Speech and Debate Students Honor Dorothy Day’s Message at OCOE Event

On October 29, 2025, the Brownson Speech and Debate Team collaborated with the Institute for Communication and Religion (ICR) to host the final event celebrating the College of Human Development, Culture, and Media’s One College One Exhibition Initiative. The hour-long event, “Telling the Truth: An Art and Argument,” featured speeches from Speech and Debate Team students, which centered around the teachings of journalist and activist Dorothy Day, who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930s.

The Brownson Speech and Debate Team has been active at Seton Hall for over 75 years. The team is dedicated to fostering the academic and ethical development of students, encouraging them to think creatively and to become advocates serving others.

Speech and Debate Coach Jessica Rauchberg, Ph.D., who also serves as assistant professor of Communication Media and the Arts, noted that the students have been refining their speeches for several months. “Students begin working on these speeches over the summer, and they work with our coaching staff and each other to prepare for competitions or special presentation events,” she said. “Our students also travel to regional and national competitions. These opportunities help our students excel in shaping their presentation skills.”

Through the Catholic Worker Movement and her social justice activism, Dorothy Day brought ancient Christian teaching about devoting one’s life to community into the 20th century. As ICR Director Jon Radwan, Ph.D., associate professor of Communication, explained “Dorothy Day shows how love is an embodied gift of self. Her voluntary poverty and lifelong practice of direct works of mercy demonstrate the ‘radical’ quality of Christian love.”  

Sophomore M. Brynn Christianson performed Dorothy’s message through an oral interpretation of Day’s writing about work. She advocated rejecting the idea that labor can be valued only by wages, suggesting instead that labor should be valued by how it impacts and benefits others. Junior Joshua Yue delivered an impromptu speech, meaning that he had only two minutes with an assigned prompt before he spoke. Senior Amos Willey presented a persuasive speech about incarceration and legal reforms, and Senior Catherine Jones gave a rhetorical criticism speech about memory and disability activism. While Yue, Willey and Jones did not directly discuss Dorothy Day, they connected to her ideas of embodiment and activism through their presentations. A Q&A session followed the speeches, during which the students responded to audience questions and comments.

Professors Radwan and Rauchberg originally proposed an ICR and Brownson partnership studying Dorothy Day as their 2025-26 Mission Partners Grant Proposal. They expressed gratitude for support from the Provost’s office and stressed how hope and work build up community. “I hope this event helped the Seton Hall community understand the importance of our university's mission and commitments during this political moment, and to learn more about Day's legacy. The more we discuss these topics of community and advocacy, the better our worlds, here at Seton and beyond, will be,” said Rauchberg. To learn more about the One College One Exhibition Initiative, click here. 

About the Institute for Communication and Religion

The Institute for Communication and Religion (ICR) is an affiliated unit within Seton Hall University’s College of Human Development, Culture, and Media. Religious traditions are primary drivers for social action across humanity’s full moral range, from care through violence. Launched with THRUST funding in Fall 2017, the ICR is an interdisciplinary nexus for communication and media scholarship addressing the critical intersection between religion and society. Guided by Nostra Aetate’s spirit of ecumenical and interreligious cooperation, the Institute seeks to engage in public dialogue and debate, promote academic inquiry and support religious dimensions of creativity. Our values are Seton Hall’s values: servant leadership, curricular innovation and intellectual excellence. For more information, visit the Institute for Communication and Religion website.     

Categories: Arts and Culture, Faith and Service