CU Bans Student Protestors and Journalists from Campus

Photos via Ašiihkionkonci Parker, 2025; CU Boulder

El Diario de la Gente

Updated 11/24/25 at 1:45 pm

Following the Oct. 16 career fair disruption , in which students from Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) successfully kicked Lockheed Martin out, 10 of them were banned from the CU Boulder campus, alongside three of our reporters. These students, who received their Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution (SCCR) charges the following day on Oct. 17, were blocked from setting foot on campus for two weeks and were finally unbanned on Nov. 7 and 10. CU Boulder did not comment on the situation.

The students, who wish to remain anonymous, say they were unjustly banned from the campus and given overly dramatic charges for what actually occurred. During the course of their SCCR hearings, students were told by their case managers in the student conduct office that all protest activity was considered canvassing, per Campus Use of University Facilities (CUUF) policy, while the journalists, who were taking photos and videos of the group, stated that during their hearings, the SCCR officers could not pinpoint an exact reason as to why they had been banned from campus. When pushed to give a reason as to why the journalists were banned from campus, SCCR officers could only answer that their decision was based on the reports they received and the students’ potential for disrupting the academic programming.

Many of the students banned from campus were also evicted from their dorms on campus with no prior warning, and were given only a 30 minute period to pack their personal belongings and leave the campus, or police force would be utilized. Many of these students, who were effectively made homeless by CU Boulder, were unsure of their future and their means of survival, as they come from out of state, are freshmen with minimal community connections, and were relying on CU for housing, especially as the weather got colder, with no promise of an end to campus exclusion.

As well as housing, these students lost their access to food, as being excluded from campus means they cannot use their meal swipes to eat on campus or access support from the Basic Needs Center, which is the on campus food bank. One of the students evicted from campus, after over a week of asking, was given a singular 45 minute time block to get food on campus, then promptly get off. Many other students who were banned from the CU campus have on campus jobs with work study agreements, and scrambled to feed themselves, buy necessities, and find funds to pay for rent, as the campus wide ban also excluded them from working for the already low wages paid by the University.

One of the SJP students banned from campus noted the parallels between CU Boulder’s withholding of resources and Israel’s, stating that, “CU Boulder’s repressive actions paired with its role in sustaining the genocide in Gaza and the zionist occupation’s forced starvation of Palestinians is a point that doesn’t escape our minds. It only helps strengthen the facts: CU does not care about human life, no matter how far or how close those people are. It is willing to starve Palestinians in Gaza and its own students paying thousands of dollars to attend this school.”

Another student who was banned, who is a journalist, has an ongoing case with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) against CU Boulder. Following the journalist’s complete ban from the CU Boulder campus, they reached out to FIRE who swiftly sent a letter on Oct. 21 to CU president Todd Saliman stating “UC Boulder has characterized [the student’s] newsgathering efforts as violations of university policy, setting a dangerous precedent that harms the public’s right to know and defies UC Boulder’s obligations to protect students’ expressive and press rights under the First Amendment.” The letter continues, urging CU Boulder to end the suspension of the student journalist while noting landmark Supreme Court cases like Healy v. James and Branzburg v. Hayes. This letter received a response from the University two days later, on Oct. 23, written by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Ann Stevens, stating that “…the University of Colorado Boulder will not speak specifically to this incident at this time to maintain the integrity of the process.” FIRE then responded again on Nov. 3, continuing its demand to end interim measures as well as pushing against the University Memorial Center (UMC) Film/Photo Policy, which prohibits anyone in the UMC from taking photos or videos without express permission from the University, including the press and news media. Stevens responded to FIRE’s letter on Nov. 11, reiterating that the University couldn’t comment while the SCCR process was ongoing. Stevens also stated in her response letter that “…questions regarding the UMC photo and film policy are appreciated,” and that furthermore, “CU Boulder regularly reviews its policies across campus….”

On Nov. 7, 12 out of the 13 student protestors and journalists were informed that they were allowed back on the CU campus without being considered a threat to safety, with the last being informed on Nov. 10. Even though they were let back on campus, the SCCR cases are still ongoing and are stuck in “bureaucratic hell,” as described by one of the student journalists. These students, who have been targeted by the CU Boulder admin for standing against genocide and exercising their right to a free press, are still left wondering if the university will decide to kick them off campus again, as these cases are unresolved. One of the student protestors who lost access to her on campus job stated, “…just because we are allowed on campus doesn’t mean this is permanent or an end to the [SCCR] process….The university can decide if they want us on or off campus at any time, and we can’t do anything about it. This is an alarming example of free speech and activist repression on the CU campus, especially given [the University’s] history of radical movement suppression.”

When El Diario interviewed one of the student protestors about the CUUF policy, he stated, “This is just like other vague designations authoritarian regimes employ when pursuing their enemies, and it’s terrifying CU is exhibiting this behavior, being a public university.” The CUUF policy, which was instated Aug. 8, 2017, by former Chancellor Philip DiStefano, was adopted to prevent disruptions to campus life and students on campus, but some students feel it is too overbearing. One of the overarching reasons for student banishment from campus was that their chanting was considered to be “canvassing” by the SCCR office, which is prohibited by CUUF policy, which states that students “…must request in advance and receive approval for an event,” if they want to canvass indoors. The CUUF policy also describes canvassing as anything “communicating a non-commercial message…” When one student asked CU Events Planning & Catering, they were told individuals could not actually get preapproved to canvas inside buildings, and that no one had ever been punished before for not getting approval to canvas.

This follows an increasing wave of resistance to activism on the CU Boulder campus, in which all activities held by student organizing groups have either been shut down entirely or heavily monitored by police and administrators. Some students believe this is related to oncoming pressure from the settler Trump administration, in which many universities have been threatened with decreased funding and increased federal attention if they allow Palestinian related student activism on campus to grow, while multiple programs and diversity related on campus institutions are gutted and/or dissolved by CU and the settler entity; this includes the loss of funding for the CU Center for Asian Studies, UMAS’s Aquetza Summer Youth Program, and the dissolution of CU International and National Voluntary Service Training (INVST) program, among others.

Following the students’ unbanning from campus, the legal advocacy group Palestine Legal has sent a letter to the University and Kerry C. Tipper, the Vice President for University Counsel on Nov. 19. This letter calls the University to drop the conduct charges against the students and journalists, “Apologize to students and take action to remedy the harm done by their unjustified interim suspensions and exclusions,” end repression of all SJP related events and allow them to hold events on campus, “Reverse the vague and overbroad new UMC policies,” and clarify what canvassing means. This letter, written by Zoha Khalili, the Senior Managing Attorney at Palestine Legal, describes the events that took place and why the disruption is protected by the First Amendment, as well as stating that the punishment was unjustified and a case of discriminatory enforcement of campus policies. This letter also directs students to an email campaign created on Nov. 11 by Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) calling on CU Boulder to drop the charges. The anti-zionist Jewish advocacy group says, “This is the latest installment of CU’s systematic discrimination against students protesting genocide, in line with campus repression happening across the country.”

Although CU Boulder did not comment when we asked about the disruptions and student repression, the University’s spokesperson, Nicole Mueksch, did respond to the Boulder Daily Camera, stating that, “While CU Boulder supports our campus community’s right to peacefully protest –– as protected by the First Amendment and university policy –– demonstrations must not violate campus policy, regent policy, or applicable law….” The Daily Camera article also reveals that the university received the letter from Palestine Legal and would be reviewing it soon. When asked about journalist repression and the FIRE case, Mueksch declined to comment due to federal student privacy laws.