President Joe Biden made an unannounced stop at Penn’s campus Friday afternoon.
Biden, a former Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor and founder of the Penn Biden Center, arrived at the corner of 36th and Walnut streets and entered the Penn Bookstore around 5:30 p.m. via motorcade. After exiting the bookstore, he then proceeded to the University Meeting and Guest House. Biden was visiting campus with his grandson, Hunter Biden, according to the White House.
A Philadelphia Police Department officer told a passerby before Biden's arrival that Biden was set to eat a meal with Interim Penn President Larry Jameson while at the Guest House, which Jameson and staff entered around 3:30 p.m., though the purpose of the visit remains unclear.
A University spokesperson declined to comment and directed further questions to the White House, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Daily Pennsylvanian was unable to immediately confirm that Biden ate a meal with Jameson at the guest house.
According to White House pool reports, Biden departed Washington, D.C. at 3:58 p.m. and landed in Philadelphia around 5 p.m. Upon his departure, Biden appeared to be holding a piece of paper with Jameson's headshot.
After spending approximately one hour in the University Meeting and Guest House, Biden left campus at 6:49 p.m. He departed from Philadelphia shortly afterwards, wearing a Penn hat as he boarded Air Force 1.
A section of the area around 38th and Walnut streets was closed prior to the president’s arrival with Secret Service and PPD officers present. The area around the Penn Bookstore was also barricaded, as were portions of Locust Walk adjacent to the Perry World House.
Biden’s visit came just days before incoming students from the Class of 2028 arrive for first-year move in.
Biden previously came to Penn’s campus in April 2023 for an unannounced visit to the Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall where Maisy Biden, the president’s granddaughter and 2023 College graduate, held a senior art exhibit. Another of Biden's granddaughters is currently a student at Penn.
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