Constitution Day 2007
September 17
Constitution Day at Penn State University Park Sets a Voter Registration Record and Engages Students in a Curriculum of Democracy
Over three hundred and fifteen students became registered voters during Penn State’s United States Constitution Day celebration September 17 at University Park. Working with the University’s Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy, students from Represent launched their autumn voter registration drive on the steps of Pattee Library. The non-partisan student group effort set a one-day voter registration record at the University Park campus.
Photo: Mark Munn
Constitution Day, a federally mandated recognition of the Constitution, has been celebrated annually at Penn State since 2005. This year students, staff, and faculty have worked together to embed the Constitution’s blueprint for democracy into the curriculum.
Students in Professor Peter Aeschbacher's first year art and design studio class developed three installations during a semester of work in which they integrated fundamental questions of architecture with constitutionally based issues ranging from the First Amendment protection for the arts and sciences to the Eighth Amendment meaning of cruel and unusual punishment. Michael Elavsky's students provided historical and cultural context for the Eighth Amendment installation. Students in Professor Rosa Eberly’s Communications Arts and Sciences courses prepared public readings to share in celebration of the university as a public commons, a practice central to American democracy since Colonial days when town squares and pubs served as centers of citizen engagement. Professor Lori Bedell’s Communication Arts and Sciences classes worked with the Centre County Public Issues Forum to provide a public deliberation on contemporary issues surrounding immigration.
Photo: Mark Munn
Thousands of students stopped throughout the day to listen, to observe, and to voice their opinions on issues of citizen participation. They were prompted by installations such as the “The Writer’s Block,” a set of multi-sided geometric figures built by the Arts and Architecture students. Here, students picked up chalk to respond to a variety of public policy questions. Should women participate in combat? Should the Ten Commandments be posted in public spaces? Is federal funding for abortion a violation of the Consitution? Is the war in Iraq justified?
Photo: Mark Munn
Students also stopped by the "Illicit Literature Lounge", an installation addressing the delicate balance between constitutionally protected speech and cultural sensibilities. Here students relaxed, read historically banned books, listened to public readings, and considered the First Amendment's protection of artistic and literary freedom.
Photo: Mark Munn
At the Eighth Amendment and the Death Penalty installation two large signs asked students "Are you paying attention?" Students who did pay attention stopped to observe the abstract display which presented opposing viewpoints on the death penalty from two opposite corner locations: "Just and Necessary" and "Cruel and Unusual".
Photo: Mark Munn
In closing the day's activities, approximately fifty participants--mostly students--discussed complex and sensitive immigration issues in the Centre County Public Issues Forum "The New Challenge of American Immigration: What Should We Do?" This interactive forum provided participants with an opportunity to voice opinions and to find common ground on this contentions public issue.
The Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy is currently looking ahead to next year’s Constitution Day. The Laboratory will provide several support grants on a competitive basis to faculty across the university to integrate Constitution Day 2008 into a spring or fall 2008 course. Further information will be available in October 2007.
To view the September 18th Collegian article on Constitution Day 2007 click here.