Biden aims to end legacy admissions, despite his family’s past benefits.
The Biden Administration Investigates Elite Universities for Preferential Treatment
The Biden administration is currently investigating whether elite universities violate federal civil rights law by giving preferential treatment to the children of alumni and donors.
This opposition to legacy admissions, however, may be an awkward policy position for President Joe Biden to embrace, considering that his own family has benefited from this practice. Five members of the Biden clan, including two of Biden’s children and three of his grandchildren, have graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. In at least one instance, Biden used his influence to secure his granddaughter’s admission by calling in a special favor with the university’s president.
Now, the president wants to address this issue. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights recently informed Harvard University that it is under investigation for potentially discriminating against minority students by admitting allegedly underqualified white applicants from wealthy and connected families. This investigation follows a lawsuit filed by liberal groups, claiming that Harvard’s legacy admissions practices violate the Civil Rights Act.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that the president believes “legacy admissions hold back our ability to build diverse student bodies.”
Biden’s Personal Connection to Legacy Admissions
Interestingly, just five years ago, Biden himself hoped that legacy admissions would benefit his granddaughter, Maisy Biden. Despite lacking the typical 4.0-plus GPA required for a school with a 5.9 percent acceptance rate, communications from Hunter Biden’s laptop reveal that Biden frequently communicated with the University of Pennsylvania president, Amy Guttman, about Maisy’s application. Guttman even provided updates on the admissions process and offered tips to boost Maisy’s application. Biden was so involved that he expected to hear about Maisy’s acceptance before she did.
This special treatment stands in stark contrast to the typical college application process, which often leaves high school students stressed and disappointed.
These practices are also the same ones that left-wing groups criticized in their lawsuit against Harvard. They argue that legacy and donor admissions are granted without considering the applicant’s credentials or merits, solely based on being born into a particular family.
The University of Pennsylvania has not responded to requests for comment.
Biden’s Close Relationship with the University of Pennsylvania
Few politicians in recent history have had a closer relationship with a university than Biden and the University of Pennsylvania. After leaving the White House in 2016, the university became his de-facto base camp, housing a lavish office that contained classified documents. Biden often refers to himself as a former “professor” at the university, despite never teaching a class. He was paid nearly $1 million for a series of lectures and events.
In 2018, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement was established, aiming to strengthen American global leadership and engage a new generation. However, this think tank’s inauguration led to an influx of donations from foreign nationals, including Chinese nationals linked to Hunter Biden’s past business dealings and the Chinese Communist Party, who have donated at least $105 million to the school from 2018 to mid-2022. Both the White House and UPenn have refused to disclose the Biden Center’s donors.
After Biden’s election, he appointed Amy Guttman as ambassador to Germany in 2022, further solidifying their relationship.
In total, two of the president’s children, Ashley and the late Beau, attended the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, all three of Hunter’s children with his first wife, Kathleen Buhle, also attended the university.
Hunter Biden was so confident in his family’s connection to the university that he even planned to join the faculty himself. In a text message to his uncle Jim Biden, he expressed his desire to work as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania after overcoming his addiction to crack cocaine.
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