DENVER (KDVR) — As of Wednesday morning, pro-Palestinian protesters on the University of Denver campus had cleared their encampment.
According to school administration, the students decided to remove their camp, which had been on campus for about twenty days. The school cited a longstanding dialogue with the group on campus safety and peace. The only signs of the encampment are areas where the grass was damaged from lack of sun – much the same as where a similar encampment once stood on the Auraria Campus.
Students allege abuse and anti-Semitism on the University of Denver campus
The school board said they sat down with representatives of the protesting group to discuss the school’s “ongoing concerns for their safety and that of the broader community, as well as our call for the immediate removal of the encampment.”
“We communicated that the university would not meet their demands for practical and policy reasons. The protesters, in turn, shared the deep commitment and passion for the cause that brought them together in the first place,” the DU government said in a press release.
In a letter on Instagram, the DU for Palestine student group said they believe the “struggle is not over” and called DU’s board of directors, chancellor and government “cowards who continue to support genocide.”
“We are disgusted by our government’s actions as they continue to fail to adhere to any ethical compass,” the group wrote. “Over the past 20 days, the University of Denver has demonstrated that it would rather use subtle violence, police intimidation, and repression than listen to its students and a global movement calling for divestment from the terrorist and illegal state of Israel. DU has also demonstrated their blatant disregard for the lives and experiences of Palestinian students and has consistently prioritized the comfort of Zionist students.
“Protest is not here to make you feel comfortable, it is here to bring about change when great injustices are happening, as we are seeing in Palestine,” the group wrote.
DU Chancellor Jeremy Haefner used his letter to the DU community to call on individuals to “accept the positive intentions of our community members and work together for the greater good.”
“As we move forward, I encourage all students, faculty and staff to engage in meaningful and respectful discussions. Together we can create positive change while maintaining a constructive and safe environment,” Haefner wrote. “Let us recommit to fostering an atmosphere of thoughtful dialogue and intellectual humility – an atmosphere that upholds our values and is committed to the safety and belonging of our entire campus community.”
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The Auraria Campus reported that the now-closed encampment on their property has cost the campus an estimated $290,000 in damages, canceled events and other related costs. DU did not have an estimate of how much it would cost to replace the grass at the site where the camp had been, because grounds crews were still evaluating whether the grass could be revived or if the area would need to be reseeded.
Non-protesting students said demonstrators attacked them
The camp’s removal comes after some non-protesting students said the camp was becoming “more rowdy,” and others said they were attacked by protesters.
“I was just walking around with an Israeli flag, you know; I didn’t say anything hateful to the camp at all,” freshman Jack Burkman told FOX31’s Rachel Saurer. “And then I just got pushed really hard.”
Some students said they have seen cases of anti-Semitism increase.
“I had friends who were called slanders against Jewish people,” Burkman told Saurer.
Auraria Campus says it will likely need to replace grass after camping
A fence was placed around the encampment on Monday. The university said the fence was intended to protect the protesters, not the non-protesting Jewish students on campus, who say they have been targeted by the demonstrators.
Previously, pro-Palestinian protesters said DU administrators have prioritized “the voices of the Zionist sect of Judaism on campus while limiting staff support to the Jewish students currently most at risk.”
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