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Constitution Day: Honoring the Founders' Legacy September 8, 2009 Azusa Pacific University joins schools around the country to celebrate Constitution Day. APU students are invited to join Jonathan Pyles' POLI 376 The American Founding class on Wednesday, September 16, from 11:50 a.m.-12:45 p.m. for a lecture and discussion on the U.S. Constitution. The lecture is open to all students and includes pizza and refreshments. Constitution Day Background:
Senator Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat and Congress' unofficial constitutional scholar, believes that American primary, secondary, and post-secondary students lack significant knowledge regarding the United States Constitution. In December 2004, Senator Byrd proposed an amendment that was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate in an attempt to increase students' knowledge about the constitution.
The legislation requires that all educational institutions receiving federal funds implement educational programs relating the U.S. Constitution on September 17 of each year. This date was chosen due to the fact that on September 17, 1787 the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the United States Constitution and present it to the American public.
Web Resources:
www.constitutioncenter.org - An online, interactive Constitution
http://thomas.loc.gov/teachers/constitution.html - Constitution Day Resources from the Library of Congress
www.archives.gov - Interactive, online features about the Constitution, as well as biographical sketches of the 39 signers of the Constitution
We would like to thank the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators for their Constitution Day Implementation Guide and USA Funds for providing additional reference materials.
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