Vice President Joe Biden spoke at Syracuse University on Thursday afternoon for about a half hour as part of the “It’s On Us” National Week of Action. The campaign aims to end sexual assault on college campuses.

The vice president spoke to a Goldstein Auditorium filled with members of the SU community, including about 500 students.

Here are three takeaways from Biden’s speech:

 

1. The speech comes at a tense time for sexual assault on college campuses, including SU

A study came out in late September that showed that 23 percent of undergraduate women experienced nonconsensual sexual contact since entering their university. While SU was not one of the 27 schools that took part in the survey, the university has been under a lot of pressure recently for its sexual assault services. In May 2014, SU announced the realignment of sexual assault services, including the closing of the Advocacy Center. The move generated protests from members of the SU community and since then, a permanent task force for relationship and sexual violence has been created. In his remarks, Biden called on administrators to continue fighting against sexual and relationship violence, and also emphasized the importance of men getting involved in the fight against sexual assault.

 

2. Joe Biden still loves SU and SU still loves him

Right from the start of Biden’s 25-minute speech, he talked about how good it was to be back at the university. The 1968 College of Law alumnus wore an orange tie and shared a few stories about his time at SU. Many crowd members lined up outside of the Schine Student Center before 9:30 a.m., when doors for the event opened. Prior to his speech, there were performances from Orange Appeal and Main Squeeze, two SU a capella groups, and he was introduced by SU student Samantha Skaller, who praised the vice president for the work he’s done in public service. The auditorium had the atmosphere of a pep rally. Biden spoke about how he’s rooting for an upset on Saturday as the SU football team takes on No. 1 Clemson in the Carrier Dome. After he concluded his speech, Biden briefly mingled with members of the audience.

 

3. Joke about not running for president

Biden announced in late October that he will not be running for president. At his speech at SU on Thursday, the vice president made a small joke about his decision, saying that Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is lucky he didn’t announce. Miner, who endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was in the crowd. Biden had said he wouldn’t run if he wasn’t emotionally ready following the death of his son Beau, who was also an SU alumnus.

Published on November 12, 2015 at 1:36 pm

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306