Our Campus Rally RUSGA’s Way of Showing Strength Against Hate

Photo Source // Catie Cheshire,

By: Catie Cheshire, Editor-in-Chief

On the night of Wednesday, Sept. 25, the Regis community received an RU Alert notifying them that a flier with the image of a swastika was found in a professor’s office. This notification was disturbingly similar to one issued last November when fliers proclaiming “White Lives Matter” written above a swastika were placed under the doors of Jewish and black faculty in the Loretto Heights School of Nursing. Because of that history, when the Regis University Student Government Association (RUSGA) received the notification they knew they wanted to act quickly.

“We needed to send a strong message to our student body today that RUSGA isn’t just sitting on our hands doing nothing,” said RUSGA President Annelise Pehr. Pehr explained that RUSGA carefully considered what their action should be in light of cultural factors that this generation of Regis students face such as passivity due to feeling like it’s impossible to prevent hateful actions like these. That’s why they settled on a rally—not only to show students and faculty that they have a community to lean on, but to show people who might perpetuate hate that the community is stronger than them. 

RUSGA also coordinated emailing professors to ask them to talk about the incident in class and address it with students so that students would have formal channels to discuss the incident if they needed them. They even coordinated poster-making in the Student Center to help students put their emotions into words and strengthen the message of the rally. Though the poster-making wasn’t well attended Pehr emphasized that giving students options and organizing a unifying event quickly was RUSGA’s main goal.

“We live in a world where everyone likes to plan and there’s something really powerful about momentum and responding immediately,” Pehr said. “Rather than it being a perfect event let’s show students that we’re here for them right away.” That momentum clearly functioned as, just 24-hours later, Regis community members gathered in front of the Student Center to rally together.

Pehr opened up the rally by reading a statement from Yael Green, a Jewish Regis student who is studying abroad but wanted to respond when she saw the RU Alert. Green, who spoke at the March Against Hate RUSGA organized last year in response to the previous incident, expressed her sadness at having to make another statement, urging Regis’ administration to take stronger preventative actions. However, Green also expressed hope that coming together as a community could change the pattern of hate.

“While I am angry, frustrated, scared, and sad, I can’t lose the hope that our campus can condemn these actions,” she stated. “The Jewish people have faced countless forms of prejudice and have experienced extreme events such as the Crusades, the pogroms, the Holocaust, and more. Every time, we keep showing up and ensuring that we have a place in our world. Jews are taught to love our neighbors, to live closely with the same God our monotheistic communities share, and to repair our world bit by bit.” 

Pehr then emphasized that those repairs don’t fall only on the Jewish community. They fall on everyone at Regis because every person is affected when hateful or racist incidents like this one occur.

RUSGA Vice President Nicholas Aranda took over to continue that theme and contextualize the situation further. Aranda described last year’s events and made it clear that these incidents are born of white supremist ideology which is part of what makes them so unacceptable. According to Aranda, rather than let white supremacy go unanswered, Regis gathered today to reclaim our campus, hence the name of the event, “Our Campus”.

At the March Against Hate that Aranda harkened back to, students met on the steps of the library. That’s the traditional space where Regis students have always met to protest and to rally. For example, in fall 2016 Regis held a Black Lives Matter rally on those stairs. For this rally, RUSGA wanted to do something different.

RUSGA Vice President of Diversity Regi Worles, who took the podium next, explained that they wanted to meet at the Student Center because they knew students would be the people pushing for change and asking the tough questions in light of this incident. Worles said that goes back to the Jesuit values that guide Regis students like cura personalis and magis. According to Worles, the idea what we ought show up for each other, care for each other and continually pursue justice through difficult times are sewn into our campus and RUSGA wants to lead that charge.

This event was the start of actions in that pursuit for a more just world. RUSGA Vice President of Involvement Tricia Charfauros took the mic to continue that action by leading students in a chant of, “This is our community. This is our campus. This is Regis,” before welcoming the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Bob Engel, to share some words. 

Engel and some fellow Trustees learned about the rally today and came after their board meeting ended. Engel came because he wanted to thank student leadership for calling out causes that need to be called out. He emphasized that the Board knows that the heart of a college campus is the faculty and students and the Board stands with faculty and students against incidents like these.

“This type of act is nothing short of disgusting,” Engel said. “It’s nothing short of unacceptable...The trustees are asking the hard question of, ‘How can this happen?’ You can’t stop everything from happening but I can assure you that the administration of this university, the trustees of this university, will employ the resources we need to to make sure we can prevent this from happening.” Engel’s statement echoed sentiments of student leaders and added reassurance that the Board is informed and knows they have a role to play in creating change.

To culminate the event, students partook in a silent march around the quad, walking in solidarity with each other around the center of campus to take back the space that a hateful person tried to make unsafe.

“This move was made in cowardice,” Aranda said in his remarks. “It’s a tactic done to silence, to divide communities and claim space. Our presence here and now holds more space than they did yesterday...We take up more space in unity and in pride.” 

That statement summarizes RUSGA’s hope that this rally would serve as a useful reminder that even in the face of hatred Regis can stand strong together.

City Council Candidates Bring Answers and Awareness to Regis

Photo Source // Amy Reglin

By: Catie Cheshire, Co Editor- In -Chief

Even though many people are already thinking about the 2020 presidential election, Denver’s municipal elections are just around the corner on May 7, 2019. With that in mind the Regis Community Council, RUSGA, and Berkeley Regis United Neighborhood along with many other sponsors brought the District 1 City Council candidates to Regis on March 20.

