The Blue Hen president

Article by Diane Stopyra April 13, 2021

To outsiders, the University of Delaware visit seemed like an odd choice. In the 11th hour before the 2008 election, why would vice presidential hopeful Joe Biden come to the First State at all? This was a place he and running mate Barack Obama were set to win handedly. Surely, the resources spent on a campaign rally here would have made more sense in Florida, Indiana or some other political battleground.

“I asked why it was important for him to be on campus,” says then-journalism student Julie Wigley, AS09. “He responded that he had to go back to the place that shaped him.”

By now, you are likely already familiar with Biden's political story: New Castle County councilmember, U.S. Senator from Delaware of 36 years and vice president of the country for eight years. You know that he’s earned a reputation on Capitol Hill for championing the middle-class and reaching across the aisle to enact important domestic and foreign policy. And you know that, in January, he became the dog-loving, ice cream-enjoying, unity-pushing 46th president of the United States.

What may be less familiar? Biden's journey as a UD undergraduate in the early 60s and the many ways his beloved alma mater continues shaping his life. In other words, in order to understand Biden, the politician, you must first understand Biden, the Blue Hen.

In the fall of 1961, the future commander-in-chief enrolled at UD as a history and political science major. His peers say he stood out for being a mediocre-but-enthusiastic member of the freshman football team and for frequently arriving to campus in a borrowed convertible (his father worked at a nearby auto dealership). A harbinger of things to come, he was also the dedicated president of his first-year class.

But, mostly, Biden is remembered for an uncanny ability to connect with people.

"I felt like I had arrived at a time and place that made me feel that maybe, maybe, I could do some pretty interesting things," Biden said at a campus event in 2016. "So it's good to be home; it's good to be welcomed back."

“He made you feel like you were the only person in the room when he talked to you,” says Harter Hall floor mate Brian Barrabee, AS65. “He was nice to everyone. He made everyone feel good.” (Case in point: A decade after graduation, when Biden was a Senator, he spotted Barrabee walking along a sidewalk in Philadelphia and stopped the entire police caravan just to hop out and say hello “And it’s not like we were best friends or anything near it ,” Barrabee recalls. “He just walked the extra mile.”)

In many ways, his love for UD stems from the love he received as a student.

“It was here that I was inspired to commit to a life of public service,” Biden said in a recent address to the UD community. “And it was here I had great professors who convinced me I could make a difference.”

Throughout his distinguished career, Biden maintained his connection to his alma mater, giving numerous speeches on campus, advocating for voter registration among Blue Hens and modeling a spirit of ideological openness by attending Blue Hen football games with political opponent Chris Christie, AS84. During one sit-down with the undergraduate College Republicans s, the current POTUS stressed the need for such civility.

"He said, 'You'll always have a seat at the table'," says Daniel Worthington, BE19, then-chair of the group's UD chapter. "And that really struck a chord, because he didn't have to do that."

As vice president, the distinguished alumnus carried this outreach all the way to the West Wing. In 2016, lifelong friend and former classmate Fred Sears, BE64, recalls listening to Biden wax nostalgic about his college days in front of President Barack Obama.

“Joe reminisces about UD all the time,” Sears says. “It was here that we both turned into adults.”

Those who’ve interacted with the politician over the years attest: These efforts to give back to the UD community are not mere political theater but, rather, a genuine manifestation of appreciation.

Backstage at an event in which Biden gifted his Senatorial papers to the University, removed from any crowds and microphones, “we had a conversation on how important the students are to him and how he sees himself in them,” says Emeritus Prof. Ralph Begleiter, founder of UD’s Center for Political Communication. “He has a very personal, gut connection to this place.”

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Biden meets with the outgoing heads of the Student Government Association in 2017.

In 2017, Biden became the founding chair of UD’s Biden Institute, a research center that develops public policy solutions in some of the nation’s toughest domestic arenas, including environmental sustainability, civil rights and violence against women. (He stepped down from the position before announcing his run for the presidency, but his sister and fellow UD graduate, Valerie Biden Owens, still serves as vice chair.) And, in 2018, UD announced the renaming of its nationally ranked School of Public Policy and Administration, which houses the aforementioned institute, as the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. From this space, faculty, staff and students conduct research and spearhead initiatives to improve communities in Delaware and beyond.

For Biden, this bridge building has always involved reaching out to the next generation of American leaders.

And in 2018, that’s exactly what he did with Natalie Criscenzo, BSPA18, then a senior public policy major and student body president. In a no-press event for undergraduates, she moderated a discussion with the former vice president on the importance of civic engagement for young people. (Beforehand, Biden also invited her and her parents to join him, naturally, for UDairy ice cream.)

It’s an experience that solidified Criscenzo’s future career plans. Today, she works as the legislative liaison for Delaware Governor John Carney.

“To see someone speak with such candor and passion about being a public servant, to see how he wanted to come back and genuinely connect with his community even though it didn’t benefit him politically at all, it reaffirmed that this was a path I wanted to go down,” Criscenzo says.

Today, she is equally inspired by Biden’s new role as Blue-Hen-in-chief.

“It is incredible to think he studied the same things I studied and walked the same campus I did,” Criscenzo says. “A lot of people think about D.C. and the political world as this elite, far-off thing. But, today, there’s a Blue Hen in the White House. It goes to show: We can go anywhere.”