Auraria student organizers reject $15k donation offer to remove pro-Palestine Denver encampment

Auraria student organizers on Thursday rejected a proposal from campus officials to remove the week-old Denver encampment in exchange for a $15,000 donation to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In a letter posted online, campus leaders said a group of donors came forward with a “nonpartisan humanitarian solution to restore order to the Quad by removing the encampment.”

The donation on behalf of Students for a Democratic Society was contingent on the pro-Palestine encampment being removed by 5 p.m. Thursday and for future protests to comply with campus policies, campus officials wrote.

In posts on Instagram and X, SDS’s Denver chapter said campus administrators were trying to buy them out and students will not end the encampment until their demands are met.

A second campus demonstration began in Colorado Springs on Thursday, where protesters set up an encampment on Colorado College’s Tava Quad.

The encampment had at least 10 tents, student journalists at The Catalyst reported.

An Instagram page for the encampment described it as a “community-liberated zone” in solidarity with Gaza and listed demands similar to those made by Auraria organizers, including transparency about the private college’s endowment, divestment from weapons companies and canceling summer study abroad trips in Israel.

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