What ADP Campuses Do on Constitution Day

At the end of August, we emailed our ADP campus coordinators to inquire how their campuses were celebrating Constitution Day (which is tomorrow by the way), and today, we bring you some of the results.

2013 Constitution Day Query Results

What we wanted to know:

1. What plans does your campus have to celebrate and/or educate students this Constitution Day?
2. What goals and/or learning outcomes do you have for your planned Constitution Day programming?
3. Who or what organization on your campus is responsible for planning and implementing Constitution Day celebrations or educational events/programs? What other campus organizations/departments are involved or consulted?
4. What resources do you plan to use (campus, community, or national) for Constitution Day activities and events?
5. Website related to Constitution Day (if there is one) and fliers, agendas, or additional materials

@ Missouri State:

1. We will have David Mercer, First Assistant Federal Defender for the Western District of Missouri, who will speak in a public forum titled “Gideon v. Wainwright: Legal Issues and the Right to Counsel.”  We will also be posting “Fascinating Constitution Facts” hourly  throughout the day on our Facebook and university webpage.  These will include a constitution quiz, as well as the facts.  We will also be conducting a voter registration drive throughout the week, encouraging students to register to vote and exercise their constitutional rights.  Constitution Day is always a part of our Annual Public Affairs Week– a week of activity developed by students for students.
2. For our students to understand and participate actively in exercising their constitutional rights
3. The Office of Public Affairs Support is ultimately in charge of the celebration.  We work in collaboration with our Office of Student Engagement.
4. We have used resources provided by the ADP.  We also are working together with the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, which is sponsoring and hosting our speaker.
5. http://www.missouristate.edu/paw/Schedule.htm; interesting facts and the quiz will be located on our Facebook Page Public Affairs at Missouri State University

@ Metropolitan State University of Denver:

1. Metropolitan State University of Denver will celebrate Constitution Day by hosting a public educational forum featuring a member of the history department faculty, a representative from the ACLU and Mark Ferrandino, Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.
2. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on the history of religious liberty, from what the founders originally envisioned to how the issues play out today with respect to church, state and lawmaking, .
3. The history department at MSU Denver has collaborated with the Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver to organize our Constitution Day event.
4. We will be using campus facilities for Constitution Day activities.

@ Illinois State University:

1. We have planned an event featuring U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey who will be discussing “The Constitutional Law of Mandatory Minimum Federal Sentences: How Congress has Diminished Judicial Discretion in Sentencing.”
2. We hope to engage students in a discussion about  the role of each branch of government in federal sentencing and about the larger question of separation of powers.
3. The American Democracy Project leadership team at Illinois State University is responsible for planning this Constitution Day event. The Office of the Provost is also very involved in the planning process.
4. We plan to use campus resources for this event.

@ St. Cloud State University:

1. Our ADP is sponsoring two tables in the student union mall area, in which social studies majors will be conducting a survey of students knowledge of the Constitution and a brief competition.  We have patriotic pins, bracelets, pens, necklaces and pocket constitutions etc. to give to all who participate.
2. We want to see what the average student on our campus knows about the U.S. Constitution and will print our findings in the school paper.  If the numbers are low, we plan on lobbying the administration for more civic education courses/programs.
3. The School of Public Affairs, our ADP and the Social Studies Education Program
4. All resources will come from our own campus.

@ University of Minnesota Duluth:

1. We are passing out pocket constitutions to students while dressed in colonial-era clothing.  We have a booth for people to register to vote.  We are hosting a panel discussion featuring politicians and other public figures to look at the issue of voter ID laws in order to help students and community members gain a well-rounded perspective on the issue.
2. We hope that our events, especially the panel, will help to educate our community about the issue of voter ID laws. We hope that by presenting all sides of the issue, attendees will be able to make informed decisions. We hope that this panel will help our community members become more engaged in the political process, and we hope that this will help to create dialogue about the issue on campus and in the community.
3. Office of Civic Engagement  Center for Ethics and Public Policy  Minnesota Public Interest Research Group
4. Departmental Funds, Campus Facilities
5. https://sites.google.com/a/d.umn.edu/cepp/new-events

@ University of Missouri – St. Louis:

1. Our campus will discuss student activism on college campuses and how use of First Amendment rights is changing with the introduction of varying types of technology and emerging social media opportunities.
2. Our goal is to connect current students with faculty, students and alumni who have been or are currently involved in some form of community or political activism and discuss the importance of engagement with one’s government processes in order to make an impact in the immediate community and beyond. We will also provide small-group discussion opportunities so that participants may network with others.
3. Department of Political Science, Office of Community Outreach & Engagement, Volunteer Services, Office of Student Life, Department of Public Policy Administration
4. Campus and community

