Auraria Campus officials were forced to lock down the Tivoli Student Union building on Tuesday as pro-Palestinian activists brought their protests inside — disrupting a meeting administrators were having with protest leaders.

Angie Paccione, who oversees the Colorado Department of Higher Education, was meeting with protest leaders at the time. 

“During the conversation, protesters made their demands known, threatening to disrupt commencement ceremonies if demands were unmet,” according to a news release from Auraria Campus officials on Tuesday.

The situation started Monday when pro-Palestinian protesters occupied administrative offices.

Around 3:45 p.m., protesters broke into the locked, private executive offices within the Tivoli Student Union, Auraria Campus officials said in the news release.

Officials said protesters pushed past a student employee and then occupied the area. At 5 p.m., protesters left the area after agreeing to a time for protest organizers to meet with campus officials on Tuesday in the Tivoli building, according to Auraria officials.

The student union sits next to the protesters’ encampment, which has been up for 12 days in an effort to convince campus leaders to meet protesters’ various demands.

In its statement, Auraria Campus officials said “there is no tolerance for those who break the law or willingly disrupt the safety and well-being of our community. Students violating their institution’s student code of conduct could be subject to consequences according to that code.”

Ignoring university officials, the pro-Palestinian protesters have set up roughly 50 tents in an encampment that started April 25. Demonstrators say they are prepared to “defend” the encampment until their demands — notably schools’ divestment from companies that operate in Israel — are met.

An Auraria Campus spokesperson told The Denver Gazette the campus is now taking “extra precautions” for three graduation ceremonies planned to take place off-campus.

Campus authorities insist protester tactics have “escalated beyond peaceful protests with evidence of trespassing, biohazard threats, blocking city roads and vandalism on the Auraria Campus,” officials said in its statement on Tuesday.

Just before noon, as the meeting was in session, protesters congregated and loudly chanted on the first and second floors of the Tivoli Student Union, Auraria Campus officials said.

Metropolitan State University student reporter Sara Martin, on social media platform X, showed the doors to the Tivoli Student Union were zip tied shut, with protesters banging on the doors and loud chants of “free free Palestine.”

Auraria Campus Police officers responded to the building Tuesday. Campus police zip tied the doors shut, the Denver Gazette’s news partners 9NEWS reported.

Due to the protests, Community College of Denver announced they are relocating its graduation ceremony. The move comes after transitioning to remote learning for the remainder of the semester last week.

“As of today, protesters remain in their encampment on the Auraria Campus,” CCD officials said in a statement. “They have informed campus leadership of their plans to continue protest activities, including disrupting commencement celebrations.”

The three-school campus plans to hold graduation ceremonies this weekend:

• Metropolitan State University graduation ceremony is on Friday, May 10 at the Denver Coliseum.
• University of Colorado Denver holds graduation ceremonies Saturday, May 11 at the Denver Coliseum.
• Community College of Denver holds its ceremony on Thursday at the Lowry Campus, 9101 E. Lowry Blvd.