Students continue to protest for CU system-wide divestment from Israel

As the latest war between Israel and Hamas enters its eighth month, pro-Palestine student groups across the University of Colorado system have continued to engage in demonstrations to protest the CU system’s ties to corporations operating in Israel.

On Memorial Day, organizers from CU Boulder’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the Denver-Boulder chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and the Colorado Palestine Coalition staged a demonstration at the Bolder Boulder, an annual 10K race that concluded at CU Boulder’s Folsom Field. 

The organizers dropped banners along the race route and spread flyers among attendees with the hope of spreading awareness for the Palestinian cause and to advocate for ties between the CU system and Israel to be severed.

“Our purpose in demonstrating at [the Bolder Boulder] was mainly to make sure that this Memorial Day we remember the lives lost in Palestine at the hands of the Israeli military and the U.S. military by extension,” said Annabelle Brown, an organizer with CU Boulder’s SJP. 

The banners dropped, with messages such as “Gaza’s running out of time” and “Be bolder, say no to genocide,” were met with a “mixed response,” according to Brown. 

“There were some people who were looking at our banners and cheering, agreeing,” Brown said. “I think that there was a fair amount of shock, not really knowing how to feel.” 

Other banners pressured the university system to “divest” from Israel. This, Brown said, is a blanket term that refers to both direct investments and other connections with Israel and the war. 

Jeff Howard, a spokesperson for the CU system could not definitively confirm or deny if the CU system holds any direct investments with Israel.

“With several different funds that are managed by external brokers, the CU portfolios are constantly changing, so there may be investments tied to individual companies that could be based across the globe at any given time,” Howard wrote in a statement. 

Brown also stated that CU Boulder’s SJP hopes for more action than divestment from the university’s portfolios. 

“When we talk about divestment at [CU] Boulder SJP, we’re not only talking about divesting investments, we’re also talking about refusing grants from weapons manufacturers, because the military-industrial complex doesn’t belong on our campus,” Brown said. 

The demonstrators hope to pressure the CU system to break ties that connect the university to Israel through corporations such as Lockheed Martin and RTX, two aerospace defense corporations that manufacture technology used by Israel. 

Currently, CU Boulder has 15 active awards with Lockheed Martin and two with Raytheon, according to Nicole Mueksch, a spokesperson for the university. These awards refer to partnerships that support academic, fiscal and professional development. 

On June 1, the Denver chapter of Students for a Democratic Society hosted another demonstration. The chapter incorporates students from the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and CU Denver. 

Students marched outside of CU Regent Callie Rennison’s home in Superior. The march echoed many of the demands proposed at the Bolder Boulder demonstration, such as system-wide divestment. 

“SDS has a divestment campaign currently targeting Israel and its genocide, most critical being divestment from corporations that operate in Israel,” said Khalid Hamu, the media liaison for SDS. 

According to Hamu, the demonstrators chose to march outside of Rennison’s home because she is the chair of the board of regents, a position to which she was elected in 2023.

At the original starting point for the march, the pro-Palestine protesters were met with pushback from pro-Israel protesters. As a result, the pro-Palestine protesters met elsewhere to begin their march to Rennison’s house. 

According to Hamu, the counterprotesters attempted to shove pro-Palestine protesters. Hamu said counterprotesters also attempted to disrupt the march with loud music and other tactics, such as running through pro-Palestine protesters holding banners. 

“[It was] just a general attempt to mess with and physically razzle our protesters,” he said.  

As for the future, Hamu said that SDS will continue to protest, despite the challenges they face. 

“We [SDS] are a very serious political organization of students who are fighting to see change, and we’re fighting for justice,” said Hamu. “We’re going to try to organize our best to see this change and understand that whatever the admin put at us or whatever response that we get, we understand that that’s nothing compared to what the Palestinian people are facing right now and have been facing for over 75 years.” 

According to a May 16 statement from the Board of Regents, “No CU Regent is offering any policy changes in response to the demands.” 

“[The Regents] don’t understand this is a popular want from the students and faculty of their schools,” said Paul Nelson, a protester at the June 1 protest and student at MSU Denver. “It’s their job to listen to students and if they’re not willing to do that, we’re willing to hold them to ask for that.”