’s war in Gaza and demanding the University of Colorado divest from corportations that invest in Israel and end their study abroad program in the country, among other things. April 25, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Joining students on college campuses across the country, organizers with Students for a Democratic Society started an encampment at Auraria Campus Thursday to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed about 34,000 Palestinians according to recent reporting from the New York Times.
While pro-Palestinian organizers have been protesting the war for months, a newer wave of protests has been sweeping the U.S. after college administrators at Columbia University suspended students and police made arrests at an encampment at the university’s campus in New York City last week. Since then, police have arrested student protesters across the country, with some campuses switching to remote classes through the end of the semester over security concerns.
Like students nationwide, the protesters at Auraria Campus, home to three colleges and universities, want college administrators to take a public stance against the war and sever any financial ties the institutions have to Israel — including investments and grants. On Thursday afternoon, students passed out rain ponchos and prepared to hunker down as wind blew and rain started. Students chanted “dare to struggle, dare to win,” while later in the afternoon another small group of students knelt in prayer.
Paul Nelson, a communications student at Metropolitan State University of Denver and an organizer with Students for a Democratic Society said students in Denver are following the lead of students at Columbia.
“I think it’s important that we stand for peace, stand against genocide and war, whatever the option is presented to us. And so here’s one of those historical turning points,” Nelson said.
Activists gather on the Tivoli Quad lawn on the Auraria Campus, beginning a planned occupation protesting Israel’s war in Gaza and demanding the University of Colorado divest from corportations that invest in Israel and end their study abroad program in the country, among other things. April 25, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
In a statement Thursday, the student organizers sent a list of demands, which include a statement from the University of Colorado “condemning the genocidal actions of Israel,” a meeting with CU Denver Chancellor Michelle Marks, divestment from any corporations operating in Israel, transparency around investments and an end to University of Colorado study abroad programs in Israel.
The organizers also want CU’s administration to sever ties with and refuse grants from companies that contract with the U.S. military. That could affect programs like CU’s aerospace engineering department, which works with companies like Lockheed Martin. According to federal data, the University of Colorado Denver has accepted nearly $3 million in contracts with Israel since 2016.
Khalid Hamu, an organizer and computer science student at CU Denver, said he was moved to action after seeing images of the aftermath of the war in Gaza.
“Student Action is what got us a lot of things. It’s what got us the first College of Ethnic Studies,” Hamu said. “So we, I, understand, we have to get organized, and we have to bring the fight to [the administration].”
The University of Colorado and Auraria Higher Education Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The encampment at Auraria Campus is the latest in a string of protests against the war both in Denver and nationwide.
Those protests kicked off in October, when the militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking more than 200 people hostage, some of whom remain in Gaza. Israel responded by invading Gaza, which has been under blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007.
Since then, about 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to The New York Times. Humanitarian aid officials are also warning that famine could soon take hold in Gaza.
Colorado Public Radio reporter Paolo Zialcita contributed reporting.
Activists gather on the Tivoli Quad lawn on the Auraria Campus, beginning a planned occupation protesting Israel’s war in Gaza and demanding the University of Colorado divest from corportations that invest in Israel and end their study abroad program in the country, among other things. April 25, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
