My Friend for President

By: Lauren Alvarez, Guest Writer

Bio: Hi! My name is Lauren Alvarez I’m a junior this year majoring in Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations and minoring in Environmental Studies. I’m from San Mateo, California. I enjoy reading books from Tiktok, going to Trader Joe’s and ominously staring out my window. Fun fact: I often tell people I’m 5’12 instead of 6’0 and 95% of people don’t notice.

photo credit// Malia Olson

I stroll into the pub on campus at 5:25. I wanted to be here early, but of course she’s sitting at our usual table working on some homework. Crap. Malia Olson has her reusable water bottle, recycled materials phone case, and half a dozen rings on her fingers. She is engulfed in her bio homework when I sit down. She’s not nervous, nor should she be. This doesn’t feel much different than our thrice a week dinner at The Caf. The only difference is that Malia Olson is running for Regis Student Body President, and I’ve got the scoop. 

I’m approaching this interview through the bias of a good friendship and my sincere belief she brings something brilliant to the table. The table we are chatting at, our conversation is slightly dulled by the roar of the dinner crowd. 

“So, Malia, would you rather have teeth for toes or toes for teeth?” She laughs—I’m hilarious. 

“Teeth for toes.” 

Ah. A woman of culture. Though the interview is supposed to be formal, we ebb and flow through the conversation, mixing in her glimpses of her personality while discussing some ideas Malia has for the future of Regis. 

Ms. Olson has a background at Regis as a Violence Prevention Educator. This work not only prevents stalking, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault on campus but also trains athletes as well as classes and facilitates programs like V-Day and Denim Day. When asked how her work as a VPE affects the way she hopes to lead Malia responds, “Since I am a survivor of sexual assault, that really motivates me to make campus feel like a safe space for students. I know it’s not always easy being a student here and that shitty things can happen.” She continues, sharing some questions that are not only incredibly important to her campaign but to her values as a Regis student, “How do we create space for students who’ve had rough experiences to feel safe and feel heard, and give opportunities to tell their stories?” 

When asked about reinstating the soft-serve machine from our freshman year—if you weren’t here before The Caf remodel, I’m sorry—Olson laughs, “I could certainly try. [I’m] not sure if RUSGA necessarily has a lot of control over what Bon-Appetit decides to do.” Although this is not the answer I was hoping for, it does lead into a bigger conversation about Regis as a school. 

Malia is candid in her admiration for Regis. Of course, we all know the appeal of a smaller school, its prime location between downtown and the breathtaking Rocky Mountains, but Malia emphasizes that it’s a Catholic school. While this is slightly unexpected—both of us are non-practicing—she explains that the Jesuits add that, “Social justice focuses on all of these classes.” She goes on to say, “Even science classes ask how this matters and how it affects us?” Looking through the lens of intersectionality between science and social justice is something Malia is quite comfortable doing, as she is majoring in Bio with an emphasis in Molecular Biology & Genetics with a Psychology minor. 

Malia is not afraid to criticize Regis too. Talking about the administration’s handling of the tech hack of Fall 2019 and their response to COVID-19 when it started last March, (can you believe it's been a year!?!) Malia uses the shortcoming of our school to emphasize how valuable what the students are saying is, “There are really powerful instances when students really made a change.” We, as students, were outspoken about our disapproval of their actions and they made changes because of our demands. 

Beyond the confines of running for Student Body President, Malia is also a student during the time of COVID-19. These are difficult times. Meeting new people is hard enough, not even considering the restrictions we all must make to stop the spread of the virus. She talks about the idea of “missing out” on the college experience, “Regis sometimes lacks that sense of pride… pride in your school. RUSGA is a really good place to address those things because that's the [students’] money going towards programming… they can go to their Senators, they can go to their representatives and be like, ‘hey I want to do this thing where I hand out utensils’ or whatever.” 

I then ask her the most intimidating question of all time: how would you describe yourself? Usually this question brings instant panic, but Malia doesn’t hesitate, “I’m very introverted and I’m a helper.” This intrigued me, as you often don’t see introverts holding a lot of power. I pick her brain and I’m pleasantly surprised when she says, “Any sort of government is built and structured so that it benefits extroverted people. So, when you have somebody holding a leadership position that is an introvert, that is so important because…[you] notice when other introverts are not in the conversation or their voices aren’t being heard.” 

