When the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement opened in February 2018, then-Vice President Joe Biden laid out his hopes that it would serve as a \u201cgathering place\u201d that could foster the exchange of ideas for years to come. But seven years later \u2014 after an exit from the Oval Office and amid a drastically different political landscape, the center\u2019s presence has all but disappeared.<\/p>\n
The fate of the Penn Biden Center has mirrored Biden\u2019s shifting path from public office to private life \u2014 and back again. First launched by then-Penn President Amy Gutmann, the center\u2019s establishment appeared to position Penn as a focal point of Biden\u2019s postpolitical career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Biden began campaigning for the presidency, the center experienced a sharp decline in external-facing activity, a period marked by partisan controversies, and an eventual restructuring under a new initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cPenn Washington is now the physical and programmatic home for the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s engagement in the nation\u2019s capital,\u201d Penn Washington Executive Director Celeste Wallander wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. \u201cThe Penn Biden Center is now one component of this broader entity.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Biden did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s early ties to Penn<\/strong><\/p>\n The former president\u2019s personal involvement with Penn preceded the center\u2019s establishment and any official appointments. His late son Beau Biden graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1991. Several of Joe Biden\u2019s grandchildren would go on to attend the University.\u00a0<\/p>\n Biden spoke at the School of Social Policy & Practice\u2019s graduation ceremony in 2010<\/a> while vice president and again at Penn\u2019s 2013 Commencement<\/a>, during which he also received an honorary degree.<\/p>\n \u201cI was asked why I wore a Penn tie [to the ceremony]. My answer is, I earned it,\u201d he said during the speech.<\/p>\n After months of speculation about a possible Penn appointment after his vice presidency, Biden was formally named<\/a> as a Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor in February 2017. The University simultaneously announced the establishment of the Penn Biden Center.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Penn Biden Center and I will be engaging with Penn\u2019s wonderful students while partnering with its eminent faculty and global centers to convene world leaders, develop and advance smart policy, and impact the national debate about how America can continue to lead in the 21st century,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n At the time, Gutmann praised<\/a> Biden\u2019s \u201cunsurpassed understanding of diplomacy and far-ranging grasp of world issues\u201d and called him \u201can ideal fit\u201d to further Penn\u2019s global engagement.<\/p>\n Establishing the <\/strong>center<\/strong><\/p>\n In March 2017, the center underwent a soft opening <\/a>and began offering semesterlong internships for students around the same time. It also co-hosted <\/a>former Mexican President Felipe Calder\u00f3n for the inaugural Penn Biden Leaders Dialogue later that October.<\/p>\n The center formally opened<\/a> at 101 Constitution Ave. in Washington in February 2018. The ribbon-cutting event featured a panel discussion between Biden, Gutmann, and 1967 College graduate and longtime NBC News anchor Andrea Mitchell.<\/p>\n \u201cAt Penn, I look forward to building on the work that has been a central pillar of my career in public office: promoting and protecting the post-WWII international order that keeps the United States safe and strong,\u201d Biden said in a 2018 statement following the center\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n For 14 months, Biden used the center as his primary office and employed several of his closest confidants, including future Secretary of State Antony Blinken and personal adviser Steve Ricchetti. During that time, Biden\u2019s involvement at the center consisted primarily of campus speaking engagements; he never taught any classes.<\/p>\n During this period, the center also published several articles about foreign policy. Many of them were written by Biden himself and other center staff \u2014 including individuals who would come to hold foreign policy roles under the Biden presidency.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first major policy project undertaken by the center was a 2018 report<\/a> on democratic vitality in the United States published alongside the George W. Bush Institute and Freedom House. Additionally, the center partnered with the School of Arts and Sciences and Embassy of Japan to sponsor the Kakehashi Project<\/a>, a weeklong cultural exchange program in Japan for Penn students.<\/p>\n During this time, Biden made several public appearances at Penn \u2014 including a forum<\/a> alongside former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and a talk<\/a> about his 2017 book titled \u201cPromise Me, Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n Columbia University professor of international relations Michael Doyle \u2014 Gutmann\u2019s husband \u2014 described the forum with Bush as \u201can extraordinary occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was even cordial despite all of their differences,\u201d Doyle added. \u201cI was floored by the quality of that debate, and so were the students.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Doyle, Biden also participated in private events at Penn, such as a meeting between Biden and the University Board of Trustees during which he \u201canswered every question at incredible length.