Constitution Day creates public discourse

Constitution Day took place Thursday Sept. 21 on Skiles Walkway. Eight posters were set up to allow students to discuss various constitutional issues. The event took place to comply with a federal mandate that says every school of higher learning must do something to recognize Constitution Day on Sept. 17.

"We're going to have to do something every year, though it is not clearly defined what we have to do," said Richard Barke, an associate professor in Public Policy.

According to Barke, a committee was created that consisted of faculty from a variety of schools.

"It was decided that the event should be something interactive. We wanted to counter the myth that Tech students are unaware of what goes on outside their labs. We wanted to engage them in constitutional issues," Barke said.

Each poster had a big topic at the top and an information bar down the side so students could learn more about each topic. The majority of the poster was white space for the students to post their opinions.

"We had a lot of thoughtful responses this year, though not as many threads. Last year, there were several topic threads with sometimes eight to 10 post-it notes per thread," Barke said.

Students from all areas interacted with the display.

"My favorite statement of all came from a student last year. The student spent 45 minutes deciding on exactly what to put up on the board and after he had done so, I asked him about it and he said 'I'm a CS major in my sixth year at Tech and this is the first time anyone has asked me what I thought,'" Barke said.

According to Barke, [the event] is a federal mandate, but it also good for the students to be asked what they think.

"The big question is what to do with the boards of comments. It would be a shame to keep them rolled up in my office and not to share the information," Barke said.