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Constitution Day at McNeese: September 16th 2005
It shaped out history. It charts our future.
On September 16th, Service Learning and Distance Learning hosted Constitution Day on the McNeese State Campus.
The program consisted of two parts:
1) Debating Free Speech in the Digital Age
and
2) Conversations with Supreme Court Justices
| "The first
Constitution Day was held at McNeese State University and other
federally-assisted educational institutions throughout the nation on
Friday, September 16th. It commemorates the approval of the
Constitution by all 12 state delegations on September 17, 1787. Rhode
Island, although instrumental in securing the Bill of Rights four years
later, was not represented in Philadelphia. Constitution Day was
established through the persistence of Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) who is
noted for always carrying a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his coat
pocket. President George W. Bush signed Byrd’s bill into law on December
8, 2004 (Public Law 108-447). Impressive as the document is, if our
citizenry is lacking in knowledge of it and fails to participate in
debates concerning its provisions, we will certainly not endure as a
free people since it is not self-executing. The presentations produced
by the Center for Public Policy of the University of Pennsylvania which
featured discussions on the PATRIOT Act and intellectual property, as
well as questions posed to Associate Justices of the United States
Sandra Day O’Connor and Stephen Breyer, certainly furthered public
knowledge of the U.S. Constitution."
- Dr. Henry B. Sirgo, Professor of Political Science at McNeese State University. |
McNeese's Constitution Day Program
