RUSGA Presidential Candidate Profile: Awah Tilong

By: Thomas Jones

Though Awah Tilong’s hobbies may lie in the realms of hair, fashion, makeup and movies her job, as she’d see it, is implementing the change that Regis needs. When met with the daunting question of “Why did you decide to run for Student Body President?” Tilong didn’t need any time to collect herself or formulate an answer, she immediately responded, “Regis lacks the fundamental basics of what college is supposed to look like. College is known as formative, fundamental years where you gain the structure necessary for adulthood. Regis lacks the opportunity for a real college experience. Everything is so serious all the time, we need to address important issues and also enjoy one another at the same time.”

With this being Tilong’s platform for her campaign and her overarching goal if elected as RUSGA President, she continued on to speak on specific actions she would also take as President of RUSGA. One of the main aspects of Regis which Tilong seeks to change is the quality and kind of events which we are having on campus. Tilong states, “We have so many events on how we’re different! Like damn, how many events on how we’re different do you need? I know that we’re different!” In reference to how Tilong would shift these events she responded, “I want more events that are fun and that students will actually want to come to and want to attend that still strike at these important issues in a more effective, inclusive and just overall more enjoyable way.”

Tilong sees one of the main ways of doing this being to, “Have more events where they [Regis] invite the outside community, other colleges do a lot of that and Regis doesn’t. I want to incorporate the broader community in more of our events which therefore encourages Regis to make better quality and larger events.” While Tilong certainly has many good ideas for Regis, she also has the credentials to back up her touted experience in effecting the kind of change she wishes to.

While interviewing Tilong in Walker’s Pub I quickly realized that her run for RUSGA President has been a long time in the making, spanning as far back as her first semester of freshman year here at Regis when she was thinking of leaving, but instead decided to stay to change those things which she disagreed with. This is something Tilong has consistently done while here at Regis, refusing to accept how things are and instead changing them for the better.

This attitude is reflected in her work as an RA, as she states, “I love being an RA, I feel that at Regis there is a lot of stigma’s around RA’s and as one I can work to reduce that stigma and change those ideas about RA’s,” as well as her reaction to policies she finds unfair such as the former rule within the University that stated that one can’t be involved in both Resident Life and RUSGA. This was a rule which Tilong was instrumental in helping get overturned due to the leadership qualities she sees cultivated as an RA that are also easily cross-applied to working in RUSGA.

Tilong’s accomplishments don’t stop at the Resident Life and RUSGA offices though, as she is also involved in several other clubs and offices here on campus. One of Tilong’s largest leadership positions here on campus is that of BSA President. One of the accomplishments she’s most proud of as the leader of BSA for the past two years is, “Getting students together that are different and diverse, the majority of BSA is actually not black and I’m really proud of that.” Some of the more specific events and actions Tilong has taken as President of BSA include, but are not limited to: getting a space in Clarke Hall that BSA can call their own and use to meet in every week, helping create and host on campus events such as the Colin Kaepernick conversation, the BLM rally, the Black Out at the Regis basketball game as well as the conversations with faculty and students that followed the basketball game which all took place this past year.

When asked where Tilong gets her talents for being able to bring people together and host events she references her past work in both the Diversity and Violence Prevention offices which she states, “[These offices] showed me what needs to change. They showed me what resources are helpful in creating change and not just good looking. It also helped me to gain the confidence necessary to make change and to stand up for what I believe in.”

Regis University Master Plan update open house

Take a look at all the old buildings now before they are all remodeled! Carroll Hall, 2016 //Frances Meng-Frecker

By: Thomas Jones, Staff Reporter

In September Regis University, in conjunction with MIG Inc, held an open house where they unveiled their ambitious expansion plans for Regis University and talked about what the next 20 years for Regis may look like.

