This page will include live coverage from The Catalyst covering the protests happening at Colorado College. Updates can be expected regularly as reporters continue to monitor the situation. Information in these reports may be incomplete. For full stories on the protests at Colorado College go to The Catalyst news section.
Our live coverage team consists of Leigh Walden, Marynn Krull, Seth Jahraus, Zeke Lloyd, Lilly Asano, Veronica Bianco, Tessa Frantz and Taylor Lynch.
If you have information, comments or feedback regarding these protects please contact Leigh Walden (l_walden@coloradocollege.edu) and Marynn Krull (m_krull@coloradocollege.edu) or reach us at our anonymous tip line.
Tuesday, May 7 –
At 9:10 a.m. Tuesday morning, students received an email from President L. Song Richardson and Interim President-Elect Manya Whitaker with the subject line “Managing our Campus Climate.”
The email began, “We were informed recently of several alarming, hateful, and targeted anti-Muslim and Islamophobic statements posted anonymously on a social media platform.” One popular anonymous campus app, YikYak, may have been the platform referenced in the email, though The Catalyst was unable to confirm. According to the email, the college is investigating the reports, but says the anonymity of the platform makes it difficult to investigate and hold the poster accountable. As a result, the email says the college has begun the process of “removing access to the social media platforms that support anonymous posting from our campus network.”
An Instagram page, Faculty for Palestine Colorado College (@ccffp), posted about the incident yesterday. According to the post, the anonymous posts “explicitly targeted a CC student: falsely accusing them of violent and racist behavior, exposing their physical location, and putting them at risk.”
The latter half of the email, subtitled “Keeping our Community Safe During Campus Demonstrations,” expanded on the administration’s response to on-campus protests. While the email reaffirmed students’ rights to protest and the role of free expression in a healthy democracy, the email reasserted the college’s commitment to “the safety and well-being of all students, faculty, and staff.”
The email also linked an email sent out to parents and families about the protests thus far and how Colorado College plans to respond. This email shared a concern among the administration about “outside agitators, which have escalated protests at other schools nationally.”
Again, both emails reaffirmed the college’s plans of de-escalation, delayed enforcement, and dialogue, with the use of force as “a last resort.”
The email hit students’ inboxes just two hours before Honors Convocation, held in Shove Chapel at 11 a.m. Some students receiving awards wore keffiyehs, painted their hands red, and wore “CCLZ” (Colorado College Liberation Zone) t-shirts as they crossed the stage. One student stopped mid-stage to raise their fist and shout in support of Palestine. Otherwise, the ceremony proceeded uninterrupted.
As attendees left Shove Chapel at 12:41 p.m., a gauntlet of protesters lined all three sidewalk paths leading out of the chapel. Many had their hands painted red and pointed toward the passersby as they passed, chanting the “From the river to the sea” chant. They held up a banner toward the exit, which read, “CC you have blood on your hands.” Red flags lined one side of the main sidewalk on Tava Quad. Some attendees stood alongside protesters in the gauntlet, and some others began chanting along with them. The sidewalk was also chalked with messages from Shove Chapel to Cascade.
The “CCLZ Schedule” sign outside the encampment read, “11:45 a: Demonstration, wear all black” [SIC].
As attendees arrived on Worner Quad for the post-Honors Convocation ice cream social, the protesters moved across Cascade to sit before the flag pole and continue chanting at around 12:45 p.m. “CCCC, you have blood on your hands,” they chanted. There were at least 150 protesters on Worner quad.
After a few minutes, they rose and walked the sidewalk around Worner quad, chanting toward the students, faculty, and guests eating Josh n’ John’s ice cream.
At roughly 5 p.m. Tuesday evening, the CC Liberation Zone Instagram (@cc_liberationzone) posted a story which read, “Urgent call to action: UCCS encampment in need of EYES and TENTS, we are too spread thin to provide bodies, but we hope the strength given to us from the community will be provided to them too.”
At 6:28 p.m., there were only six people at the CC encampment. Soon after, a group of CC students was seen loading a car with what looked like blankets and sleeping bags in the Tutt Library parking lot.
Monday, May 6th –
High speed winds tormented the Colorado Springs area last night with gusts ranging between 40 and 60 mph between the hours of 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. This morning, most of the tents within the Colorado College Liberation Zone were down after they were deconstructed for safety by its inhabitants.
CCLZ members discussed the safety and sustainability of the camp in the face of these winds at an assembly held at 12:30 p.m. within the encampment. Several members said they had received minimal sleep due to a combination of the weather as well as an increased need for volunteers for the camp’s night watch system.
