CU Shuts Down October 7 Student Plans

Photos courtesy of Ašiihkionkonci Parker, 2025

El Diario de la Gente

On Oct. 7, multiple student groups were kicked out of buildings for their relation to Palestine, including Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the CU Marxist Student Collective (MSC), which were both promptly shut down by CU Boulder admin and police officers following a wave of repression in which SJP has not been able to hold a single event on campus.

The first of the two, a study-in posted about by SJP, was scheduled for 11:00 am in the Engineering Center, but as students arrived to begin studying with papers taped to computers and kuffiyehs around necks, the admin told the students to leave the building and to stop studying immediately. According to the admin, the study-in session was shut down because it was considered an “event” by CU Boulder admin, because a post was created about it on the Boulder SJP Instagram account. The admin proceeded to threaten students with the CU Police Department (CUPD) if they did not leave the Engineering Center and stop studying together. According to an anonymous SJP member, they tried to ask the difference between an event and students studying together, but the admin refused to give an answer.

Later that same day, an MSC event discussing the Oct. 7, 2023, Al-Aqsa Flood was shut down by CU Boulder admin who said the booked room did not align with the event posted on Instagram because the room booking mentioned a “discussion.” Despite not being related to SJP, as well as being a Registered Student Organization on the CU Boulder campus, the MSC event was threatened by admin because of the group’s alleged relation to SJP. Three CUPD officers showed up to help escort the two students who were beginning to set up the event out of Cristol Chemistry. This is the location the event had been moved to after the original meeting location, the 5th floor of the UMC, was shut down for the day in response to the planned MSC event.

Both of these follow a wave of repression by CU Boulder admin in which SJP has not been able to host events on the CU campus without admin and CUPD shutting the events down, although the shutdown of a separate org is unprecedented.