Pro-Palestinian protests at CSU remain peaceful; no overnight encampments planned

Pro-Palestinian protesters were back on the “free speech plaza” at Colorado State University on Thursday, vowing to remain peaceful and follow university policies.

Ella Smith, an organizer with Students for Justice in Palestine, said her group would remain on the plaza outside Lory Student Center from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through May 10, the final day of classes for the spring semester.

The group had no plans to set up an overnight encampment as students at dozens of other universities have done. The CSU students, like those at colleges and universities across the country, are demanding CSU cut academic and financial ties with all entities connected to Israel’s military to protest ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Those attacks have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Associated Press.

The Israeli attacks began in response to an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip. As many as 1,200 Israelis were killed in that attack, and more than 200 others were taken as hostages, USA TODAY reported.

“This is not an encampment, rather this is just us following university policy to the letter,” Smith said. “We’re here from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., which is exactly the time you’re allowed to protest.”

More: Police sweep onto UCLA campus, remove pro-Palestinian encampment: Live updates

As she spoke, a little after 2 p.m., about 40 people, mostly students, were sitting around three pop-up canopies serving as tents, making protest signs. Smith and the other student protesters are still going to class, she said, but spending their free time between classes on the plaza. Smith, in fact, said she had just returned from taking a final exam. There were only about a dozen people sitting around the tents a few hours earlier.

At 6 p.m., there were 50 or more protestors marching in a circle on the plaza, carrying their signs and chanting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans.

Although a handful of faculty, staff and community members have been involved in the pro-Palestinian protests, Smith said it's important that it remain student-led.

"Historically, students have been the ones to speak out about these issues," she said. "We're talking about the Vietnam War, we're talking about apartheid in South Africa, we're talking about Iran, everything.

"Students really do have a lot of power here, a lot of power to change things ... students really are the ones CSU is going to listen to when we call for them to divest from Israel, divest from weapons companies."

A half-dozen or so counter-protesters, who identified themselves as leaders of Jewish student groups, sat across the plaza, displaying Israeli flags and playing traditional Jewish music on loudspeakers. They were there, student Kiara Gleiser said, to show their support for their fellow Jewish students across campus.

“We think it’s necessary for us to be here because people are feeling afraid of the intentions of the other side,” Gleiser said, as she carefully folded her flag into her backpack before heading off to class, “because at universities like Columbia and the Ivy Leagues, a lot of antisemitism is going on; they’re getting into fights, they’re stabbing Jewish students, they’re not letting Jewish students onto campus.”

Protests at CSU have remained peaceful since they began Monday with about 350 people participating, including 200 or so who marched from the “free speech plaza” to the administration building to hand-deliver a letter requesting the university cut academic ties, call for a cease fire and divest from entities connected to the Israeli military.

Smith and other leaders of her group met Wednesday with CSU President Amy Parsons, who dismissed their demands.

“Unfortunately, she has told us that she’s not going to listen to our demands, and she has instead requested that we meet with those who are opposed to us,” Smith said.

Parsons said she was "proud of the students" for the way they have exercised their First Amendment right to protest without disrupting classes or endangering the safety of students, faculty and staff.

"They both have competing demands," she said. "At the same time, I just have to keep telling them my role is to not choose one student voice over the other. They have valid points. They have different lived experiences, very different perspectives."

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, x.com/KellyLyell and  facebook.com/KellyLyell.news

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Pro-Palestinian protests at CSU remain peaceful; no encampment planned