November 30, 2023 | NEWS | By Marynn Krull & Zeke Lloyd
On the night of Tuesday, Nov. 28, the sound of drums and chants permeated the quiet atmosphere outside Cornerstone Center for the Arts. A passageway composed of roughly 30 students laying, sitting and standing in the building’s main open space, marked the attendees’ path toward the theater.
Most activists wore red, green and black. Some displayed open palms with their hands painted scarlet. Others draped Palestinian flags across their shoulders or put them up on the walls.
Before the presentation began, they entered the theater and sat among audience members.
According to various offices of the college, the event was intended to be an opportunity for discourse, a chance to answer pressing questions about the issue and “go far deeper than the hateful ‘discussion’ on social media and the often-shallow coverage in the news.” The school invited Colonel Kris Bauman, the Brent Scowcroft Professor of National Security Studies at the United States Air Force Academy, to speak.
Bauman previously served as U.S. Chief of Staff for General John R. Allen and the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, before working as the Israel advisor on the National Security Council under the Donald Trump Presidential administration. According to an email from the Office of Communications, Bauman “describes himself as pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace and pro-security,” and planned to articulate why all four affiliations are possible.
“I’m going to talk about the Israeli narrative first and then I’m going to talk about the Palestinian narrative. And that’s where I really hope that you can listen across and understand both,” Bauman said near the outset of his presentation. He then went on to speak for roughly 40 minutes before the event moved to a question-and-answer format.
In an impromptu decision, event organizers allowed a student activist to speak at the outset of the question-and-answer segment. The student briefly shared details about the number of civilian deaths in the conflict before posing questions: “When will the U.S. start grieving Palestinian lives? Do you condemn the genocide in Gaza and support the call for ceasefire?”
The representative went on to emphasize that Bauman had not used the term “apartheid” in his presentation.
“Do you condemn the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and the apartheid state of Israel, which relegates Palestinians to a dehumanized status, which does not allow them freedom of movement, full sovereignty and equitable access to resources and opportunities? We think that it starts with liberation, not peace,” they said. Some activists, along with other audience members, applauded as the student took their seat.
Bauman’s reply lasted roughly three minutes, arguing that peace should be the top priority while weighing the viability of different solutions. “But the idea of reintegrating and creating one state in that area is just completely not workable,” Bauman concluded.“Condemn the genocide. Stop with the bullshit,” yelled one audience member after Bauman finished his reply.
“Fuck Israel,” shouted someone else in the audience moments later.
Before the question-and-answer segment was over, demonstrators silently rose from their seats and marched out of the theater with raised signs and Palestinian flags. In Cornerstone’s main open space, they set up the protest’s final iteration, lining themselves in two rows along the stairs, creating a channel toward the building’s main exit.
“When folks start coming out, we’re gonna chant,” said one organizer. “And be loud. They were saying so much bullshit in there,” said another.
Students held signs featuring different slogans, phrases and critiques of the event’s intended objectivity, including “When You’re Pro-Everything, You Stand for Nothing.” The progression of posters, flags and drums along the alleyway culminated in a large banner, which read “Free Palestine! End U.S. aid to Israel. End the siege on Gaza! Ceasefire now! End the occupation!”
As audience members began to leave the theater, some opted to take alternative exits on the right and left to avoid activists. Of those who did walk through the demonstration, some raised their fists, stopped to stand with activists, or chanted alongside them in solidarity.
The activists cycled through a variety of chants ranging from, “C-C-C-C you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide,” and, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The rhetoric called for the college’s divestment from companies said to be benefiting from Israel’s occupation, the end of military aid to Israel, a ceasefire, and the liberation of Palestine.
“There was an attempt [at] some sort of nuance or some sort of Palestinian narrative [in the presentation.] Really, the dehumanization of Palestinians was stated matter of factly,” said a representative of the activists who asked to remain anonymous for fear of political targeting.
The student argued Bauman did not thoroughly portray the Palestinian struggle, positing that the Palestinian perspective was presented with facts about the relocation of Palestinians, but that “there was really no serious contending with what that implies [and the conduct that occurred].” Bauman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the days leading up to the presentation, student organizers hung posters around campus decrying the title of the talk and choice of speaker. According to the representative, not even the addition of another speaker could have balanced the hypocrisy of selecting military personnel. “There is no way they can make this unbiased or less biased,” said the representative.
This demonstration comes on the heels of several student protests over the last few months aimed at mobilizing CC toward condemning Israel’s actions formally and informally. The representative stressed that Colorado College has still not met the demands put forward by the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, sent earlier this month in an email to President L. Song Richardson.
The email of demands called for CC to, “be transparent about its $1 billion endowment,” and take explicit stances, such as labeling Israel’s actions as genocidal, which the group argues align with CC’s “values of decolonization and antiracism.”
In an email sent out Tuesday night, the Board of Trustees acknowledged student demonstrations and said that they “were made aware of specific demands made to the college from student groups.” According to that email, the Board “had an in-depth, thoughtful discussion with President Richardson and her Cabinet surrounding freedom of expression and the importance of fostering a campus environment in which all students are safe and supported.”
For many students, there is heightened pressure on institutions’ responses to Palestinian suffering in light of the shooting of three Palestinian college students in Vermont on Saturday. The representative called out Bauman’s silence on this attack in the talk.
“You’re coming into [a] college and you’re not even fucking saying a word about it. Says a lot about who you are,” the representative said.