Denver, CO – In the afternoon on October 6, more than 30 people, led by Denver Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the protest band Notes of Dissent, rallied and picketed outside the Tivoli Student Union building on Auraria Campus.

After over a year of campaigning for a sanctuary campus and a ban on ICE on campus, the Auraria Board of Directors still refuses to listen to the student body’s concerns about immigrant student safety if ICE were to come onto Auraria campus. While the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board initially collaborated with Denver SDS on drafting a popular policy, Policy 7.7, to ban ICE from Auraria, they backpedaled and decided to no longer support the modified Policy 7.7, which would have banned ICE from being anywhere on campus.

“Thus far, the Auraria administration has taken the cowardly approach,” said Meadow Dunne, a faculty member of the Community College of Denver (CCD) located on the Auraria campus. “They refuse to stand up for what is right. I am calling for the administration to immediately pass and enforce an anti-ICE policy here on campus. None of us deserve to live in fear.”

Despite the board of directors’ and the student advisory committee’s resistance to protections for the student body, Denver SDS is not backing down. On September 16, they marched inside the Tivoli Student Union building up to the Auraria Higher Education Center offices and chanted outside their door for almost an hour before being forced to leave by the Auraria Campus Police Department.

Two weeks later, on September 29, Denver SDS hung banners on the Tivoli’s third floor safety railings displaying a “Wanted” list of faces for Auraria administrators.

And a week later, SDS was joined by Notes of Dissent, a protest marching band, which played songs while the crowd chanted, “Say it once, say it twice! We do not fuck with ICE!” and “We want justice, you say how? ICE out of Denver now!”

“Denver SDS has been working hard on this campaign for over a year, and we still haven’t gotten our demands met!” stated Mel Medina, a member of Denver SDS. “They keep on trying to ignore us, but we keep on getting louder, bolder. The students are the backbone of this campus, and, if it weren’t for us, [administration] wouldn’t be here. So today we are going to make them hear us, whether they like it or not!”

On-campus support for Denver SDS’ campaign to ban ICE on Auraria is growing with each protest.

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