The open house started with short introductions by some MIG staff who helped create the plans for Regis’s future which were on posters around the room. MIG Inc is an architectural and community planning design company that is focused on sustainability and human development. They have been entrusted with assisting Regis in developing design plans for future expansions. The MIG staff presented a PowerPoint, which laid out some of the changes which Regis may be seeing in three separate phases over the course of the next 20 yea

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The first stage of Regis’s expansion plan is going to take place over the next 0-5 years and is going to include an addition to DeSmet as well as an addition to the Science Center. The second phase of Regis’s plan should take place in the next 5-10 years and will include projects such as a new Admissions Facility, a new Health and Fitness Center and a new below and above ground parking garage. The third phase will take place over the next 10-20 years and will include projects such as Loyola being torn down and a new parking garage being erected in its place, the current student center becoming a fine art building with a new student center being built more towards the center of campus, behind where the field house currently sits.

Some other projects that will also be occurring over the next 20 years: making campus more permeable by removing fences and adding more inviting entrances to campus, remodeling the library to create a grand entrance facing towards Regis Boulevard, new sports fields along the North side of campus in Adams county (Regis doesn’t own this land but will look into purchasing it), expanding the campus all the way to Federal, adding both a grand entryway along Federal as well as more campus buildings, and lastly, adding a large multipurpose event center along Federal on the Northern side of campus.

MIG Inc worked with the Regis Board of Trustees to create this expansion plan and at this point in time the plan is about 95% complete, meaning that the plans laid out here may change slightly over time, but are relatively established. Some grounding principles, which MIG took with them throughout the planning process was first to value quality over quantity. This means they want to move Regis into the 21st century with quality facilities such as housing and classrooms. A second principle MIG took into consideration throughout their planning was to keep the same feel Regis currently has as a campus and to incorporate characteristics found currently on campus that people like into the new design. Some of these characteristics include the plant life on campus, like the certified arboretum as well as the open spaces on campus such as Boettcher commons. These are two aspects of Regis, which MIG and the board of Trustees would want to build upon moving forward. So as current Regis students, snap a photo now and again and preserve the memory of the campus you know now because when you come back to visit as a trusty alum, it will look a whole lot different.

For a brief overview of the work on the student center, check out this video!

Regis University Debate Team Works With Students at Ricardo Flores Magon Academy

Regis University Debate team, 2017 //Regis University

By: Thomas Jones, Staff Reporter

One of the many great aspects of Regis University is its commitment to helping others and strengthening one’s community through the act of service. The Regis University British Parliamentary style Debate Team has shown their commitment to service once again as they continue to engage in community service projects. Last year the Regis Debate Team did volunteer work at Beach Court Elementary School, reading with students to help improve the school’s literacy rating so funding didn’t decrease for the school. This year the Regis team is continuing their commitment to education by starting up a debate program at Ricardo Flores Magon Academy for elementary and middle school students. 

Ricardo Flores Magon Academy (RFMA) is a charter school between 53rdAvenue and 54thAvenue on Lowell Boulevard, just down the street from Regis. RFMA teaches students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. The Debate program started by Regis accepts both elementary school and middle school aged children. Communications Professor and Regis Debate team coach, Jon Denzler, put the curriculum together for the debate program at RFMA and is also the instructor of the program at RFMA, which meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM. For the first few weeks of the program the students practiced their public speaking and basic argumentation skills through several activities, such as short impromptu speeches on simple topics like Coke vs. Pepsi, public readings and group work to come up with arguments on a topic. 

In the coming weeks the students will begin to learn a specific style of debate known as Lincoln-Douglas debate. This is a one v. one debate with the side agreeing with the topic known as the Affirmative side and the side disagreeing with the topic known as the Negative side; a typical round lasts about forty-five minutes with the speech order being as follows: 

1)   Affirmative first constructive speech – 6 minutes
2)   Cross examination period where the Negative questions the Affirmative – 3 minutes
3)   Negative first rebuttal – 7 minutes
4)   Cross examination period where the Affirmative questions the Negative – 3 minutes
5)   Affirmative first rebuttal – 4 minutes
6)   Negative second rebuttal – 6 minutes
7)   Affirmative second rebuttal – 3 minutes

At this point in time the students are beginning to learn speech structure as well as practicing to give a proper Lincoln-Douglas debate style speech. In the coming months I will be updating with occasional articles as to how the program is doing and how the students development in reference to debate skill is coming. 