@ Kennesaw State University:

1. We have Constitution Week for the seventh year in a row. Our theme this year is Sustainability. We will be have three experts
2. Understanding of Sustainability issues such as GMO’s, city planning, resource allocations, hunger, food shortage and community organizing
3. KSU American Democracy Project, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Institute of Responsible Technology, KSU Department of Sustainability, Morehouse College School of Medicine

@ California University of Pennsylvania:

1. General Colin Powell is the keynote speaker at the  Pittsburgh Leadership & Diversity Conference, which is being held on Septemebr 19 at Cal U.   Constitution Day is a tribute to Gen. Powell’s leadership.
2. Constitution Day will educate students about the duties and responsibilities of presidential appointees, specifically the office of secretary of state and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  The primary focus will be on Gen. Powell’s leadership in both pubic and private life.
3. The following offices and programs are involved in the planning of this year’s Constitution Day:  the American Democracy Project, the Linda and Harry Serene Leadership Institute, the Office of the Provost/Academic Affairs, the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of History & Political Science and the Department of Justice, Law & Society.
4. Campus facilities will be used.
5. The event is posted on the ADP website http://dev.calu.edu/academics/american-democracy-project/index.htm.  Next week, it will appear on the Cal U homepage carousel and a press release will be issued.

@ Ferris State University

1. Ferris State University is conducting a panel discussion on the First Amendment freedom of freedom of speech.
2. 1). Students learn the meaning of freedom of speech  2). Students learn the challenges for protecting this freedom  3). Students learn the importance of protecting this freedom
3. The Ferris State University American Democracy Project and Political Engagement Project
4. 1). Ferris campus facilities  2). Ferris informational media  3). University educational experts
   
5. http://www.ferris.edu/pep/

@ Florida Gulf Coast University:

1. Conversations on the Constitution: Voting Rights Act Reconsidered (Panel discussion and dialogue of how the SCOTUS decision impacts FL), and the  SGA will pass out pocket constitutions
2. De-mystify basic constitutional principles, encourage students to consider the constitutional significance of the recent SCOTUS decision relating to the VRA of 1965
3. Office of Undergraduate Studies  &  Interdisciplinary Studies
4. Campus

@ Middle Tennessee University

1. SCALES – Tenn, Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education  – is coming to MTSU, holding court on campus, hearing three supreme court cases. All briefs are posted to the ADP MTSU website for students and faculty. Classes are studying the issues with members of the Tenn. Bar Assn. in preparation for court. The arguing attorneys will debrief the students after the hearing. Students will meet the Supreme Court justices over lunch and at the end of the day.  2. Read-aloud Constitution readings in every college.  3. Campus-wide debate on immigration issues that night.   4. Voter registration all over campus that day and on 9/24, in conjunction with LWV, Tenn. Citizen Action, and campus student orgs.
2. Knowledge, visibility
   
3. ADP, all deans of all the colleges, Forensics Team, College Dems and Raider Repubs, Provost’s Office, Center for Historic Preservation, the university lawyer-faculty from every college and EXL faculty
4. Campus + community
5. http://capone.mtsu.edu/amerdem/

@ Weber State University:

1. We are planning a week of activities:
   • September 16 – Voter registration booth
   • September 17 – Birthday Cake and handing out constitutions
   • September 18 – video presentation of student knowledge of the Constitution (based on a kind of Jay-walking)
   • September 19 – NYT reporter Brian Stelter will be on campus presenting on Social Media’s Impact on Governments 
   • September 20 – Senator Mike Lee will be coming to speak to students

2. Increase awareness of the Constitution and its part in our history.
3. American Democracy Project; co-hosting with the NYT for our Reporter and the Olene Walker Institute for Senator Mike Lee
4. National, campus and statewide.
5. http://www.weber.edu/leadership/adp.html

Additionally, we hear that there is a Constitution Day essay contest in the works at the University of North Georgia, and we have agreed to host the winning essay on our blog, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

With that, we wish you all a very happy (and for Colorado, a very dry) Constitution Day tomorrow! And, if you’re wearing colonial-era clothing, please send us pics (to Stephanie at souths@aascu.org); in fact, please just send us cool Constitution Day photos in general.