Updated at 3:51 p.m. on Thursday, May 2
The Auraria Higher Education Center said an unspecified group of donors will give $15,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for the antiwar campers taking down their tents.
In a letter addressed to the Students for Democratic Society, the group of protesters that set up an antiwar camp on the Tivoli quad last week, campus leaders said the money will only be distributed to the Red Cross if the encampment is removed by 5 p.m. Thursday.
Student protesters said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that they do not intend to accept the offer.
The organization declared that they will only take down the encampment if the university meets their demands, which include a statement from the University of Colorado and Metropolitan State University of Denver denouncing the Israeli government, and divestment from companies operating in Denver.
“If students reject the proposal, we are still committed to continuing the dialogue but the money will be off the table,” said AHEC spokesperson Devra Ashby in a text to Denverite.
Minutes after the Auraria campus sent the demand, Khalid Hamu, an organizer with SDS, said not donating the money goes against the mission of their camp.
“We want to see the money that they have invested gone and if they want to talk about something else, they can talk about something, but that’s not what we’re looking for,” Hamu said.
What's happened so far
Auraria students erected the antiwar camp a week ago, on April 25, joining a number of similar protests at college campuses that spread nationwide after police arrested protesters at Columbia University
A day later, Denver and Auraria campus police officers moved to break up the camp, arresting over 40 people in the process. An Auraria campus spokesperson said about half of those arrested were students enrolled at an Auraria university.
The camp has since been reestablished and police haven’t returned.
Auraria is home to the largest college protest in Colorado, but momentum has been growing at other campuses.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Correction: This story has been update to correct the deadline provided by the university.
