Antonio Delgado Pictured Speaking at Manhattan University
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Laili Shahrestani, Features Editor
On Sept. 16, Lieutenant Governor of New York Antonio Delgado made an appearance at Manhattan University, where he spoke to students and several faculty members about the importance of Constitution Day, as well as self-correction. The event was sponsored by the political science, international studies and history department.
Delgado first ran for Congress in 2018 with no prior experience in electoral politics. He was initially elected to represent New York’s nineteenth district, where he served two terms. In 2022, Delgado was appointed as the lieutenant governor of New York. Delgado spoke about his upbringing, what’s brought him to where he is today and how it ties back to the Constitution.
“The march towards perfecting our union is baked into the literal design of our founding document and we should never lose sight of that,” Delgado said. “We can tie that to personal narratives and how we all go about our own lives. I’ve had to do a lot of self-corrections or amendments over time. We all do, and the moment you’re in right now in life, I would argue, is probably one of the most instructive.”
Delgado spoke about his background, coming from a middle class family, and later attending Colgate University to pursue a medical degree in hopes to please his father. He mentioned how self-correction is what allowed him to come to the realization that he did not want to be a doctor, and wanted to live life on his own terms instead.
“I realized I needed to self-correct because I was not meant to be a doctor,” Delgado said. “I had a freshman seminar class that was called, ‘What is Real and What is True’. The professor changed my life. We wrestled with questions on faith, philosophy and power. I was hooked and could not get enough of it.”
Delgado emphasized the importance of college students figuring out what they want to do for themselves, and staying true to their own personal identity.
“The essence of college is figuring out who you are on your own accord, not divorcing yourself from your parents or your loved ones, but figuring out where you stand, separate and apart from them,” Delgado said. There’s so much change that happened during my time in college, more than any other point in my life. I realized that the four year period of my life ended up being the most significant amount of change in any four year period of my life.”
Delgado expressed how finding out where you are meant to be takes time, and that the journey is not always linear. He spoke about his experience studying at Oxford University, then Harvard Law School and eventually ending up working as a hip-hop artist post graduation.
“After Oxford, I came home, took a year off, and then went to law school, not because I knew what I wanted to do, but I wanted to figure out what to do,” Delgado said. “I went in there believing that I would become a lawyer and do something in law. That was what I went into law school initially thinking, but after I graduated from law school I moved to Los Angeles and became a hip-hop artist for five years. So again, more self-correction.”
As the event carried on, The Quadrangle had the chance to ask Delgado what Constitution Day means to him, and why it is important.
“Constitution Day is remembering that we are a grand human project that is committed to perfecting our union, knowing that we’ll never be able to fully perfect it,” Delgado said. “The way we allow for ourselves to grow, evolve, become more fair and more just is by anchoring ourselves to the ideals and values that have been laid out in the Constitution, and just trying to adhere to those structures that decentralize power and protect humanity against the self.”
Margaret Groarke, Ph.D., chairperson of the political science, international studies and history department, added onto the importance of Constitution Day. She highlighted how many students may not know much about the day or what it is all about.
“In terms of Constitution Day, unless you’re taking Political Science 203 with me, you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it,” Groarke said. “But you know, this is the foundation, whether it’s good, bad, flawed or perfect, it’s the foundation of the rules of the game for our system.”
Groarke went on to speak about how understanding what is in the Constitution is crucial to keeping our democracy alive and protected.
“If we don’t defend it [the Constitution] and say, ‘wait a minute, that’s not constitutional,’ then it can all fall apart,” Groarke said. “Realize, just like other democracies fall apart, we can also fall apart. So we have to know, ‘what are our rights? How is this supposed to work? Who’s supposed to be deciding what – Congress or the president or the governor?’”
At the event, there were a number of student attendees, who came out of interest in hearing what Delgado had to say. Paul Fevrier, a sophomore and electrical engineering major, attended the event for the opportunity to personally meet someone who works in politics.
Fevrier went on to speak with The Quadrangle about the concept of democracy, and how he thinks young voters usually have the most impact on elections.
“A lot of times, college students or young voters have the loudest voices and impact on the future elections more so than older voters,” Fevrier said. “I think that’s important to remember when thinking about our democracy.”
Similar to Fevrier, there were a number of attendees who were majoring in disciplines outside of political science and philosophy. Groarke went on to speak about the importance of attending these guest-speaker events, even if they have nothing to do with one’s major.
“It was a big part of my college education to go to different speaker events with different people,” Groarke said. “Even if I wasn’t taking a class on the subject, I wanted to go hear people talk and become exposed to something new. I think that’s a big opportunity that you have in college that you don’t have that often in real life.”