President Joe Biden told an audience in North Carolina on Thursday that he was a “full professor” for four years at the University of Pennsylvania, a claim that appears to be in contrast with the evidence.
Biden shared the remarks during a speech at A&T State University in Greensboro that focused on his Build Back Better agenda.
“For four years I was a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania,” Biden said.
Pres. Biden says "for four years, I was a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania." pic.twitter.com/NJ2MuypGtl
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 14, 2022
A look into the facts shows that Biden was appointed the title of Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor in 2017. The position was a leadership role at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C.
“We are thrilled to have Vice President Biden here at Annenberg,” Annenberg Dean Delli Carpini said in a statement in 2017, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “Although he is not scheduled to teach a formal course at this time, we are certain that there will be opportunities for our students to benefit from his presence at Penn.”
“He will not be teaching classes,” Biden spokesperson Kate Bedingfield also told the outlet in the report.
A later article by the publication entitled “No one is really sure what Joe Biden will be doing at Penn” revealed it was unclear what Biden’s role would be.
Biden served in the honorary role from February 2017 to April 2019 for just over two years.
It appears Biden did not teach a single ongoing course during this time. He did, however, make at least nine appearances on behalf of the university, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian.
An investigative report by the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that Biden was paid $371,159 in 2017 and $540,484 in 2018 and 2019.
Despite the exaggerated claim, it’s not the first time the president has claimed his role as a professor.
During a video message to the Munich Security Conference in February, Biden stated, “Two years ago, as you pointed out, when I last spoke in Munich, I was a private citizen. I was a professor, not an elected official.”
In February 2020, Biden also said that after leaving the White House as vice president, he “became a teacher, became a professor.”
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
Widener University has also noted that Biden was an adjunct professor to law school students for 17 years up until 2018.
Biden has generated a growing list of fibs during his time in office. The Daily Wire recently reported on five of them, including the president’s claim that he was arrested for protesting for civil rights.
Mentioned on multiple occasions, Biden most recently made the remark during a speech in Georgia as he addressed voting rights.
“I did not walk in the shoes of generations of students who walked these grounds,” he said. “But I walked other grounds. Because I’m so damn old, I was there as well.”
The joke received laughter from his audience, with Biden adding, “You think I’m kidding, man. It seems like yesterday the first time I got arrested.”