Denver’s Auraria campus will be the subject of federal scrutiny after the Colorado Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted unanimously Thursday to begin a year-long examination of “the presence and/or absence” of antisemitism on the downtown campus.

The local undertaking coincides with a larger federal investigation by the commission into what the Trump administration characterizes as rising antisemitism at American college campuses following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and that nation’s retaliatory war in Gaza.

Demonstrators set up a 23-day encampment at Auraria last year — the largest of Colorado’s pro-Palestinian protests — at which students and others protested the war and called for the University of Colorado to divest financially from Israel.

The committee’s now-approved project proposal alleges the Auraria encampment featured participants chanting slogans “calling for the extermination of the state of Israel and for terrorist attacks on Jews globally.” The proposal attributes that statement to “news reports,” but does not cite any specifically.

The proposal acknowledged such statements are not “per se illegal… just as reading ‘Mein Kampf’ out loud in public is not illegal,” but alleged the encampment interfered with campus access and classes, and included a “hostile occupation” of the student union and vandalism.

A representative of the Auraria Higher Education Center told The Denver Post last month that the campus is committed to fostering a “safe, inclusive and respectful environment for all,” and that antisemitism, along with any form of hate or discrimination, has no place on campus.

Auraria is home to the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and CU Denver.

During Thursday’s 45-minute virtual commission meeting, a handful of Auraria students from anti-Zionist advocacy organization Jewish Voice for Peace said they were present during the encampment and felt welcomed and safe until the university called in police to break up the protest.

“These investigations seemingly about antimestimism all across the country have little to do with Jews and everything to do with dismantling higher education,” said a virtual public commenter who identified themselves as Asa.

David Kopel, a member of the Colorado Advisory Committee and research director at libertarian think tank Independence Institute, proposed the antisemitism research project.

In a virtual meeting earlier this year, Kopel described antisemitism on college campuses as “a matter that is long overdue for serious analysis… and that has been swept under the rug and dismissed by a lot of authorities in the past.”

“State advisory committees are formally charged with being the eyes and ears of the commission in D.C., so as a factual investigation, this is a place to get some facts and write about it ourselves for Colorado, but also do a useful investigation elsewhere,” Kopel said.

As the project progresses, the committee will invite speakers to provide testimony to inform a forthcoming report.

The committee identified the following questions as guiding its study:

• What are university and college campus policies around antisemitic discrimination?
• How did university and college administrators address recent incidents of antisemitism?
• How are antisemitic incidents documented and/or reported?

“An anticipated outcome of the project is to ensure that the commission is advised of the presence and/or absence of antisemitism at Colorado institutions of higher education,” the project proposal said. “The committee intends that such information will lead to a better understanding of addressing any related civil rights concerns through its recommendations.”

The committee intends to release a report with findings next year that may include recommendations for federal, state or higher education policy or statutory changes, the proposal said.

“The committee also hopes to make recommendations that will protect both students and faculty impacted by antisemitism, while strictly adhering to the First Amendment rights of all Americans, whatever their views,” the proposal said.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled virtually for 3 p.m. May 21.

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