Signs barring four Daily Camera journalists from entering the building housing the University of Colorado chancellor’s office were created by the campus police department and posted by private security guards monitoring student protesters, a university official said Tuesday.

The sheets of paper bore the Twitter profile photos of Camera reporter Elizabeth Hernandez and photographers Paul Aiken, Cliff Grassmick and Jeremy Papasso, with the directive: “Not allowed in building.”

But Melissa Zak, CU’s assistant vice chancellor of safety, said the signs were never intended to be posted by the Argus Event Staffing security guards, and that “this is a mistake that we truly regret.”

“The police department printed off the pictures of the Camera reporter and the three photographers to remind the Argus security staff that no members of the public were allowed inside overnight,” Zak said.

CU hired the private security firm to monitor the chancellor’s office, at 914 Broadway, overnight after students began a sit-in inside that building last week — part of an effort by the group Fossil Free CU to persuade the university to divest from fossil fuels.

CU officials consider that building to be private and not open to the public.

“It was important for us to determine who was coming in and out of our building at night, and to make sure our students (inside) are safe,” Zak said of the decision to hire private security.

But the Camera had not requested, nor planned, to enter the building overnight in its efforts to cover the ongoing protest.

The Camera’s photo editor on Monday night had sought permission from CU to photograph the student protesters inside the chancellor’s office during the day on Tuesday. That request was denied.

On Tuesday morning, students from Fossil Free CU posted a photo of one of the signs barring the Camera journalists on the group’s Facebook page.

Shortly thereafter, Boulder campus spokesman Ryan Huff apologized to the Camera for the signs, saying, “Clearly, that was not appropriate.”

He also agreed to allow the Camera inside the chancellor’s office to photograph the student protesters.

“The university values our relationships with the press and always strives to get them the access they need to cover campus issues,” Huff said.

Lior Gross, one of the students leading the sit-in, said the posters with the journalists’ photos, which were placed outside the building and at the front desk, were taken down, but he added that students heard the administration repeating that the journalists were not allowed in.

“Seeing the sign this morning was not surprising, but seeing it was very scary, especially because the administration was targeting the staff of the Daily Camera,” Gross said.









I'm banned from entering a (private) building on #CUBoulder campus to cover a student sit-in with a snazzy “wanted” poster. #NewsMatters pic.twitter.com/nDFHqKxMAH — Elizabeth Hernandez (@ehernandez) May 2, 2017

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Although CU is a public campus, not every building is a public sphere for news gathering or other First Amendment-protected actions, said Steve Zansberg, board president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

A space becomes a public forum when it has traditionally or historically been open to First Amendment activities, he said. In this instance, the chancellor’s office doesn’t have a long tradition of First Amendment actions, Zansberg said. Even if it did, spaces can still have reasonable restrictions, such as time, placed on them.

“The fact that people may be allowed into certain government buildings for certain purposes doesn’t mean they’re allowed to do other things,” Zansberg said. “You can attend a trial in a federal courtroom but you can’t bring a camera.”

Zak, too, apologized for singling out the Camera journalists. She said CU officials had agreed to allow six student protesters to remain inside the building, and that the security staff was supposed to keep anyone else out.

“In no way was the hanging of those poster intended to put a chilling effect on the Daily Camera,” she said. “…When you’re working with an outside security company, sometimes you have to keep the rules as simple as possible for them to easily understand.”

The Denver Post contributed to this report.

Matt Sebastian: 303-473-1350, sebastianm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mattsebastian