Anti Oppression Week: Debate team hosts movie screening and open debate

(Photo courtesy of Scott Hamilton Kennedy)

By: Thomas Jones, Staff Reporter

This past week, Regis University hosted its third annual Anti-Oppression week. The Regis University Debate team participated by opening up their bi-weekly practices, occurring on Tuesday and Thursday, to the broader Regis community, and focusing their practices on the issue of gentrification which Regis University and its surrounding community faces, as well as many other communities throughout the United States.

Starting on Tuesday at 5:00 PM in Loyola 33, the debate team hosted a documentary screening of “The Garden,” a film which focuses on a 14 acre South-Central LA community garden, which at the time was the largest urban garden in the United States, and is under threat of being removed and mostly sold off to private industry except for a small section being kept for the community as a dirt soccer field. Some of the films main themes were community activism, race relations, money in politics and the development of impoverished communities leading to gentrification. There was a large turn out for this event, with every chair in Loyola 33 filled as well as several spots on the floor due to the number of people in attendance.

With this film being used as an introduction into some of the issues within gentrification, the debate team held a public debate on Thursday at 5:00 PM in the same room which focused specifically on this issue. This event was also very well attended, even more so than the documentary screening, with many chairs brought in from other rooms to accommodate the crowd. The topic was, “This house, as local and state governments, would provide financial assistance to prevent the process of gentrification.” The eight debaters who participated in the event were given the topic a day in advance to be able to do some research on the issue, however, the debaters did not know which side of the topic they would be arguing until they arrived in the room to debate. After the debaters drew for sides they were then given fifteen minutes to prepare and come up with arguments before the debate started.

During the time the debaters prepped, two senior debate team members, Siena Ruggeri and David Cecil-Few, introduced the British Parliamentary format as well as the topic for the debate. The first team to speak in support of the topic is called opening government and consisted of one sophomore debater, Caterina Cheshire, and one freshman debater, Evanjalina Matoy. The second team to speak is called opening opposition and opposes the topic; this team consisted of two freshman debaters, Nicholas Aranda and Thomas Jones. After these two teams are finished with their four speeches, what is called the ‘top half’ of the debate is concluded, and the debate then progresses onto the final two teams called the ‘bottom half’ of the debate. The team to speak in support of the motion on the bottom half of the debate, called closing government, consisted of one sophomore debater, Selihom Andarge, and one junior year debater, Andy Nguyen. The bottom half team which speaks in opposition to the topic, and the last team to speak in the debate as a whole, is called closing opposition; this team consisted of senior year debater, Allison Foust, and sophomore debater Timothy Smith.

The debate lasted around an hour from start to finish, with the whole event taking an hour and thirty minutes, concluding at 6:30. All eight debaters did a great job presenting the arguments on their respective sides and offered good insight into the issues of gentrification, which is no doubt very real to the Regis community as well as it’s surrounding neighbors.

Regis debate team competes at Novice Nationals

(Photo: Getty Images)

By: Thomas Jones, Staff Reporter

On Friday, February 9, four members of the Regis University Debate team flew to Syracuse, New York where they then drove to Cornell University to compete in the British Parliamentary 2018 Novice Nationals Tournament. The term ‘Novice’ in debate refers to an individual who is competing in their first year of college debate. The tournament lasted all day Saturday, February 10, and most of Sunday, February 11. Two teams from Regis attended this tournament, both consisting entirely of Regis Freshman. The teams were Evanjalina Matoy debating with Rajat Gupta, and Nicholas Aranda debating with Thomas Jones. The competition at the tournament was quite heavy, having a large portion of the teams coming from Ivy League Universities. However, in spite of this competition both Regis teams debated exceptionally well, with Nicholas and Thomas being one point away from proceeding to the out rounds of the tournament.