As we are wrapping up, I realized that I forgot to ask her some basic questions. So, for the audience: her favorite color is a teal blue, her favorite movie is The Princess Diaries, and her Spotify top artists are Queen, Yolk Lore, and Alexander23. She’s from Crested Butte, Colorado, a lovely little ski town. She has an incredible tea collection and loves matcha. She’s about 5’2, her hair is insanely healthy (genetics). And most importantly she is incredibly genuine and someone I get excited to see every time she walks into the Student Center. 

When the interview is over, I press the stop button on the recording app on my phone. We both sigh a breath of relief and I ask her, “You wanna go get some dinner?” 

She giggles, “Yeah, I’m starving.” 

**RUSGA has pushed all elections to the fall

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.

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.”

RUSGA Candidate Annelise Pehr Question and Answer

By Emily Summers, Staff Writer

Here’s a Q&A with RUSGA Student Body President candidate Annelise Pehr. Voting is open now and you can find the link in your email.

Highlander: What position are you running for?

Annelise Pehr: I am running for student body president

Highlander: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

AP: I am currently finishing out my junior year and I am a double major in Sociology and Peace & Justice Studies with a minor in Spanish. I grew up in Los Angeles, California as the only daughter of a Mexican Catholic mother and Jewish father. I never imagined I would end up in Denver, Colorado let alone Regis. In the spring of my senior year my parents and I came to visit another school in Denver that I had been admitted to, but I disliked everything about it, so in an effort to not make the trip a bust, my dad remembered that there was a Catholic university in Denver. We hopped in our rental car and walked around Regis during the infamous Ranger Day blizzard that I have only heard stories about from upperclassmen. I filled out the application in our hotel room later that evening and I was admitted in May, but with not enough aid. Fast forward through two months of planning to attend my safety school, Regis was able to give me

enough aid to attend. With about three weeks notice, I packed my bags and moved to a new state where I would make a place that I am lucky enough to call my home today.

Highlander: What is the focus of your campaign?

AP: The focus of my campaign is to make all people feel that they have a home at Regis, especially those that have been underserved such as commuters and all members of affinity groups. I have spent my entire week campaigning by talking to and asking students what they want to see and overwhelmingly I have listened to students’ deep desires for wanting to belong in this space no matter how “weird” they are and that same desire goes from people that identify as conservative Catholics to queer atheists.

Highlander: What is one thing you would like to improve most at Regis?

AP: As of right now my campaign focuses on three main tenets, but one specific facet of Regis that I would like to improve most is how RUSGA represents students. This year RUSGA went through a massive renovation in an effort to make it a governing body that does effectively represent the diverse voices in our student body, but it still has a long way to go. I plan to improve RUSGA involvement by advocating for policies that train student leaders to give them the tools necessary in order to be able to make the change that they themselves deem necessary within our bureaucratic structures.

Highlander: What qualities do you possess that make you the most qualified for the position?

AP: Well, first and foremost, I am a great listener which is an incredibly important skill for a president to have. In order to be an effective president my job is not to uphold my own interests, but it is to uphold those of the student body which I can do by listening to my constituents. I am also a competent communicator in which I demonstrated this year through my championing of IgnatianQ, an effort to put Regis at the forefront of queer inclusivity on Catholic campuses. I worked to bring IgnatianQ's national movement to the Regis campus through a year long campaign to bolster allyship and education around LGBTQ+ identities. Through this work I have not only learned how to acquire administrative support on student movements, but also shown long-term dedication and commitment to projects that students care about on campus. Lastly, I am patient. I am a realist and I know that in a year long presidency a lot of empty promises can be made, but that is not who I am. I promise to have depth rather than breadth in the policies RUSGA takes on next year to represent you and to be patient in gathering student voices in our paving the path for progress.

Q: Why should students vote for you?

A: Students should vote for me because I am experienced with the workings of RUSGA, I have a successful working relationship with administrators, and I am a fierce advocate for student needs.

*The only edits to this transcript were made for punctuation. All content represents the original discussion of the reporter and candidate.