A Colorado panel advising a federal civil rights commission will investigate alleged antisemitism at three colleges and universities in Colorado that share the Auraria Campus in Denver in light of nationwide protests that spread across American campuses following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. 

The Colorado Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted to investigate whether antisemitism permeated the protests on the Auraria campus, in light of what the panel described as the rise of antisemitic incidents across universities in America in the last several years. 

In particular, the committee noted the pro-Palestinian protests that swept the country last summer following the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, which broke out after the militant group tagged as a terrorist organization by the U.S. crossed into Southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped roughly 250. Retaliatory strikes by Israeli forces have killed thousands of Palestinians. 

“Many student groups have mobilized in solidarity with Palestinian civilians, calling for ceasefires, divestment, and policy reform,” the body said in its project proposal. “At the same time, some Jewish students, faculty, and others have reported being harassed, being or feeling unsafe, or being targeted by rhetoric or actions that they perceive as crossing the line from criticism of Israeli government policy into antisemitism.”

The panel said while the First Amendment is sacrosanct, some campuses have adopted speech policies and noted concerns they’re not being applied evenly. 

“Concerns have been raised that on some campuses, administrators are indifferent to antisemitic hate speech that would result in harsh sanctions if similar speech were directed at groups more favored by administrators,” the advisory body said.

The body framed the inquiry using three broad questions:

• What are university and college campus policies around antisemitic discrimination?

• How did university and college administrators address recent incidents of antisemitism?

• How are antisemitic incidents documented and reported?

The body said it will also gather evidence via testimony from community members, students and staffers, as well as from experts. Students and members of the public will be able to submit public comment at briefings, in written form or in a survey.

Dates and times for public comment are yet to be determined, but the committee will advertise them when dates are selected.

Specifically, the inquiry will look at what occurred at the Tivoli quad on the Auraria campus, which was the site of a weeks-long encampment by activists protesting against Israel. The body also wants to investigate claims that some faculty and staff “explicitly endorsed the encampment and its slogans.”

In April, the police dismantled dozens of tents and arrested more than 40 protesters — many of them college students — on the campus. 

Protesters chanted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” 

The river is the Jordan and the sea is the Mediterranean, between which lie Israel and the Palestinian territories. Palestinian activists say it’s a call for peace and equality after 75 years of Israeli statehood and decades-long Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians.

Jews hear a clear demand for Israel’s annihilation.

Student protesters also made several demands of university officials, including that they divest from corporations that operate in Israel.

The Auraria campus is shared by the Community College of Denver, MSU and the University of Colorado Denver, which has a combined enrollment of about 34,000 students.

Damages for the pro-Palestinian protests has cost the institution about $668,934, university officials reported.

In addition to destroying the sod, vandalism, trash in the quad and a hazmat team cleaning a spill from an illegal toilet, those expenses included costs for marketing and IT services.

The advisory panel also noted allegations of antisemitic vandalism on campus, including the defacement of the Golda Meir House Museum & Education Center. 

Vandals wrote, referring to Golda Meir — one of the signatories of Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948 and Israel’s fourth prime minister — “Get this racist Zionist off our campus” and “Tear this down.”

At the advisory body’s public comment session on Thursday, several students insisted that claims about antisemitism at the encampment were untrue.

Amy, who did not give her last name but identified herself as an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, said she faced a lot of antisemitism growing up, so she “knows all too well” what it’s like. 

“None of this was present at the Palestine solidarity encampment at Auraria,” she said. “On the contrary, Judaism was not only accepted but respected, honored and celebrated. They all understood that Judaism is not Zionism.”

Alex Bornstein, a Metro State University and University of Colorado Denver alumni and representative with Jewish Voice for Peace, also said the Palestine solidarity encampment was a safe space for Jewish people.

“What I experienced at the encampment was beauty, was one of the most friendly spaces I have ever been in,” he said. “Not once did my safety as a Jewish person feel threatened by the encampment. The only time my safety felt threatened was when the university called the police to disband the encampment.”

Several weeks ago, a Denver civil rights law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of Auraria Campus students and faculty members, alleging their constitutional rights were violated when they were arrested by campus police during a protest on April 26, 2024.

The lawsuit named Auraria Campus Police Chief Jason Mollendor and six other officers, and was filed by Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC on behalf of Alex Boodrookas, Kyle Montanio, Sarah Napier, Alexandria Nickens, Elowyn Fahnestock, Spencer Pajk, Joie Ha and Harriet Falconette.

In May, a Jewish Metropolitan State University of Denver student filed a notice with the Auraria Higher Education Center, alleging she and others faced harassment and defamation on campus in the days after the Hamas attack on Israel.

Dan Ernst, a civil and constitution rights attorney in Denver representing the student, said the pro-Palestinian protests — which erupted on the campus and elsewhere in the country after the Hamas attack — left Jewish students fearful and unprotected.

As many as 50 students on the Auraria Campus stopped attending classes, Ernst said.

“(The student) thinks, and I agree, it’s an awful situation to have students here in America being pushed off of campus in this manner,” Ernst earlier told The Denver Gazette in an exclusive interview.

The way Ernst saw it, campus officials are culpable in not preventing the emotional distress of the Jewish students. The student is seeking punitive damages estimated at $150,000, according to the notice.

Briefings before the committee will happen between July and October of this year, and a report will be released in July 2026.

Reporter Nico Brambila contributed to this article.