Portrait of Joe Biden unveiled at Syracuse University College of Law
Portrait of Joe Biden unveiled at Syracuse University College of Law
Biden credited Syracuse as the place where he began to “develop an understanding of the powerful impact law can have to make the world a better place.”
The Syracuse University College of Law presented former President Joe Biden with a portrait at the school Tuesday afternoon. Biden spoke for about 20 minutes ahead of the unveiling, attributing his time studying law at Syracuse University as the beginning of his journey into politics and democracy.
“It was here at Syracuse, as I studied our Constitution, that I began to understand that our democracy is the very soul of this nation,” the former president said.
The portrait is the former President’s first official portrait since exiting the presidency in January 2025.
Biden, a 1968 law school graduate and a recipient of an honorary degree from Syracuse University in 2009, returned to his alma mater for the first time since 2024. He was accompanied by his family, including former First Lady Jill Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
The focus of Biden’s speech was the importance of law in a functioning democracy and how Syracuse helped him understand that.
“I heard my parents’ words ringing in my ears: ‘Dignity, Joey, respect, fairness, equity, equality. That’s what America’s all about,” Biden said. “It was right there at Syracuse, I began to see the pieces coming together.”
The former president’s late son, Beau Biden, graduated from the College of Law in 1994. The former president said Tuesday that his son is what “he’s most proud of” when discussing Syracuse. After graduation, Beau served as Delaware’s Attorney General.
“Sharing Syracuse as an alma mater of one of the many things that makes you remember my son with such pride,” Biden said. “While Beau and I followed different curve paths, like many of our classmates here, we carried the legal grounding we learned here.”
The portrait was funded by William“Bill” Brodsky, a member of Biden’s graduating class at the College of Law. Brodsky went on to serve as CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and serves on the Board of Trustees at Syracuse University. Brodsky defeated Biden in an election for President of the College of Law Class of 1968 — the former president’s only defeat in a head-to-head election.
“Maybe I should have asked for a recount,” Biden joked — a jab at President Donald Trump, who lost or withdrew over 50 lawsuits to contest the result of the 2020 Presidential Election.
Biden later appointed Brodsky as Director of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation during his presidential term.
Biden was introduced by Emery Bielecki, the Executive President of the Syracuse University College of Law Student Bar Association, and Kayzjah Charles,President of the Syracuse University College of Law Class of 2026.
“The possibilities of the Syracuse law are well less. You could lead an airline, oversee a global law firm, sit on a federal bench and even become president of the United States,” Bielecki said.
Jeffrey Scruggs, the chairman of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees, credited Biden for the infrastructure additions coming to the Syracuse area. As president, Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law in 2022, which funded semiconductor manufacturing in the United States and led to the Micron megafab in Clay.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is more commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, signed into by law in 2021 by Biden, funded the I-81 transformation project.
“All of this is moving forward because President Biden has the will to invest in great cities like Syracuse throughout the nation,” Scruggs said.
Notable attendees at the event included Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens, Onondaga County Commissioner Ryan MacMahon, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. John Mannion.
A crowd of about 250 Syracuse students waited outside of Dineen Hall during and after Biden’s speech, waiting for a glimpse of the former president on his way out of the law school. Some students waited more than two hours for Biden, sitting on the grass next to Sadler Dining Hall and up against barricades across the street from Dineen Hall.
Alicyn Croley, a first-year law student, waited outside for the former president with a sign that read “Welcome Home, Joe.” Croley and her fellow first-year students watched Biden’s remarks live on C-SPAN outside.
“I think overall, it’s just really neat to have someone from Syracuse be represented [on] a national stage. I think, like he said in his remarks, he should be known for standing for what’s important,” Croley said. “It’s exciting to see someone this important come and bump elbows with the rest of us.”
Behind the portrait
The portrait was commissioned by Michael Shane Neal, a portrait artist based in New York City.
The NewsHouse spoke to Neal exclusively in a phone interview prior to the portrait’s unveiling.
Neal was contacted by Chancellor Kent Syverud about 18 months ago to work on the portrait, he told The NewsHouse, which he called a “tremendous honor.” Neal first met Syverud 25 years ago when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of the chancellor while serving as Dean of the Vanderbilt Law School in the 2000s.
“It seems as though maybe every 10 or 15 years, he circles back to me about a project that he’s interested in doing,” Neal said.
Neal visited Biden’s Delaware home last summer to meet and photograph the former president to prepare sketches for the portrait.
Neal was given “complete creative license” by the university, he said. The former president only had one request for the portrait: that he be smiling.
Biden told Neal that in his review of presidential portraits, the subjects are rarely smiling.
“At one point, [former President Biden] was making some comments about the painting and asking some questions,” Neal said. ”Then he looked at me, putting his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Oh well, what do I know, man?’”
Biden hoped his portrait would portray him as approachable, Neal said. The artist hoped to capture the “relaxed nature” of the former president, who invited him for lunch after their initial meeting — and then offered him homemade chocolate chip cookies for the road when Neal couldn’t stay.
In his speech, the former president addressed Neal and complimented his work.
“Micheal, you’ve been a hell of a guy,” Biden said. “You took on this job and you said, ‘What the hell am I about to do with this guy?’ and you know, you did a hell of a job.”
The portrait will be permanently featured in Dineen Hall, the Syracuse College of Law building.
“I hope the future classes of Syracuse law students see the portrait, and are reminded not of me, but of the greatness and power of our democracy and of their obligation to do their part to preserve, protect and defend our constitution,” Biden said.
is a News Co-Lead Producer for The NewsHouse.
is the Visual Lead Producer for The NewsHouse.