Denver, CO – On the evening of September 28, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a rally of students and community members on Auraria campus in Denver. The rally demanded that the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) defund and disarm the Auraria Campus Police Department (ACPD).

“Recently, AHEC approved a new budget for the 2020-2021 school and, unbelievably, ACPD is actually receiving a larger percentage of the budget this school year than they did for last year, despite the fact that there’s hardly any students on campus,” said Shaine Carroll-Frey, a member of SDS.

“We believe that the 4.2 million dollars ACPD is receiving this year would be far better spent on educational services, health services, counselling and other resources that would actually benefit the campus community, and that’s what we’re demanding today,” Carroll-Frey continued.

The rally featured speeches highlighting the absurdity of the campus police budget and how the presence of armed officers puts all students, but particularly oppressed nationality students, at serious risk. Another speech by Jessie Crowe, a student at the University of Colorado-Denver and veteran, called attention to the prevalence of racism in the military and on police forces, and reiterated that racist cops don’t belong in our campuses, communities or cities.

At the end of the rally, SDS committed to continuing the fight to defund and disarm ACPD and to unite with other groups to achieve that goal.

#DenverCO #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #DenverSDS