--- title: Read Joe Biden Speech at Colby College Graduation description: "Life can't be lived in this self-referential, self-reinforcing, self-righteous echo chamber we've built for ourselves online." canonical: https://time.com/4787983/joe-biden-colby-college-commencement-transcript/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-22T13:16:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:02:38.665Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Read Joe Biden's Speech at Colby College Graduation og:description: "It’s time for America to get up" og:url: https://time.com/4787983/joe-biden-colby-college-commencement-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5de289cab890f91c/6988ce3abc6cfc732b3e1729/biden.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: American Revolution Museum og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Joe Biden's Speech at Colby College Graduation twitter:description: "It’s time for America to get up" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5de289cab890f91c/6988ce3abc6cfc732b3e1729/biden.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden at Colby College Commencement: 'Now Is the Time for Engaged Leadership' by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 22, 2017 1:16 PM UTC  Former Vice President Joe Biden during the opening ceremony for Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, on April 19, 2017. Former Vice President Joe Biden during the opening ceremony for Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, on April 19, 2017.Matt Rourke—AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 22, 2017 1:16 PM UTC _Former Vice President Joe Biden gave the commencement remarks at Colby College on Sunday. The full speech can be viewed_ [_here_](http://www.colby.edu/commencement/2017-commencement-speakers-address/)_. Read the full transcript below._ --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4787983/joe-biden-colby-college-commencement-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4787983/joe-biden-colby-college-commencement-transcript/"},"headline":"Joe Biden at Colby College Commencement: 'Now Is the Time for Engaged Leadership'","datePublished":"2017-05-22T13:16:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:02:38.665Z","description":"\"It’s time for America to get up\"","url":"https://time.com/4787983/joe-biden-colby-college-commencement-transcript/","keywords":["Education","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5de289cab890f91c/6988ce3abc6cfc732b3e1729/biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5de289cab890f91c/6988ce3abc6cfc732b3e1729/biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American Revolution Museum","caption":"American Revolution Museum","creditText":"Matt Rourke—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4787983/joe-biden-colby-college-commencement-transcript/","name":"Joe Biden at Colby College Commencement: 'Now Is the Time for Engaged Leadership'"}}]}] ```