At Colorado State University, student activism has long been a powerful force for change. From antiwar protests in the 1960s to calls for racial equity in the 2020s, CSU students have continuously used their voices to challenge policies and push for campus and community change.
Today, that spirit is alive and well, and one of the students at the forefront is Ella Smith.
A senior majoring in women’s and gender studies with minors in American sign language and ethnic studies, Smith has become a leading figure in the latest generation of campus activism. Their work focuses on protecting and expanding CSU’s diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, particularly as those programs have been threatened by federal and state guidelines.
Smith has been an advocate for change since they were very young, all the while remaining cognizant of their privileged upbringing.
“I’ve been organizing since I was 12 or 13,” Smith said. “I care about other people because they are other people and because they’re dying or they’re being hurt, or this thing is affecting them, and I, as a white person, as you know, someone who comes from a middle class family, as someone who has a lot of privileges, I’m able to affect change in a lot of different ways, and so I can use that privilege to uplift and highlight different people’s voices.”
Smith’s activism doesn’t stop at DEIA issues. They are also involved with the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at CSU, through participating in peaceful protests, advocating for a ceasefire of the Israel-Hamas war and urging the university to take a stance on the conflict and financially divest from Israeli industries. According to Smith, their activism is intersectional, connecting global struggles with local campus movements.
On Nov. 10, 2023, students held a protest on the Lory Student Center Plaza, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the violence. Led by Smith and other student activists, dozens gathered with signs and chants to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians. A small group of Jewish students staged a counterprotest, waving Israeli flags nearby, but the demonstration remained peaceful while students voiced opposition to the ongoing conflict.
Similar demonstrations continued through May 2024, resulting in the delivery of a formal letter of demands to CSU President Amy Parsons and the placement of symbolic body bags on the steps of the Administration Building.
Ella Smith organized another movement that was carried out by CSU’s SJP chapter Oct. 6, 2024. During this large-scale protest, students walked a 9-mile route across Fort Collins, along which were chalked outlines of Palestinian children killed in Gaza and their names.
On Feb. 19, 2025, approximately 300 people gathered on the Lory Student Center Plaza and then marched to the Administration Building, with students chanting, “No DEI is unjust; education for all of us.” The protest, organized in part by the CSU Student Coalition for DEIA, aimed to hold university administration accountable for promises that CSU would continue to support marginalized communities on campus despite changing federal policies. Smith and others emphasized that even if federal pressure forces policy changes, the student community would remain united.
Smith said they believe student activism is vital to foster change and a healthy campus environment, touching on past movements that have affected American policy outcomes.
“I believe that it’s incredibly important and that student activism is one of the ways that students can not only have a voice but can really enact change here within our university and within our further society,” Smith said. “We’ve seen student activism be something really, really important and effective in many, many cases, one instance being around the Vietnam War movement, with anti-Vietnam War protests really being sparked and continued by students, and we’ve seen it more recently with a lot of university students organizing around Palestine and, specifically, the areas of Gaza that are being affected by their horrendous genocide being perpetuated by Israel right now.”
Today, as political pressures reshape conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion on campuses across the country, students continue to remain active and involved. Smith said their activism is not about creating division but about protecting a sense of belonging for all students.
“Students using their First Amendment right has been and always will be an important part of our country’s democracy and of our university community,” the university said in a statement to The Collegian. “Universities are places for the exchange of ideas, discourse and debate. Land-grant universities like CSU were founded to democratize higher education — to ensure that anyone who had the talent and desire for a higher education could achieve it — it’s foundational to who we are at CSU to learn from different views, experiences and knowledge of other people, including those with whom we disagree.”
Reach Riley Paling at news@collegian.com or on social media @rileypaling.
