DENVER — Auraria Campus on Thursday said a group of donors would give $15,000 to the international committee of the Red Cross if an encampment of pro-Palestine protesters came down by 5 p.m. Thursday. The protesters, who are calling on the campus's universities to divest out of interests in Israel, refused the offer.
In a letter to Students for a Democratic Society and the campus community Thursday, campus leaders said "A group of donors has come forward with a nonpartisan humanitarian solution to restore order to the Quad by removing the encampment. The donors will give $15,000 in the SDS's name to the international committee of the Red Cross, a nonpartisan humanitarian resource with locations in both Gaza and Tel Aviv."
"The donor and Auraria leadership only agree to the above offer if the encampment comes down by 5 pm today and future protests comply with all Auraria Campus Policies," the leaders said in the letter.
At 5 p.m. Thursday, the encampment was still up on the quad.
"We wholeheartedly reject any offers to try to buy us out or any nonsense like that," said Geral Mueller, President of CU Denver Students for a Democratic Society.
"As student organizers, we're not going to go turn to the campus and say 'hey, actually, I know these demands are able to mobilize hundreds of students. Actually, we just took a cop-out deal that doesn't really address the root cause and the root issue that a lot of our students want,'" Mueller said.
Thursday was the eighth day of protests at the campus, which is home to Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and University of Colorado Denver.
An Auraria Campus spokesperson said on Tuesday that campus leaders met with leaders of Students for a Democratic Society "to listen to the group’s perspectives and try to achieve an amicable path forward."
The leaders said in the letter Thursday that they have "agreed to continue to have set meetings with SDS leadership."
The demonstration started April 25 with about 100 protesters on the Tivoli Quad. Some of them put up tents, which the Auraria Higher Education Center said violates campus policy. Campus administrators spoke with the demonstrators multiple times, and demonstrators didn't take down the tents. That was when "law enforcement stepped in," the statement said, resulting in the arrests of about 40 people on Friday. Since then, no arrests have been made in connection with the protests.
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