Former Vice President Joe Biden raised confusion Wednesday during a virtual round table after claiming he became a “professor” when he left the U.S. Senate.
“When I left the United States Senate, I became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,” Biden claimed. “And I’ve spent a lot of time — and the University of Delaware has the Biden School as well, so I’ve spent a lot of time on campus with college students.”
Biden became vice president after leaving the Senate in 2009 and received the title of “Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor” from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. He never taught any classes, according to his own spokesperson at the time.
Biden’s claim immediately drew attention on social media.
“That’s not true,” the Daily Caller’s Greg Price said. “He never taught a class.”
So Biden just said “when I left the United States Senate, I became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.”
That’s not true. He never taught a class.https://t.co/zaLzTNDXmn pic.twitter.com/e4fZNUlTUM
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 25, 2020
“Joe Biden claims to be University of Pennsylvania professor. Spoiler: He isn’t,” Newsmax’s John Cardillo wrote.
Joe Biden claims to be University of Pennsylvania professor
Spoiler: He isn’t https://t.co/n3WnH9CxCr
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) March 26, 2020
This week was not the first time Biden has claimed he was a professor. He told supporters at a South Carolina campaign event earlier this year he “became a teacher, became a professor” rather than working on Wall Street.
Biden was present on the University of Pennsylvania campus four times to make speeches in 2017 and again in 2018. He was paid $776,527, which amounted to nearly double the average salary of the professors on campus at the time, according to PhillyMag.
