A Gazette headline on Wednesday was welcome if inevitable: “Last pro-Palestinian encampment in Colorado dismantled at DU.”

In recent months, protesters had stormed Colorado’s higher-ed campuses, shouted slogans, marched and chanted with indignation and waved placards.

Some also set up illegal camps on campuses and dug in their heels, issuing demands to school authorities. Demands that colleges and universities divest funds, renounce ties, denounce “genocide” and so forth.

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It was purportedly in the name of statehood for Palestine, about which many if not most of the participants seemed to know little beyond the talking points they’d learned by rote. No matter. Smitten with their quest, the youthful rebels vowed to stand their ground for as long as it took to achieve international justice — whatever that might look like.

What they seemed really sure of is they wanted to erase the Jewish state of Israel, “from the river to the sea” — even if plenty of them were unsure precisely which river, or which sea, and would be unlikely to locate them on a map without the help of Google.

But that was before summer break.

Now, there are vacations to take and beaches to sun on, summer internships to start and above all, no classes to ditch. What’s more, indulgent moms and dads who had been patiently paying room and board while their kids skipped out on their studies — in service of a nobler cause, to be sure — weren’t about to continue subsidizing the high jinks all summer.

It was fun while it lasted; the keg has run dry; time to go home.

So, no harm done? Not exactly.

For one thing, the students involved in these melodramas didn’t just squander some of their own learning time on campus campouts; they interfered in plenty of cases, and in various ways, with the learning experience of others. Blocking an entrance or obstructing instruction violates the rights of students who seek real value for their education dollars.

And campus administrators who caved to the rabble and indulged them were doing a profound disservice to other students. Tuition continues to climb for Colorado higher ed, and talk among policymakers as well as many parents has turned again to exploring alternatives to a conventional college education.

There couldn’t be a worse time to convey to next year’s incoming freshmen they are welcome to pay top dollar for their education — but will have to wade through an angry mob to get to class.

There also was a more ominous repercussion from the campus protests — something most Coloradans probably had thought impossible: the resurgence of antisemitism. What until recently were viewed, rightly, as unconscionable slurs against Jews reemerged as politically anointed rhetoric among pro-Palestinian protesters.

Our fear is it has caused lasting damage — in ways that distinguish this latest iteration of campus protests from all those that came before it. It is one thing for misguided students or faculty to take up the time-honored tradition of spouting homage to discredited dogmas and other lost causes.

But it is another matter entirely to demonize living human beings — including fellow students — because they are associated with a nation the protesters dislike.

It not only sent the worst possible message to impressionable minds on campus; it also sent shockwaves throughout Colorado’s Jewish community. More disturbing still, it made many Jewish students feel unsafe. Which is despicable.

It’s another reason to cheer the end of the protest season. Let’s hope the protesters return to campus next fall a bit older and wiser.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board