The event served as a way for community members to learn about all the candidates and ask questions relevant to the District 1 area, which includes Regis. The candidates are Mike Somma, Amanda Sandoval, David Sabados, Prajwal Kulkarni, Scott Durrah, Sabrina D’Agosto, and Victoria Aguilar. Dominic Dezzutti, station manager at Colorado Public Television, served as the moderator. He guided candidates through one-minute opening and closing statements and asked them questions submitted by sponsors of the event and the audience.

Jenna Farley, a community member and part of Regis Community Council, kicked off the night with an introduction. Farley was one of the original organizers of the event. She discussed how city policies affect people’s daily lives and argued that City Council elections are important because they give people a chance to elect people who have a say over what happens in their neighborhoods. She introduced Father John Fitzgibbons, Regis President, who shared welcoming words and wisdom.

“They say all politics is local,” he said. “That’s true. What we do here affects everything else. What we do here is make democracy work.” After Father Fitzgibbons’ concluding remarks, Dezzutti was ready to kick off the night. He began by inviting each of the seven candidates to give an opening statement.

Most candidates spoke about their time in the district, their experiences that led them to run for office, and why they would be good advocates for people in District 1. Candidates range from Somma, a firefighter, to Durrah, a dispensary owner to Aguilar, who works at Denver Human Services.

Though the candidates are a diverse group, they all identified the same primary issue District 1 faces: housing amidst a changing neighborhood. Each candidate offered unique ideas for what should be done to make housing more affordable and preserve the character of the neighborhood. Their ideas ranged from overlay zones, to repurposing old buildings as temporary housing, to giving residents a voice in city planning.

Along with concerns about development, one question asked about transportation. Once again, all the candidates agreed that transportation is a major problem in District 1. Across the board, the issue of sidewalk maintenance arose. Currently, homeowners are responsible for the sidewalks outside their residence. Several candidates said they would like to appropriate money, or alter that policy, so that the city would fix sidewalks instead of individuals.

Another important theme throughout the night was community involvement. Each candidate said they had ideas for how to involve the community more in decision-making with D’Agosta and Aguilar emphasizing the importance of asking people how they would like to be included in decision-making and Sabados describing how technology could be used to have digital town halls that are accessible to more people. Every candidate spoke about how city council, more than any other pathway in our current government, gives people in the community a voice.

To return to Father Fitzgibbons’ theme that politics is local, having the District 1 candidate forum at Regis is just one way the university promotes political engagement and becomes a better neighbor to others in the community.

The event was streamed on FacebookLive and offered Spanish translation, ensuring more of District 1 could be included in the forum. To update your voter registration click here. For information about how to vote in the upcoming municipal elections that City Council is included in click here.

Advocacy Is For Everyone: Lessons from IFTJ

By: Catie Cheshire, Co-Editor in Chief

As part of social justice week, students who attended the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ) in Washington D.C. November 3-5 shared reflections on their experience and plans for future action in an event called “IFTJ, Action, and Healing.” Not everyone who went on the trip participated in the event, but it began with those who did (Natalie Nielsen, Anahi Ramos, Ethan Strouse, Amelia Rouyer, and Kate Penick) sharing memorable moments are lessons learned.

The conference is two days of breakout speakers and advocacy training with a focus on the Jesuit values that can influence how we discuss policy with our elected representatives. The final day of the conference is devoted to meeting with policy aides on the hill and using the advocacy skills learned at the conference. The theme of this year’s conference was Discipleship at the Crossroads.

“The community of Jesuit schools was impressive to me,” Penick said. “The common background we all come from was special throughout the weekend.” Strouse seconded her thoughts with a comedic story about the “mass Mass” that took place Sunday evening on the second day of the conference. That many people from Jesuit educational backgrounds coming together is something unique about ITFJ that Regis students felt defined the conference.

Despite the fact that every breakout session or keynote relates social justice issues back to Jesuit values, Ramos stressed the variety of topics available for conference-goers to pick from. Ramos has gone to IFTJ twice now, and said that this time around she was able to learn about different subjects than she had before. She also stressed that advocacy isn’t nearly as intimidating as she thought.

“The nerves disappear once you’re in the conversation and can share your stories and views and be heard by people who have a say,” Ramos said. For Nielsen, who has attended IFTJ three times and was the student leader of the trip this year, her growth within advocacy from year one to year three of IFTJ has encouraged her to consider a career in politics after she graduates from Regis.

Nielsen used her third year as a chance to learn from others. She expressed that, for her, a lot of the experience was listening to what others are doing and trying to figure out how to bring that back to Regis.

For that reason, the second half of the event focused on actions. The participants shared DOs and DON’Ts for advocacy, and introduced a new event that will take place at Regis in the Spring: Advocacy Day. During Anti-Oppression Week one day will involved Regis students lobbying on Capitol Hill here in Denver.

The other action was participants at the even writing letters to Casa de Paz, an organization that provides support for people whose family members are detained or are coming out of detention centers. Casa de Paz is a local organization that has helped over 1,000 families and counting. The letters were written to express solidarity for people unjustly held in detention and will be delivered to families soon.