Leadership Quote by Michael N. Castle

Calling a university “an institution of excellence in its own right” is the kind of praise that sounds generic until you notice what it’s quietly fencing off. Michael N. Castle, a Delaware politician with the state’s small-scale loyalties and national optics in mind, isn’t just applauding Delaware State University; he’s preempting the old, corrosive assumption that an HBCU’s value is derivative - good for what it represents, not for what it produces. “In its own right” functions like a rhetorical seatbelt: it anticipates skepticism and locks the compliment into place.

The second clause shifts from reputation to legitimacy through demographics. “Attracts a diversity of students” is an argument as much as a description. It positions DSU as porous and outward-facing, not insular; as a campus chosen by students, not merely assigned by history or circumstance. The careful list - “various races, socio-economic status and locations” - is political triangulation: race is acknowledged but buffered by class and geography, a classic move in public speech meant to broaden buy-in without triggering partisan reflexes.

Castle’s intent reads as civic branding. Delaware is a small state with an outsized need to sell its institutions as engines of mobility and cohesion. Praising DSU this way recruits multiple audiences at once: alumni and Black Delawareans who want recognition without condescension, suburban moderates who respond to “diversity” as an economic and cultural asset, and funders who hear “excellence” as a reason to invest. The subtext: DSU is not just part of Delaware’s story; it’s part of Delaware’s pitch.