Former president and Syracuse Law School alumnus Joe Biden stopped at his alma mater Tuesday for the unveiling of a portrait that will hang in the school's library. His extended family joined members of the class of 1968 and other dignitaries for the invitation-only event.
Biden recalled in a nearly 20 minute speech that he considered SU so he could be closer to his then-girlfriend and future wife Nelia who was a school teacher. He said he walked into the Dean's office mistaking it for the library.
"I explained I was thinking about law school, and I just sort of wandered in," he said. "Before I knew it, she yelled, 'Dean, there's someone here to see you.' The dean heard I was from Delaware. He said, 'Delaware, we have a Delaware program. It covers half the tuition of any law school because you have no law school in Delaware.'"
Biden said he told them he still couldn't afford it.
"So he picked up the phone in his office...it all happened within half an hour...and called the undergraduate dean who ran student housing. And he said, 'I got a young man here. He wants to come to Syracuse but is having trouble getting there. Let's make him a resident advisor.' He said, 'Okay.' Swear to God, true story," Biden said. "I'm thinking, 'What in the hell is going on here?'
He said it all happened so fast but soon found it set the stage for his career in law and public service.
"As I saw through the torts and contracts and struggled with property law, my favorite course was constitutional law, I heard my parents' words ringing in my ears, 'dignity, Joey, respect, fairness, equity, equality. That's what America's all about,'" he recalled. "It was right there at Syracuse that I began to see the pieces coming together."
Classmate Bill Koerner, Jr. remembered Biden as good man and is honored to be part of the class of '68.
"I'm deeply grateful to pay tribute to Joe, who's done such a fantastic job as president and added such a vital philosophy to politics that we so sorely lack right now," he said.
Koerner said he received his notice to practice law in New York State on the same day he received a draft notice for Vietnam. He returned after a year and took a law job in the government before serving as a lawyer at various firms. He now practices elder law in Arlington, Virginia.
Biden's remarks can be heard in their entirety at the top of the story.
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