DENVER — A group of University of Denver students began protesting on the university's campus Thursday morning with a list of demands for the school's leaders.
In a news release, a group of about 30 undergraduate and graduate students said they represented the group DU For Palestine, a self-described collective of students who said they are concerned about DU's investment in the Israeli military's aggression against Palestinians.
The protest group said they built a "solidarity encampment for Palestine" to urge the university to "divest from Israeli war crimes."
Similar student protests have been organized on more than 100 campuses across the country protesting Israel's attacks on Gaza and demanding their school's divestment from companies linked to Israel's military campaign.
Since April 25, a pro-Palestine student group organized an encampment on the Auraria Campus near downtown Denver. The protesters have staged demonstrations and sit-ins and attempted a building takeover where students were detained and ticketed. The group also threatened to disrupt graduation ceremonies if their demands were unmet.
The DU For Palestine group, camped on Carnegie Green, made several demands of the school's administration including for DU to "divest from all companies invested in and responsible for the illegal occupation, apartheid, and genocide of Palestinians."
“The Chancellor sent repeated emails emphasizing neutrality that the institution’s actions have directly contradicted,” said one organizer for DU for Palestine in a news release. “Students on campus feel unsafe and frustrated with the University’s silence regarding the Israeli military’s massacres of Palestinians while maintaining direct connections with Israeli universities.”
9NEWS Investigates contacted DU about the protesters' encampment organized on campus Thursday. A spokesperson for DU said the group was "more than welcome on campus to protest and use their freedom of expression," and said the university had no plans to remove them as long as they followed the school's student honor code.
DU's chancellor, Jeremy Haefner, sent an email from the Office of the Chancellor to the university community Thursday afternoon explaining its "interim protest policy" was effective immediately relating to the encampment.
The email described the school as an "institution committed to critical thinking and inquiry, our policies should fiercely protect free expression," and released a new interim policy that outlined how the school will allow and manage protests or demonstrations on campus effective immediately.
Read DU's full interim protest policy below:
While Haefner's email spoke to the importance of having a "shared understanding of where free speech becomes something that violates our community's values and policies," the interim policy outlines how DU will allow and manage protests or demonstrations on campus.
The interim policy explains how the campus will manage protests and demonstrations, camping and overnight protests and safety measures to keep the school community safe.
"We hope it goes without saying that discrimination and harassment are not forms of protest; they are violations of our policy," reads the email. DU will have "campus safety personnel present in the area to help facilitate the safety of DU community members."
DU said protesters must use university-issued IDs to access buildings and other areas and those who are not part of the DU community (students, faculty, or staff) cannot participate on campus. The university said it has the right to remove them without notice.
The university said that any attempts to occupy buildings, disrupt campus activities or learning, or otherwise violate university policies will result in disciplinary action.
"The use of higher education spaces for protest has a long and important history, and indeed, DU students and scholars have a strong tradition of engaging on difficult subjects on this campus," said Haefner. "Many students have found their political-social voices through such activities, contributing to intellectual growth and character exploration during the time spent in discussion around various topics. As always, if you choose to engage in protests or other demonstrations, we encourage you to do so peacefully, respectfully and in a manner which reflects our community’s values."
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