C.W. Post to Observe Constitution Day:
A Day of Learning – A Document of Everyday
September 17 celebration will include march, debate, classes and voter registration

Brookville, NY – Two hundred and twenty years after it was signed, the legacy, significance and bearing of the United States Constitution will be discussed and celebrated at Constitution Day: A Day of Learning, a Document of Everyday on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Monday, September 17, 2007.

Sponsored by the Student Affairs-Faculty Partnership Initiative Committee (SAFPIC), Constitution Day will feature events held throughout the campus including a lively debate from a panel of distinguished faculty. The Constitution in Crisis? will feature Professors Jeremy Buchman, Stanley Klein and Neal Rosendorf exploring the relevance and sources of tension of the Constitution in this post-September 11 climate at 4:30 p.m. in the Hillwood Lecture Hall. 

“The day is a wonderful opportunity for students, staff and faculty to refocus on the importance of the Constitution and how it affects our day-to-day lives,” said Adam Grohman, director of student conduct and community education at C.W. Post. “It’s a chance for everyone to reflect on the implications of this living, breathing document that makes us all Americans.”

Participants in a panel discussion included C.W. Post faculty members (from left) Professor Stanley Klein (at podium); Professors Neal Rosendorf and Jeremy Buchman.

Members of the campus community will be able to hear Freedom Readings from the Constitution and other important documents related to the history of the United States by C.W. Post students, faculty and staff members. There will be a calligraphy lesson, a “March of Freedom” featuring a pipe band and a voter registration booth. The dining venues on campus will be serving colonial meals, including roasted turkey breast, home-style beef stew, succotash, steamed carrots, butternut squash or herbed chicken rice soup and assorted cakes and pies.

A new exhibit -- Censorship in Public Colleges and Universities -- will open at the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library and explore instances of censorship of student organizations, guest speakers, art and theatre programs, and student publications that have occurred in the last 50 years. On Wednesday, September 19, Dr. Steven Scalet, an associate professor of philosophy and economics at Binghamton University will give a lecture -- Living in a Democracy – at the  Hutchins Gallery.

Constitution Day is an American federal holiday that recognizes the ratification of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. Festivities to mark the occasion are planned throughout the country.

For more information on Constitution Day call the Division of Student Affairs at (516) 299-2255. For more information on events at the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, contact Manju Prasad-Rao at (516) 299-2896

Schedule of Events:

March of Freedom 12 noon-12:30 p.m. – Winnick House Administration Building
Follow the Patriotic Music from the Administration Building to Hillwood Commons.

Freedom Readings 12:30-1:15 p.m. – Hillwood Commons Entrance
Students, Faculty and Administrators will read brief excerpts from the United States Constitution and other documents.

Creative Constitution Calligraphy 1:30-3 p.m. - Hillwood Commons Fishbowl
Try your hand at calligraphy and learn how our forefathers literally “wrote” the Constitution.

Constitution in Crisis? 4:30-6 p.m. – Hillwood Lecture Hall
First SAFPIC Event of the Fall Semester! Join in a lively faculty discussion of the current status of the United States Constitution. Speakers include Jeremy Buchman (Political Science), Stanley Klein (Political Science) and Neal Rosendorf (History and International Studies). Refreshments will be served.

Voter Registration 9 a.m.-7 p.m. – Hillwood Commons Lobby
The Student Government Association and Office of Student Conduct & Community Education will provide students, staff and faculty the ability to register to vote.

Colonial Meals Lunch and Dinner – Colonial meals will be served by Aramark.

Censorship in Public Colleges and Universities Exhibit September 17 – September 30, 2007 -- B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library Lobby
The exhibit includes cases ranging from prohibition to more recent cases involving the use of the Koran in an orientation program for incoming freshmen and a case involving an attempt to censor a college yearbook. A number of U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal and state court decisions related to these issues are also documented.
This exhibit is sponsored by the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library and includes materials by the Long Island Coalition against Censorship.

Living in a Democracy Lecture September 19, 2007, 12:30 p.m. Hutchins Gallery
We all value democracy, but what happens when a majority of the people oppress a minority of the people? This conflict can create tension at the heart of political institutions. In this lecture, Dr. Steven Scalet will survey different approaches for understanding the political values of liberty, equality, and democracy, and how to understand the balance between them. Dr. Scalet is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Economics at Binghamton University. He is also the Associate Director for the program of Philosophy, Politics, and Law. He is the recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
This lecture is sponsored by the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, Political Science Department, and the Philosophy Club of C.W. Post Campus.
This program, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities Speakers in the Humanities program.

Constitution Day is proudly sponsored by the Student Affairs-Faculty Partnership Initiative Committee (SAFPIC), the Division of Student Affairs and the Hutton House Lectures.

Posted: September 14, 2007