Bryn Mawr in the News: Biden Puzzles Media
With Bryn Mawr Reference, Karen Responds

Bryn Mawr sociology students spent a somewhat peculiar moment in the public eye over the last weekend as the blogosphere struggled to interpret a remark made by Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden.

The Washington Post quoted Biden saying that he had been taken to task for his American-flag lapel pin by a "very attractive woman who looked like she just finished a sociology course at Bryn Mawr college, if you know what I mean." Said The Post: "Judging by the blank reaction, most in his audience appeared not to."

For several days, bloggers and commenters offered analyses of the Biden quote. Inside Higher Ed asked an expert on the topic, Sociology Department Chair David Karen. Karen's response: "I don’t know what the senator means. But if Senator Biden is implying that sociology students at Bryn Mawr College are 'very attractive' and more liberal than he is, I wouldn’t spend any time trying to disabuse him of that notion."

<Back to Bryn Mawr Now 12/6/2007