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THE ALITO NOMINATION
Biden criticizes Princeton
Amid CAP showdown, senator says he 'wasn't a big Princeton fan'

Mark Stefanski
Princetonian Staff Writer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The conservative alumni group Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) has been the subject of criticism in recent weeks, but yesterday the University itself also came under scrutiny.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), who grilled Samuel Alito '72 about his CAP membership, also said that he "wasn't a big Princeton fan."

"I didn't even like Princeton," he said, to laughter from the gallery. "I mean, I really didn't like Princeton. I was an Irish Catholic kid who thought it had not changed like you concluded it had," referring to Alito's earlier statement that Princeton had changed its traditional ways before he enrolled.

But Biden had nothing but praise for the University in a 2004 speech at the Wilson School.

"It's an honor to be here," he told the audience. "It would have been an even greater honor to have come here."

Biden also said yesterday: "One of my real dilemmas is I have two kids who went to Ivy League schools. I'm not sure my Grandfather Finnegan will ever forgive me for allowing that to happen."

But in his speech at Princeton, he said, "I have three children who have mercifully all finally completed undergraduate and graduate school. And I tried to get all three of them to apply here."

He went on to recall how he tried to convince them to attend Princeton, but because they didn't, he's "counting on his grandchildren."