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[He was] at the top of his game, articulate, well-informed, inspiring, taking questions,\u201d Doyle said.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s campaign for president<\/strong><\/p>\n In April 2019, Biden announced his presidential run. Five days later, Gutmann announced<\/a> that Biden would be taking an \u201cunpaid leave of absence\u201d from his work at Penn and the center.<\/p>\n At the time, the center\u2019s communication director wrote that \u201cthe Penn Biden Center will continue to advance the values that have formed the core of our mission since we opened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will remain active in shaping the debate around important foreign policy issues and fostering a new generation of leaders,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n Shortly after, Blinken and Ricchetti also left their positions at the center to join Biden\u2019s presidential campaign. During this period, the only visible output from the center was in the form of articles published on the website\u2019s \u201cNews and Insights\u201d page.\u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden alluded<\/a> to his involvement with Penn, often asserting he was a \u201cprofessor [and] teacher\u201d at the University.<\/p>\n After Biden\u2019s victory and inauguration, the center continued to maintain its commitment to \u201ccarry on its mission of conducting original research, analysis, and commentary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It stated it would \u201cremain completely independent of the Biden administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that year, Biden tapped<\/a> Gutmann as the next U.S. ambassador to Germany and former Chair of the Board of Trustees and 1981 University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School graduate David Cohen as the next U.S. ambassador to Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n During the presidency\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For the four years of Biden\u2019s presidency, the center did not produce any public policy projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n The center\u2019s final managing director, Michael Carpenter, departed<\/a> in November 2021 to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. By January 2022, the center\u2019s site only listed three employees.<\/p>\n Despite its inactivity, the center was a source of significant controversy for both the Biden administration and Penn.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2021, Republican lawmakers alleged<\/a> that the University had failed to properly disclose millions of dollars in donations from Chinese entities to the center. Two years later, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability revisited<\/a> the same line of questioning toward Gutmann\u2019s successor, former Penn President Liz Magill.<\/p>\n \u201cThe University has never solicited any gifts for the Center. Since its inception in 2017 there have been three unsolicited gifts, from two donors, which combined [to a total of] $1,100. Both donors are Americans,\u201d a University spokesperson told the DP at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n In October 2022, classified documents dating to Biden\u2019s vice presidency were found at the center. 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump \u2014 who was facing his own investigations related to improperly filed government documents \u2014 released a video<\/a> criticizing both the center and Biden\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the very same moment my ultrasecure Mar-a-Lago home was raided by the FBI, Joe Biden was harboring classified documents in his China-funded Penn center\u201d, Trump said in the video.<\/p>\n The controversy would ultimately lead to a special counsel investigation by the Department of Justice, which published its findings in February 2024 \u2014 10 months after Biden announced a controversial reelection bid for a second term.<\/p>\n In the report, DOJ Special Counsel Robert Hur referred to Biden as a \u201csympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory\u201d and declined to press charges against the then-president.<\/p>\n The report added to mounting concerns over Biden\u2019s age, which came to a head in June 2024 after a pivotal debate against Trump. A month later, Biden withdrew from the presidential race.<\/p>\n The <\/strong>center<\/strong>, restructured<\/strong><\/p>\n Following the end of his reelection campaign, Biden expressed interest<\/a> in reengaging with the center after leaving office.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so many other things I want to do in terms of the Biden Institute at Penn on foreign policy and the Biden Institute in Delaware on domestic policy, to keep the things going that we started,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n In June 2024, then-Interim Penn President Larry Jameson announced the launch of Penn Washington, an umbrella program joining the newly launched Franklin Initiative with the Penn Biden Center. According to Jameson, Penn Washington would serve as a \u201cphysical and programmatic home for the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s engagement in the nation\u2019s capital.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite limited activity in recent years, Biden has continued to suggest future involvement with the University \u2014 including floating<\/a> the idea of housing his presidential library on Penn\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n