Denver, CO – In the early morning of September 20, Denver Students for a Democratic Society held a pro-Palestine rally outside of the Metropolitan State University (MSU) of Denver board of trustees’ monthly executive session.

A large group of students and community supporters gathered and chanted outside the Jordan Student Success Building (JSSB), where the meeting was taking place, as other attendees from MSU Denver and Colorado University Denver disrupted and spoke during public comment section during the meeting itself.

During the protest, Palestinian solidarity chants were loud, and speakers addressed the need to fight against the repression of students, with several saying that bans and restricting academic freedom won’t stop Denver SDS from meeting on campus and existing as a student organization.

“Students want justice, students want peace!” chant leader Lucia Feast yelled outside the JSSB entrance, which the crowd repeated. “Divest now, hands off the Middle East!

Denver SDS has been organizing for MSU Denver and CU Denver to divest from Israel and issue a statement condemning Israel's actions in Palestine for almost a year. In the last five months, Denver SDS has continued to escalate, most notably with the Auraria Solidarity Encampment for Palestine from late April to mid-May.

Neither the MSU Denver board of trustees, nor the CU Denver board of regents, have been willing to meet with students to discuss divestment from war profiteers. Instead of investing in programs to support students, they continue to invest in weapons and military intelligence engineering companies. MSU Denver has suspended Denver SDS as a student organization, and CU Denver has placed SDS on interim probation.

Probation has not stopped Denver SDS from being active on their campus. Since the beginning of the fall semester, members have been loudly protesting the academic repression almost weekly with various rallies.

“Though having to demand for divestment over and over again as the trustees ignore us may feel like broken-record attempts, we know that the student power we are demonstrating cannot and will not be ignored!” SDS member and University of Colorado Denver student Geral Mueller said during their speech at the rally outside.

Inside the trustees meeting, during President Janine Davidson’s speech, two SDS members began quietly singing, “Which side are you on? Which side are you on? Justice for Gaza is justice for us all.”

The Auraria Campus Police Department arrested those two SDS members without a dispersal order and charged them with “disrupting a lawful assembly.” The public comment section of the meeting was then skipped to prevent students from protesting the trustees’ resolutions.

#DenverCO #StudentsforaDemocraticSociety #MetropolitanStateUniversity #Divest