Kate Santini ‘27
Chief News Editor
Friday April 10, the Benedict Joseph Debate Society (B.J.F.) was proud to host Curtis Sliwa, former NYC mayoral candidate and founder of the quasi-law enforcement agency, the Guardian Angels, for a lecture and Q&A session at Seelos Theater. With nearly two hundred students in attendance, this lecture constituted one of the highest attended student-organized events of the semester.
Running as the Republican candidate against Zohran Mandami and Andrew Cuomo in the 2025 New York City mayoral race, Sliwa boasts an extensive political career. In 1979, he founded the “Guardian Angels,” a nonprofit civilians’ police force aimed at patrolling rampant crime in the New York City Subway. Since its inception, the organization has expanded to cities across the nation and globe at large.
Silwa opened the event with a discussion of his career and current political aims, including stopping the war in Iran, resisting the expansion of artificial intelligence, opposing political name-calling, and other topics of importance. After these introductory remarks, he sat down with B.J.F. co-chairs and began answering student questions. The questions included how he would encourage young people to navigate the modern political climate, whether he has future plans to run for political office, his stance on I.C.E., and even his favorite NYC pizza joint.
Sliwa’s presence was met with enthusiastic student engagement. After the event concluded, students lined up in droves to take photos with Sliwa, who was sporting his iconic Guardian Angels’ red beret. Following the event, the B.J.F. executive board amongst others involved in organizing the talk joined Sliwa and his team for dinner in the Hogan Ballroom. Afterwards, he was given a brief campus tour during which he was happy to take photos with passing students.
Event attendee, Lizzie Swanson ‘28, shared that “I really enjoyed attending the Curtis Sliwa presentation. His willingness to interact with students was an important reminder to continue to engage with our politicians. Sliwa spoke about a number of topics on students’ minds including ICE, the crisis in the Middle East, and the US-Mexico border. Honestly, I thought the talk was electric and I’m glad we could invite him onto our campus.”
The B.J.F. Society could not have hosted this event without the help of the Office of Student Involvement (O.S.I.), Holy Cross’ Committee of Public Safety, and most notably, Ashwin Prabaharan ‘26 who worked closely with Silwa on both his mayoral campaigns.
Reflecting on the event, Prabaharan shared that, “Curtis Sliwa coming to our school at the B.J.F.’s invitation was truly a highlight of my college career. Having worked for him for several years, it was a treat to see a man I greatly admire interacting with students not only in a charismatic and engaging way, but on issues that actually matter to us.” He listed “AI, partisan politics, and the role of money in elections” as examples of issues that constitute “areas people our age are genuinely concerned about” and expressed that, “it was very insightful hearing it from someone who has had experience with them all.”
Prabaharan, himself a committed member of the B.J.F. Society, concluded that “this was a new day for the B.J.F. and Holy Cross as we set the stage for even greater events, and we’re incredibly grateful for Mr. Sliwa and Holy Cross for all their help hosting this magnificent event.” Indeed, in the coming semesters, the B.J.F. Society is anticipating hosting more speaker events in addition to regular debate sessions to encourage increased student engagement in the political sector. If students are interested in joining the Society and contributing to dialogues such as this, they can reach out to bjfdebatingsociety@g.holycross.edu or @thebjfsociety on Instagram. Stay tuned for more exciting events to come in the Fall.
Featured image courtesy of Alana Collins ‘29
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