Calling Puerto Rico "an unincorporated territory" is masking reality, he said adding that Puerto Rico is currently in a colonial relationship with the U.S.
"There's no use trying to dance around it," he said. "The only formula that guarantees U.S. citizenship is statehood."
Audience members said they had mixed reactions to the presentation.
"It was informative, but it seems slanted towards statehood. Every other option should be presented equally," said Vanessa Rosado '01.
In an interview after the presentation, Roman denied the statement that his discussion favored statehood over other possibilities.
"I'm a statehooder and a Democrat, but it wouldn't be fair to say I was here advocating for statehood. I was here advocating for the Young bill," he said.