A large branch from one of the nearby trees around 5 feet in length landed approximately 15 feet away from the nearest tent during the night. Gusts up to 40 mph are expected to continue over the next 24 hours.
As of now, the members of the camp are planning to remain. Sandbags have been deployed to the tents that have been rebuilt to provide further support against the raging climate.
The assembly during its discussion of the environmental circumstances also touched on the camp’s fluctuating membership which one CCLZ participant described as a “boom and bust” cycle. Now entering its fifth day, the camp has nearly doubled since its start. Yet, at certain times, only around 10 members can actually be seen within the site, a small amount compared to the 50 some participants of the camp at its peak hours. At the assembly, the CCLZ members discussed the creation of a schedule to help sustain consistent membership within the camp during the hours of the day when visibility of the encampment is at its highest.
Colorado College Housing Experience emailed students who have on campus housing this morning writing, “We are reaching out to encourage all residents to be mindful during the windy weather that is forecasted for the next few days. Please keep your windows closed, ensure all exterior doors close fully behind you, and be aware of your surroundings when you travel outdoors.”
Windy conditions are expected to persist throughout the night.
Sunday, May 5th –
During the night Sunday evening marshalls at the camp reported three cars circling the encampment. The vehicles roamed the road along the library and back and forth between Armstrong hall. Some people got out of their cars and “started getting stuff from their trunks” said CCLZ marshals. The on-call marshals made the decision to call campus safety who arrived and told the vehicles to leave.
Saturday, May 4th –
Sometime in the evening hours of Friday night Marshals of the CCLZ heard a loud commotion from east of the encampment site. Hearing banging and yelling, the marshalls called campus safety who responded to an individual in Olin hall on East campus. Campus safety refused to give comment on specifics of the incident. However, emails from the physics department said, “A CC student entered the classroom and vandalized it- breaking ceiling tiles, walls, tables, chairs, the AV system, and the glass in the wall cabinets. The student themselves was not seriously physically hurt. The student is being attended to by their family and the College.”
Marshals of the CCLZ told The Catalyst that the individual was not a member of the encampment.
Friday, May 3rd – 12:45
The kitchen tent within the encampment has had little difficulty keeping its members fed over the past 24 hours. “We’ve actually almost had too much food,” said a CCLZ marshal.
Alumni, faculty and community members have been making consistent stops at the tent to bring in food and resources. Last night, members of the Colorado College feminist and gender studies department provided the group with leftovers from an outing at the Heart of Jerusalem Cafe. This became dinner for many of the CCLZ members.
This morning, a member of the Colorado Springs community provided the group with a tray of breakfast hash.
In the campus protests occurring across the nation, some schools have cited calling the police due to an onset of non-student protestors participating in the encampments. The students within the CCLZ are currently not worried about the presence of the Colorado Springs supporters.
“We’re open to community members being here,” the marshal said. “We don’t want to make this an exclusive space for students, and that’s sort of been common policy at a lot of the encampments at a lot of different universities.”
The students have yet to have any contact with the administration since the start of their encampment. They have noted the statement from Dean of the College Pedro de Araujo which said the college prioritizes the safety of the students.
In seeming support of this claim, the sprinkler system on the section of the quad the encampment is currently taking place has been turned off by the grounds crew and therefore did not go off at their usual time last night.
Participating in the encampment has not resulted in a foregoing of classes by some members of the CCLZ. According to one of the camp’s marshals, several students have been attending their classes from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then promptly returning to the encampment afterwards.
Student protesters have noted varying levels of accommodation from professors who have students participating in the encampment. However, several are in support of the movement.
“I think a lot of people here are in classes with faculty that are very much behind this cause,” said one student protester.
Friday, May 3rd – 11 a.m.
According to a marshal who spoke with The Catalyst, “The night went good. We just…ran two shifts, and we pretty much just walked circles around the encampment to make sure that there’s nobody walking up on us that we don’t want walking up on us.”
Throughout the night no one came up to the encampment that they perceived as a threat. Campus Safety did pass by throughout the night and some police vehicles were seen in the South Dorm Parking lot, about 500 yards away from the CCLZ.
But according to the marshals, “There was no hostility from them.”
Friday, May 3rd – 9:19 a.m.
This morning Colorado College students bustled to their second to last Friday classes of Block 8. On their way many passed what is now about a 20 tent encampment on Tava Quad in front of Tutt library. The Colorado College Liberation Zone spent the night facing temps in the low 40s.