There was a wide array of topics at the Cornell Novice National tournament, ranging from issues relating to feminism and gender neutrality such as, “This house would combine best actor and actress awards at film and television awards shows (e.g. the Oscars, Emmys) into a single, gender-neutral award;” to issues discussing government foreign policy such as “This house believes that development aid should not attempt to change government structures or internal politics in developing countries (e.g. corruption, elections).” The tournament also had two other divisions for debaters who weren’t Novices, yet still debated the same topics in their preliminary rounds. They had an open division for more experienced college debaters who have competed in more than one year of college debate and a Spanish division for Spanish speaking students. The novice division of the tournament broke to quarterfinals, with the Ivy League Schools making up almost the entirety of the sixteen teams heading into quarterfinals. The finals round of Novice Nationals consisted of only Ivy League teams such as Harvard and Princeton. The finals round topic was, “This house regrets the cultural narrative of ‘do what you love.’”

After almost four days of being in Ithaca, New York and two days of debate, the four debaters and their coach, Regis University Communications Professor, Jon Denzler, flew back to Denver on Monday, arriving late that evening. The Regis debate team will leave again in about a week, taking three teams to compete in the Loyola Chicago Invitational on February 24 – 25.

Facilitating Much More than just Dialogue

By: Thomas Jones, Staff Reporter

Regis University has long been involved with increasing dialogue throughout their local community as well as the broader Denver area. The Institute on the Common Good has been hired by numerous organizations throughout its existence specifically for this purpose. The institute has helped guide productive dialogue for town halls, civic organizations and even some conversations which needed to take place off the books and in private due to their heightened nature of sensitivity. When I met with Daniel Justin, the Assistant Director for the ICG (Institute on the Common Good), he explained to me how the ICG is going to bring this work they’ve been doing for years in the broader community home to Regis and its student body.

This new program which the ICG is starting up has been referred to as both Dialogue Facilitation as well as Dialogue Leadership. Justin stated that the main goal of this program is to “Create a space for authentic dialogue.” What this space looks like, ideally, is one free from persuasion; this space would simply be one where people with possibly opposing views can discuss those views without the conversation turning into an argument. The ICG is accomplishing this through a set of workshops for students to go through who are preparing to be dialogue leaders/ facilitators. The first workshop, which has already taken place, centered around the theme, “What’s going on in a difficult conversation.” This workshop was run by a new faculty member named Mairi-Jane Fox who has over a decade of experience working as a dialogue facilitator. Justin stated that this workshop built skills for the students in the program to engage in difficult dialogue themselves; he furthered, “Before we have leaders, we need participators in dialogue to cultivate that skill.”

Currently, around twenty students have joined the dialogue facilitation program put on by the ICG. Justin stated that the institute encouraged as many people as possible to apply as well as reaching out to specific people to make sure that they have a group of dialogue facilitators that is diverse in every possible way. Long term, the ICG sees this dialogue facilitation program becoming fully student-run; a place where students will be the ones both creating and facilitating dialogue on campus. When speaking on some of the challenges that these students will face within this volunteer work, Justin emphasized that, “The hardest thing about being a facilitator is that you can’t have a side on the issue, you have to give that up while you’re in this space and set it aside so that you can be fair.”

Justin ended our interview by striking at the core reason this dialogue facilitation program is so essential, especially today. He stated, “A lot of dialogue happens on campus’s now to convince people of something. We don’t want that within this program, we instead want dialogue for dialogue's sake. We live in a world which is very quick to dehumanize people who are not like us or don’t agree with us; we want a place where we can treat people as human beings.”