This morning The Colorado College Liberation Zone Instagram page posted a schedule of events for the day which includes an 8 a.m. “Yoga and morning stretch”, a 1 p.m. “100 origami crane workshop” and 6 p.m. “Shabbat.”
Thursday, May 2nd – 7:13 p.m.
In an email correspondence with The Catalyst, Dean of the College and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Pedro de Araujo wrote, “For a disruption that happens outdoors, our goal is not to escalate, our approach is delayed enforcement if necessary… we will determine after the fact which policies may have been violated and follow through accordingly.
We are taking into consideration the national climate in our response…intentional effort not to escalate things because we care deeply about the health and safety of our students.
Discrimination, harassment, and physical threats will not be tolerated, and individuals who violate these policies will be held accountable through our conduct procedures.”
President L. Song Richardson, incoming interim president Manya Whitaker and Dean of Students/Vice President for Student Life Lacy Karpilo have not responded to requests for comment.
Thursday, May 2nd – 7:03 p.m.
Student organizers spoke with The Catalyst about their goals and aspirations. “Students are here to put pressure on the administration and to see our demands met and to see a meeting scheduled to talk about the implementation of those demands.”
The member said the encampment is well aware of its position in Colorado Springs, a city which has been known for its conservative values and community members.
“Students participating in this are hoping to restructure and reshape the way that action is taken on campus and the way that social justice issues are organized. For it to be something that everyone is welcome to take part in and something that feels good too that has room for everyone and everybody’s individual gifts and contributions.”
“This is just one of many actions.”
Student organizers have chosen to remain anonymous citing fears of disciplinary retaliation from Colorado College administration.
Thursday, May 2nd – 4:48 p.m.
A man wearing a mask could be seen flipping off the encampment from the passenger side of an SUV driving north on Cascade. The SUV honked its horn briefly in passing. To The Catalyst’s knowledge no agitators have interacted with the encampment outside of these passing, vehicle interactions.
Thursday, May 2nd – 3:57 p.m.
The camp engaged in chants including “Free Free Palestine” and “Not another nickel not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes. Not another penny, not another dollar, no more money for Israel’s slaughter.” Students used a bucket as a drum.
Thursday, May 2nd – 3:15 p.m.
A truck heading north on Cascade yelled a remark to the camp. What was said couldn’t be heard. The protesters responded minimally, with few even turning their heads. This is at least the third vehicle passenger in the last hour to shout at the camp from Cascade.
Thursday, May 2nd – 2:49 p.m.
Will Kaye, a Colorado Springs resident who lives a few blocks away from the CC campus came and filmed the student camp up close. When approached by The Catalyst, Kaye expressed his displeasure with the war in Gaza and said he was in support of Palestine and its people. Kaye, who frequents the CC campus for walks, said he was filming the camp to send to his son to update him on the situation. Kaye expressed his displeasure regarding the war and the CC administration’s unwillingness to divest from Israel. Those at the encampment who are responsible for ensuring everyone’s safety within the group are being referred to as marshals. The marshals are wearing neon vests. The marshals approached Kaye to question why he had been filming. Members of the camp said that the marshals have been specially trained to interact with non-protest members and potential agitators.
Thursday, May 2nd – 2:22 p.m.
Campus Safety officers say “no comment” when prompted for a response to the ongoing demonstration. They defer any future comments to Campus Safety Director, Cathy Buckley. Cathy Buckley’s auto-email response says she is “out of office until Tuesday, May 7th.” No campus safety presence is currently present at the site.
Thursday, May 2nd – 2:19 p.m.
On campus grab and go food truck, Tiger Bites, continues normal operations several hundred feet from the encampment.
Thursday, May 2nd – 12:23 p.m.
Organizers lay out terms of engagement for the press: “If people have questions, point them towards an orange vest.” At this time only members of the encampment wearing orange vests are willing to give comments.
Thursday, May 2nd – 12:17 p.m.
At least ten tents have been set up including what one organizer described as a med tent as well as a kitchen tent.
Thursday, May 2nd – 12:04 p.m.
The group identifies themselves as the Colorado College Liberation Zone. On Instagram they launch a list of their demands from the school which include: “Colorado College divests from all companies profiting from Israeli Apartheid and Occupation, Colorado College immediately divest from all arms companies, Colorado College ends all short and long term contract with companies profiting from Israeli Apartheid and Occupation such as food, technology, etc.” The full list of their demands can be found here.
Thursday, May 2nd – 11:53 a.m.
More than a dozen protestors have set up tents in front of Colorado College’s Charles L. Tutt Library. Many of the protestors present are wearing masks. A banner reading “CC Divest from Israel Now” is displayed.